October 24, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
309 
more time to mature its reputation, but I believe it will be a 
grand Rose. 
Of the varieties of which Gloire de Dijon is the respected 
parent (and these ‘are legion), I have omitted them all; they 
seldom open well, many not even under glass, and with me 
have only resulted in disappointment. Madame Berard, how- 
ever, is a splendid exception, and both in the bud and blossom 
is always a great addition to the exhibition stand, giving that 
deep orange colour so conspicuous in the Safrano-Madame 
Falcot type, without their deficiency in size. Niphetos, a well- 
known, large, shell-shaped flower of the purest white, should 
find room in every collection, as when well shown its place 
never can be filled up. 
Madame Margottin with its rich citron-coloured blossoms, 
and Souvenir de Monsieur Peron with its delicate peach tints, 
have both been specially glorious this year, and rank among 
the finest exhibition Roses. The same remark applies to that 
somewhat uncertain but well-known gem Rubens, when grown 
in character it cannot be surpassed. 
Why my friend Mr. Camm gives so high a placein his election 
list to Julie Mansais I fail to see, for I never can get this 
Rose to open at all. I certainly saw a superb bloom of it ex- 
hibited at the Alexandra Rose Show this spring, but concluded 
it must have been grown under glass. Souvenir d’Hlise and 
Souvenir d’Elise Vardon I think most rosarians will agree may 
fairly go in the same bracket. 
Jean Ducher is a fine exhibition Rose of great size and sub- 
stance, but it has a very great drawback, shared by H.P. 
Comtesse de Sereyne and some other Roses in producing its 
blooms as a rule of a dull dirty colour, caused probably by the 
running of the great variety of tints from palest yellow to 
dark red. President isa constant but rather small Rose, very 
free-flowering and of good habit, which Perle de Lyons of 
grand substance unfortunately is not. 
The following is my selection :— 
Maréchal Niel 
Madame Hippolyte Jamain 
Madame Bravy i 
Madame Margottin 
America Niphetos 
Alba Rosea Perle de Lyon 
Belle Lyonnaise President 
Catherine Mermet Rubens 
Marie Van Houtte 
Souvenir d’un Ami 
Comtesse Riza du Pare 
Jean Ducher 
Madame Camille 
Caroline Kuster 
Devoniensis 
Souvenir d’Elise 
Souvenir d’Elise Vardon 
Souvenir de Paul Neyron 
Triomphe de Rennes 
David Pradel 
Madame Maurin 
—HEREFORDSHIRE INCUMBENT. 
FORCING VEGETABLES. 
SEAKALE. 
ALTHOUGH the noble family it is my pleasure to serve does 
not consider Seakale a first-class vegetable we always keep a 
little of it in hand for variety during the winter; but there 
are many who value it highly and require large quantities of 
it. Fortunately for such it is not difficult to force, and a large 
quantity of it is just about as easily secured as a small one. 
The principal point to aim at in Seakale growing is to have 
it strong and tender. When cultivated in good soil in the 
kitchen garden the roots will generally be found in a satis- 
factory state for forcing, and to have it tender it must always 
be grown in the dark. 
In order to haye Seakale properly during the latter part of 
November, December, and January it is best to lift the roots 
and force them in a house. After that time they may be forced 
where they grow by placing pots over the crowns and cover- 
ing them with a good quantity of hot dung and leaves. For 
early supplies the roots may be taken up as soon as most of 
the leaves are decayed. The quantity taken up at one time 
may be regulated according to the demand. Half a dozen 
12-inch potfuls of good roots will furnish several fine dishes 
when there are ten to twelve roots placed in each pot. When 
the roots are lifted any long straggling pieces may be cut off, 
some rough stuff placed at the bottom of the pots, the roots then 
arranged round the edge, and the centre filled in with a light 
mixture of loam, Mushroom-bed dung, old leaves, or anything 
of that kind. The crowns should bea little above the surface of 
the soil, and the soil should be a little below the rim of the pot. 
After putting in the roots they should have one good watering, 
and then they may be placed in their forcing quarters. _Wher- 
ever this may be they should have a brisk bottom heat to 
start them into growth in a dark place. Our Mushroom house 
is so arranged that the Mushroom beds are along the back of 
a centre pathway, and the front is one large bed to force such 
crops as Seakale in. This bed is filled with long litter and 
leaves to ferment, and it is in this bed that our Seakale is 
forced. After plunging the pots in the bed nothing more is 
required until the Kale is ready to be cut, which is about 
three weeks after the pots are plunged. However, as every 
person has not a Mushroom house, I may say it may be forced 
as well in a dark shed, provided the requisite hot dung is 
placed there. We have made up the hotbed and then planted 
the roots on the top of it, but this we do not find answer so 
well as the pot plan. 
When one batch of pots are done with they may be put 
in a cold frame and kept until the weather warrants their 
being planted in the open quarters again when it is desired 
to keep the old roots; but we seldom do this, as we prefer 
bringing forward young plants to coddling up old ones,— 
A KITCHEN GARDENER. 
WINTER BEDDING PLANTS. 
Worrny of much more than the brief notice given in the 
report of the meeting was the gold-medal collection of minia- 
ture hardy shrubs, &c., exhibited by Messrs. James Veitch and 
Sons at South Kensington on the 15th inst. Such a collection 
was beautiful in itself, seasonable, suggestive, and instructive. 
The plants as arranged abundantly demonstrated that gardens 
need not in winter be destitute of colour, dull. and cheerless, 
but that flower beds may be made enjoyable, even bright, after 
the summer and autumn flowers have faded, The tasteful em- 
ployment of such small Conifers, shrubs, and flowers as were 
included in the collection under notice are not only capable of 
rendering flower gardens beautiful during the winter, but the 
beauty is of a totally different kind from that of summer—a 
vrelcome change ; a sober, chaste, and enduring beauty, not de- 
pendant on sunny days and genial showers, nor on watering, 
trimming, pegging, or pinching. 
It is surprising how cheerful a flower bed on the lawn may 
be made by the employment of a few dwarf shrubs and Conifers 
tastefully disposed. Even the association of such a common: 
shrub as the variegated Aucuba with a few feathery Retino- 
sporas or Cupressuses, and the bright or light Euonymuses, will 
produce an effect at once cheerful and satisfying. Messrs. 
Veitch’s collection contained these and many more winter 
plants that were distinctly ornamental, and yet the collection 
was only representative—a small typical example of the re- 
sources of the Coombe Wood nursery—a reminder that hardy 
winter decorative plants are about as plentiful as summer 
bedders, as varied in character, and in their way as attractive. 
The collection included shrubs in various tints of green, 
some dwarf in habit, some bold, some feathery, others rigid; 
also shrubs remarkable for their bright variegation, as cheer- 
ful in appearance as flowers, and far more durable. Then 
there were flowering plants in variety and plants bright with 
berries, each having a beauty of its own and capable of retain- 
ing it, for all the plants are hardy. 
Perhaps the shrubs with variegated foliage were the more: 
conspicuous, and one of the brightest and quite the boldest of 
them all was Aucuba japonica limbata. he large foliage of 
this shrub is broadly banded with creamy yellow. A mass 
for distant effect would be very telling in large or small beds. 
Equally bright are the Huonymuses. These are indispensable 
for winter decoration, and dwarf compactly-grown plants are 
rarely injured by severe weather. A mass or band of H. ja- 
ponicus aureo-marginatus is as bright almost as Calceolarias, 
and equally valuable is the smaller-leayed H. japonicus aureo- 
variegatus. Then for producing a creamy mass clear and 
effective is E. japonicus latifolius variegatus, of which it is im- 
possible to speak too highly; and for a silvery line comes 
E. radicans. For contrast there are the green varieties. but 
only one can now be named—namely, H. angustifolius, dwarf, 
elegant, and shining, well adapted for divisional lines or edg- 
ings. Other variegated shrubs fine in a small state are the Gold 
and Silver Queen Hollies; and equally so, distinct and very 
effective, is Osmanthus ilicifolius argenteo-marginatus. Not 
to be omitted from this section are the Japanese Ligustrums 
L. japonicum tricolor, with large foliage and constant in its 
variegation, and L. oyalifolium elegantissimum, equally con- 
stant, elegant, and bright. Of very dwarf plants with yellow 
foliage are Buxus sempervirens aurea nova; Hedera azborea 
elegantissima, very compact ard bright; H. arborea aurea, 
clear and bold ; and Daphne elegantissima variegata, very clear 
