326 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 31, 1878. 
or less each season. First comes Winter Nelis, a small Pear 
of the best quality, very juicy, and of the richest flavour; ripe 
about Christmas. On a wall it is improved in size but not in 
flavour. Beurré d’Anjou is a large buttery Pear, juicy and 
very good; ripe in December or January. Nouvelle Fulvie is 
one of the very best late Pears, being large, very juicy, and of 
delicious flavour; ripening in January for the three seasons 
that I have fruited it. Joséphine de Malines, generally ripe in 
February, is small, pink-fleshed, with rose-water flavour, very 
juicy, and surpassed by no late Pear when in perfection. 
Bergamotte Hsperen is another very good small Pear, and 
should be tried on a wall to increase the size; and the same 
applies to Olivier de Serres and Prince Napoleon, which 1 have 
only fruited for one season. Knight’s Monarch has altogether 
failed with me, sometimes dropping its fruit, and in other 
seasons remaining quite hard till the end of February, and then 
shrivelling withoutripening. For the autumn and early winter 
months we have more than enough Pears of the highest quality, 
the only difficulty being to decide which to select out of so 
many that are first-rate ; but a good large late Pear that could 
be relied on to ripen well in February or March would prove 
a decided acquisition. Magnificent fruits of Easter Beurré are 
annually imported from France and the Channel Islands, but 
this Pear proves very uncertain in ourclimate. The first season 
I had it very fine, equal to the best foreign fruit ; then for four 
years in succession it failed to ripen satisfactorily, sometimes 
remaining quite hard till midsummer. This season, judging 
by appearances. I believe it will prove good again, as the fruit 
is large and well developed. weighing from § to 12 ozs. each, 
and with a clear smooth skin free from blemishes. 
Rance is a large late Pear, exceedingly juicy, but deficient in 
flavour. 
For cooking, Catillac and Bellissime d’Hiver are immeasur- 
ably superior to all others. As a curiosity Belle Angevine 
Beurré | 
may be grown on a wall, but for use by all means plant | 
all the Catillac you can find room for either as bushes or 
cordons. 
To obtain Pears in perfection, especially the later varieties, 
a'suitable storeroom is absolutely necessary. No Pear should 
be allowed to ripen on the tree. even the earliest varieties 
being gathered just before or while they are changing colour. 
A properly fitted-up fruit room is a great convenience. but | 
any cool dry cellar will answer; the exclusion of light and 
maintenance of a uniform temperature being the chief re- 
quisites for keeping fruit, and a warm place to develope the 
flavour while ripening. I put mine in shallow boxes each hold- 
ing about two dozen truits, examining them occasionally to see 
that none decay, and when ripening the boxes are transferred 
to a warm cupboard behind a chimney with a temperature of 
65° to 70°. The name of the contents with probable time of 
ripening is marked on each box. 
An important point in the culture of the trees is to mulch 
well early in summer, especially for trees on the Quince stock, 
the surface roots of which are liable to suffer from drought, 
when, instead of swelling off to the full size, the fruit becomes 
stunted and cracks.— Essex, 
ROSES AND ROSE SHOWS. 
ROSE SHOWS were made for Roses, and not Roses for Rose 
shows. Most of those who write about Rosesin ‘our Journal ”’ 
seem to forget this. The election lists are made out as though 
the one object of everyone who grows Roses is to fat them up 
like prize pigs for the show boards. The biggest, and the 
fattest, and the roundest wins. He who can show twelve big, 
fat, and round blooms, the produce of five hundred bushes, 
does well : but he who can show forty-eight big, fat, and round 
ones from five thousand bushes does better—nay, he is a hero, 
a Hercules ! 
As “A PupiILt OF REYNOLDS HOLE” pertinently remarks, 
“for one exhibitor among those interested in Rose lore there 
are perhaps ten thousand who grow the Rose simply for the 
pleasure it affords to themselves and friends, loving it for the 
grace and beauty it sheds around their quiet gardens.” And 
who shall deny that this quiet enjoyment, which excites none 
of the baser feelings of our nature, is quite a sufficient recom- 
pense for all the toil and trouble bestowed on the cultivation 
of this peerless flower? 
Now, after this, would you be surprised to hear that I am 
an exhibitor myself? I am, indeed; but I candidly confess 
that exhibiting is only a secondary consideration with me. I 
do it, but do not altogether like it. The excitement and the 
worry, and the hurry and the sounds of the conflict, have no 
charms for me. The Roses themselves never seem to me to 
look happy stuck up in stiff rows with an unnatural precision, 
and those who show them look even less happy, as with flushed 
faces and nervous fingers the work of “setting up” is carried 
on. How grand (not lovely: blooms are all grand at shows) 
the box looks now that the work is complete! But somehow 
I do not seem to enjoy the grandeur or feel grateful for the 
splendid ranks. The thought will occur to me, “ Why do not 
the judges begin? That Jacqueminot, now so superb, will be 
gone in half an hour, and that fellow D cut his Roses twelve 
hours after I did. Mine will have no chance against his un- 
less,” &c., &c. This may be pleasure to “A LOVER OF ROSE 
SHows,’’—who, by the way, can see no difference between La 
France and Capitaine Christy !—but to me, who am a humble 
lover of Roses, it is at the best painful fun and restless comfort. 
Give me my quiet garden, where I can rest indeed and be 
thankful ; where my Roses look up at me and I look down on 
my Roses with calm unruffled brow, and where my Jacque- 
minots come and go each in his own appointed time without 
fretful blowing to hasten;or swaddling bands to retard their 
brief career. 
Thus it is that, although an exhibitor, I heartily endorse Mr. 
Radclyffe’s opinion that the election should not be confined to 
Roses for exhibition only. If it is to be of use to the majority 
of readers we must put Roses first and Rose shows second. 
Indeed, seeing that the number of exhibitors and would-be 
exhibiters is so limited, is it not rather a mistake to speak 
and write so much about Roses for exhibition? Does it not 
deter some from using the lists and other information given 
from time to time who otherwise would do so? Would not a 
classification be more useful to the generality of readers which 
gave— 
"Ist, The Roses which produce freely blooms of the finest 
quality suited for either garden decoration or show. 
2nd, The freest bloomers irrespective of the quality of the 
individual blooms. 
3rd, Roses which produce occasional blooms of first-rate 
excellence, but are too uncertain for garden decoration either 
from tenderness, bad habit of growth, or hard opening? _ 
Space will not permit me to enter into details, but it will be 
interesting and instructive to see how this classification affects 
the present election lists. 
First of all Class 2, a very interesting one, is altogether cut 
out, although it contains many valuable decorative Roses. 
Safrano, Réve @’Or, and Goubault among Teas ; Anna Alexieff, 
Comtesse de Chabrillant among Hybrid Perpetuals ; and Charles 
Lawson, Mrs. Bosanquet, &c., in other classes are examples. 
Next it will be gratifying to the many who grow the Rose 
but never exhibit to find that at least thirty-six of the seventy- 
two named as best for exhibition are also equally, or nearly 
equally, good for garden decoration; that out of the twelve 
at the head of the list only two or three (Marie Baumann, Louis 
Van Houtte, and Etienne Levet) are in any way doubtful as 
garden Roses when grown moderately well. The first and 
second should be grown on the seedling Briar, and will then be 
found freer in growth than on the Manetti. Etienne Levet, 
though a splendid Rose, is of too stiff and unyielding habit 
ever to make a garden Rose. 
In Class 3, for uncertain Roses, will be found those that it 
pays only the exhibitor to grow. Even he finds that he has to 
keep up a stock of about a hundred plants of each if he wishes 
to make sure of cutting one or two show blooms on any par- 
ticular date. 
It may be useful to intending purchasers to name a few of 
these splendid rogues. You must speak of a man as you find 
him, so that Iam aware that I lay myself open to objections 
from those growers who in other localities find that they do 
better than with me. 
First choose Marie Finger in preference to Eugénie Verdier. 
The latter is a bad grower as a cut-back, the former good in 
every way and a richer colour. : ; 
Avoid Etienne Levet, Comtesse d’Oxford, Capitaine Christy, 
Xavier Olibo, Horace Vernet, Duc de Wellington, Emilie 
Hausburg, Elie Morel, Lord Macaulay, Marie Cointet, Duc de 
Rohan, Niphetos, and Reynolds Hole. All the above are bad 
growers as cut-backs. 
The following open badly:—Monsieur Noman, Star of 
Waltham, Monsieur Boncenne, Duke of Connaught, Madame 
Lacharme, and Edouard Morren. Several others in the list are 
open to objections of various sorts ; while, strange to say, Prin- 
cess Mary of Cambridge, one of the best all-round light Roses 
~ ae he 
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