November 28, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
403 
be Hyacinthus corymbosus, Z., a native of the Cape. It grows 
in a dense tuft only about 3 inches high. The leaves are subu- 
late, among which appear numerous lilac flowers, two or three 
together on each stalk. Herbarium specimens answer the 
name much better. The flowers are numerous, in broad clusters, 
so that by giving plenty of room to the bulbs an equal number 
of flowers might be produced from each. 
THE ROSE SEASON OF 1878. 
“WYLD SAVAGE” has given his résumé of the Rose year. 
I should like to give (as I have been accustomed for some 
years) my review of the past season so far as the queen of 
flowers has come under my notice. As I have already given 
some notice of the Rose shows at which I have been privileged 
to assist, commencing with the pleasant gathering at Holm- 
side near Reigate, of the Brockham Rose Society on June 27th, 
and ending at Newton Stewart on July 16th (for I do not take 
into account exhibitions at which the Rose forms a small part, 
but those only where it is either exclusively the object of the 
show or else the piéce de resistance), it will be unnecessary for 
me to enter into any detailed reference to these separately, 
but merely to draw some general deductions as things have 
struck me. 
And first with regard to theseason. In my judgment it was 
not a good Rose year. The winter was very fatal in many 
soils to the Manetti; the constant wet completely rotted the 
roots, and I have seen and heard in gardens in Cheshire, Kent, 
Dorsetshire, and other counties of wholesale losses from this 
cause. The early part of the spring gave promise of an abun- 
dant growth and fine blooms, but spring frosts in some places 
and the cold cheerless weather in the early part of June com- 
pletely disappointed these expectations. I was inundated with 
letters about our National show, complaining that the fixture 
was too early, that it would be impossible to have blooms in, 
&c. ; then came that extraordinary burst of tropical weather 
in the last week in June, bafHling all expectations and destroy- 
ing the hopes of many a small grower. So that again we have 
to say that the season was an exceptional one, as they have 
been for three or four years ; and as exceptional means in this 
case bad, it is to be hoped that we may soon come to normal 
seasons. The result was, that taken as a whole Roses were 
not so good as [ haveseen them. There was a general want of 
substance and what I would call finish ; and while, as I shall 
notice, some astonishing blooms were exhibited, the general 
character was below the average. 
The popularity of the Rose seems not only not to be dimin- 
ishing but increasing. I have been asked this year to officiate 
as judge at places in our southern counties which are little 
known, situated on branch lines of railways little frequented 
by the travelling public, where the Rose was the only flower 
shown, and was sufficient to draw together all the neighbour- 
hood ; while far away in the west of Scotland I hear that the 
Rosarians’ Society closes its year with a handsome balance in 
hand. The influence, too, of our National Rose Society is 
telling. Two-day shows have been abolished in some places 
and will be soon a thing of the past ; its rules of judging have 
been eagerly sought for and are being acted upon; while the 
immense demand made upon growers for sale, of which I hear 
from all quarters, shows how widespread this love for the Rose 
is, and I think I may fairly say has been largely fostered by 
the work of our National Society. 
I do not remember any season when there has been a greater 
scarcity of good new Roses. Looking down the long list which 
reached me last November from Charles Verdier I hardly see 
one that has made any mark. I did see in early spring a 
bloom of Boieldeau which struck me as very fine, but nothing 
else has come prominently forward. Whether there may be 
some flower which has hitherto “wasted its sweetness on the 
desert air” and is yet to take us by surprise I know not, but 
I see no sign of it as yet. A good one is sometimes overlooked, 
as in the case of Comte de Raimbaud, a bloom of which exhi- 
bited this year took everyone by surprise. The name even 
does not appear in the catalogues of most of our leading 
growers, and is, I am told, only to be found with Mr. R. Veitch 
of Exeter. But if French Roses have disappointed us English 
raisers have maintained the glory of the flag. Mrs. Laxton 
(Paul & Son), John Bright (Paul & Son), May Quennell (Pos- 
tans, sent out by Wm. Paul & Son), and Penelope Mayo (Davis, 
sent out by Turner), have all proved good Roses. The first 
especially is one of the finest exhibition Roses we have. I 
have watched it as it has been exhibited both in pots and as 
cut blooms, and under all circumstances it has proved a first- 
rate Rose. We have some promising Roses also coming for- 
ward, but these notes have to do with the past and not with 
the future. It is disappointing that out of the thirty-six Roses 
put into commerce last autumn in France no more can ip 
justice be said, but of late years our gains from these have 
been few. 
While the general character of the bloom was below par 
there were certainly some of the finest blooms exhibited I ever 
recollect to have seen, and it is very remarkable how certain 
Roses in particular seasons come to the front. Last year 
Frangois Michelon was everywhere good, this year I did not 
see a noticeable bloom. ‘The Rose of the year, and that in a 
year when dark Roses were not especially good, was in my¥ 
estimation Reynolds Hole. I am not likely to forget soon the 
blooms exhibited at Manchester and Preston, a box at the 
latter show exhibited by Mr. Cranston being one of the most 
telling exhibits I ever recollect to have seen. Then there were 
at the National Rose Society’s Crystal Palace Show some stands 
which will long remain in one’s memory ; the stand of Horace: 
Vernet exhibited by Mr. Cant, wonderful in size and colour ; 
the magnificent stand of Souvenir d’Elise Vardon shown by 
Messrs. Mitchell & Son, Piltdown, the very perfection of a Tea 
Rose, and with such-substance as one rarely sees ; the beautiful 
box of Capitaine Christy by Messrs. Paul & Son, Cheshunt, 
showing how valuable it is in such weather as we experienced 
the last week in June; and the stand of Boule d’Or exhibited 
by Mr. Cant, a Rose which no one seems able to grow as he 
does—at least not to open its blooms, it being one of those 
hard-budded Roses which perplex and worry growers. 
Nor must it be left unnoticed how much the seedling Briar 
is taking the place of the Manetti, and along with it Briar 
cuttings. On all sides I hear of the favour in which it is held ; 
and although its comparative slowness will not make it com- 
mercially so great a favourite with growers for sale, yet I am 
confident every year will see it increasing in numbers. I do 
not find it liable to the objection sometimes urged against it, 
throwing up suckers as the Dog Briar of the hedge does, nor 
underground shoots as the Manetti isso liable todo. A careful 
excision of the eyes will in both cases greatly prevent it, and 
I cannot but think that an indigenous stock is much more 
likely to suit our climate than one brought from the sunny 
plains of Lombardy. It may be true that this stock is no 
novelty, having been so long used by French Rose-growers for 
their Teas, but Mr. Prince’s name will be ever identified with 
the extended favour it has met with in England. Others are 
following in his wake, but he undoubtedly led the way. 
It will have been noticed that the fixtures of the National 
Rose Society have been already made, the first at the Crystal 
Palace on June 28th, and the second at Manchester on July 14th, 
Rose-growers are busy preparing for the battle, and if I mis- 
take not we shall, if spared to see it, see such a “gathering of 
the clans” as has not yet been witnessed. Vivat Regina! 
—D., Deal. 
DRESSING CARNATIONS. 
ASI read the papers by ‘‘ WYLD SAVAGE” and “A STAF- 
FORDSHIRE GROWER ”’ on the subject of dressing flowers I had 
forcibly revived in my memory the words of the great apostle, 
“ Wor when for the time ye ought to be teachers ye have need. 
that one teach you again which be the first principles.” 
“WYLD SAVAGE” entered into the discussion evidently without 
an elementary knowledge of the laws which govern its practice, 
and was so deeply in error as to suppose that gum or other 
extraneous substance might be used ; and “ A STAFFORDSHIRE 
GROWER” thinks that unfair and illegitimate which was set 
up by the first master of dressing (vide Hogg : “ One Christo- 
pher Nunn of Enfield, Middlesex, a noted florist in his day, 
was eminent for his skill and dexterity in dressing Pinks and 
Carnations for prize exhibitions. Some will even tell you Kit 
was father of the art. Upon such occasions he had as many 
applications to dress flowers as he had to dress wigs, for he was 
a barber and friseur by trade, and could both shaye and lay a 
Carnation with the greatest nicety”’), and thus traverses not 
merely the unquestioned and unquestionable practice of our 
fathers, but all the arts of cultivation. 
If it be illegitimate for Mr. Douglas to have the help of his 
friend and the friend of every devoted florist in the length and 
breadth of the land (Mr. Simonite), it must be equally ille- 
gitimate for Mr. Whitbourn to employ Mr. Douglas, for Mr. 
Douglas to direct the hand of any save himself, and so on and 
