August 22, 1878. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 143 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Teal iarore AUGUST 22—28, 1878 eu Craee Sun | Snn | Moon | Moon | Moon’s| poor, | Ray 
Month} Week cena 5 USS EO Rises. |. Sets. | Rises. | Sets Age. sae INYaE 
¢ Day. |Night.;Mean.! h. m.| h. m.}| h. m.| h. m| Days | m. 8. 
22 TH Reading and Saltburn-on-Sea Shows. 71.5 | 49.9 60.2 40 58h Se) TH || 0) 38 5}. 683 24 2 44 | 984 
23 EF Exeter and Sevenoaks Shows. 72.0 | 48.9 | 60.4 5) UO) % 8) | 36 4 25 25 2 28) 235 
24 Ss Shotley Bridge Show. 71.6 47.3 58.9 5p al) 7a 8h Ramon’ 5 13) 26 2 13 | 236 
25 | SUN | 10 SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 71.5 | 50.3 | 604 By WSR ial: 0 52] 5 44 27 1 57 | 237 
26 M Prince Albert born, 1819. 72.6 | 48.7 60.1 5 5] 6 (59 95°58 6 9 28 1 40 | 238 
27 TU Banbury Show. 73.3 | 49.3 | 61.3 Sie 1G) 6 57 3 48 6 29 29 1 23 | 239 
28 | W St. Peter's (Ramsgate) and Becket Shows. 73.1 | 49.5 -} 61.3 5) 8 6 54 5 18 6 45 oO 1 61 240 
From observations taken near London during forty-three years, 
49,29, 
the average day temperature of the week is 72.2°; and its night temperature 
METROPOLITAN ROSE SHOWS OF 1878— 
A RETROSPECT. 
C200 apology is needed to write on the merits or 
oi} demerits of the various Roses as seen ex- 
hibited during any season, for there are 
numerous readers always eager to gather any 
(§ information respecting their favourite flowers. 
Sir Walter Scott has somewhere written that 
everyone could learn something even from 
the humblest working man. I therefore must say 
the same as your able correspondent said last 
week on fragrant Roses, that “my opinions are noted 
down and are given for what they are worth.” 
Before commencing to review the cut blooms ex- 
hibited during June and July I cannot pass by my old 
favourites, Roses in pots. By a little manipulation and extra 
attention under glass the season for Roses can be greatly 
prolonged, and several of our shy bloomers are to be had in 
great beauty when the plants are grown in pots. Roses 
are exhibited in pots from 6-inch pots (32’s) to a No. 1, or 
the largest size manufactured. Plants are produced carry- 
ing from half a dozen blooms to nearly three hundred. 
Great skill is displayed both in the training of the huge 
specimens referred to and in the growing and keeping them 
in robust health year after year ; but the smaller plants, in 
my opinion, give the best and largest blooms. 
Roses grown in pots are generally to be had in bloom 
during March, April, and May ; a few may be retarded to 
unite the indoor-grown blooms with those grown outside ; 
but these retarded plants generally produce Roses wanting 
in form and beauty, unless it be those that are potted from 
the open ground in November, wintered behind evergreen 
hedges with the pots plunged, and the plants not pruned 
until the ordinary time of pruning the out-of-door Roses. 
It is from plants thus treated that the fine banks exhibited 
at the end of June and July arehad. Some grand examples 
of these were shown at Richmond on the 27th of June by 
Messrs. Paul & Son, Cheshunt, and Messrs. Veitch & Sons 
from their Coombe Wood nursery. Roses in pots have also 
been shown well in London this season by Messrs. Veitch 
and Sons in the months of March and April. An extensive 
collection was exhibited by Messrs. Paul & Son at the 
Royal Botanic Society’s Show at the end of April, princi- 
pally grown in 11-inch pots, a size very suitable for exhi- 
bition purposes. Both flowers and foliage of these plants 
were simply magnificent ; Madame Willermoz, La France, 
Marie Finger, and Cheshunt Hybrid were very conspicuous 
for their size, form, and beauty. The contest between those 
two great growers Mr. Turner, Slough, and Messrs. Paul 
and Son in the following month at the Royal Botanic, 
Crystal Palace, and South Kensington brought out the 
larger-grown plants: in each case Mr. Turner proved the 
champion. The enormous and glorious bank arranged at 
the latter place at the end of May displayed such a sight 
that has never been seen before. 
The collection of Roses grown in 12-inch pots and ex- 
hibited by Mr. Turner at the Crystal Palace contained the 
finest flowers of any exhibited this year ; the plants were 
NO. 908.—VOL. XXXYV., NEW SERIES. 
simply marvels of perfection, trained close down to the 
rim of the pot, more after the way that the Pelargonium is 
exhibited. Plants of this stamp do not take up much 
space to grow them nor yet to convey them to and from 
the exhibition. The season for Roses in pots was not one 
of the very best; the months of January and February were 
very mild, which caused the plants to break into bud earlier 
than usual—in fact, all through the season it was a matter 
of retarding Nature rather than assisting her: hence the 
magnificent bank referred to of Mr. Turner's, many of the 
plants of which were intended for Whit-week at Manchester, 
but were found too forward for that date. 
The cut-bloom season of Roses around London commenced 
with the Royal Horticultural Society’s Show at South Ken- 
sington on June 18th, quickly followed by the Alexandra 
Palace Show, the National Rose Society's Show held at the 
Crystal Palace, the Royal Botanic Show of July 10th ; and 
amongst suburban Shows at Richmond on June 27th, and 
at Bickley on July 13th. At each and all of these Exhi- 
bitions both nurserymen and amateurs contributed largely. 
As the weather has much to do with the result of achiev- 
ing success in growing Roses out of doors it may be well to 
glance through the season of 1878. January and February 
were both wet and mild, and by the first and second week 
in March the unpruned Roses were quite green with young 
shoots principally broken from the uppermost buds. Now 
came the time for pruning, which dispensed with all pre- 
vious growths, and the plants again resumed their natural 
state. Cold winds and frosty nights followed until the 
early part of April, but in due time the buds broke strongly 
and from then until May grew away well. The “ knowing 
ones” predicted a very early Rose season, but the early 
part of June was characterised by an excessively low tempe- 
rature and an entire absence of sunshine, which could not 
fail to retard the swelling of the flower buds and even to 
injure them in some localities. I recollect reading a 
meteorological report in a daily paper that on the day before 
the South Kensington Rose Show the temperature in London 
was 4° lower than in Iceland. Under such circumstances 
it was not at all surprising that the entries were not 
as numerous as we often see them at the early London 
shows; nevertheless there was a very fair quantity of 
Roses staged, and some remarkably fine and fresh blooms 
came from Salisbury, Cheshunt, Slough, Bath, and various 
other places. Amongst the Salisbury Roses La France was 
particularly fresh and beautiful, also Marquise de Castellane, 
Général Jacqueminot, and Marie Baumann. ‘The collections 
from the late Mr. Keynes’ nurseries were without doubt as 
fine and fresh as any they have exhibited this season ; their 
southern position and light warm soil gave them a great 
advantage for this date over all other competitors. Several 
of the comparatively new Roses were very conspicuous in 
almost every nurseryman’s collection, especially Monsieur 
Gabriel Tournier exhibited of very good form and quality. 
Mons. E. Y. Teas was also very prominent, and fully main- 
tained the good opinion I formed of it last year ; it is also 
one of the earliest to bloom, but I may here remark that 
that good old Rose Madame Victor Verdier is always one 
of the first in the field, and is both constant and free. In 
No. 1550.—VoOL. LX., OLD SERIES. 
