September 21, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



251 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



of 



Month 



Day 



of 

 Week. 



SEPTEMBER 21—27, 1876. 



Average 



Temperature near 



London. 



Son 



Rises. 



Sun 



Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 before 

 Sun. 



Day 



of 



Year. 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



h. m. 





h. m. 







m. s. 





21 



Th 



Crystal Palaoe Show opens. 



66.4 



45.6 



56.0 



5 47 



5 69 



10 23 i 6 60 



4 



7 9 



265 



22 



F 





66.4 



147 



55 6 



5 48 



5 56 



11 43 j 7 12 



5 



7 SO 



266 



23 



S 





66 3 



45.7 



55.9 



5 50 



5 54 



0a57 7 42 



6 



7 51 



2G7 



24 



Son 



15 Sunday afteb Teiniti. 



66.1 



43.5 



54.8 



5 52 



5 62 



2 4 8 24 



7 



8 12 



268 



25 



M 





65.8 



43.1 



54.4 



5 53 



5 60 



2 56 | 9 19 



5 



8 82 



269 



26 



To 



St. C2PRIAN. 



G5.7 



43.8 



54.7 



6 55 



5 47 



3 35 10 25 



9 



8 52 



270 



27 



W 





65.3 



44.6 



55.0 



5 67 



5 45 



4 2 | 11 88 



10 



9 12 



271 



From observations taken near London daring forty-three years 

 44.3°. 



the average day temperature 



of the week is 66.0 ; and its night temperature 



BOSES IN AN EXPOSED SITUATION. 



Illrr^liS OSES in beds or borders are very ornamental ; 

 they are also the most esteemed of cut 

 flowers. National indeed is the Kose, for 

 it is everybody's flower, and its enjoyment 

 is not restricted by its costliness of pro- 

 duction. Brawny hands, hardened by toil 

 in factory, workshop, mine, or other occu- 

 pation, prompted by the mind of their pos- 

 sessors who, residing in street or alley with- 

 out a yard of ground to cultivate, and em- 

 ploy their leisure hours pleasurably and profitably, pluck, 

 when opportunity offers, the Rose of the wilderness — the 

 Dog Rose, proud to possess in the button-hole so primitive 

 a representative of the national emblem, prizing the 

 " blushing bud " as highly as the most enthusiastic rosa- 

 rian its most improved and noblest flower. 



Though we should hail a legislative enactment pro- 

 hibiting houses in towns without frontal gardens, and 

 houses in rural districts without garden ground adjoining 

 sufficient to produce a supply of vegetable diet, to say 

 nothing of fruit and flowers, fostering as they do home 

 tastes, and affording healthy employment and profitable 

 relaxation, yet we cannot but look upon the apologies 

 for lawns in towns and the providing of large garden 

 plots for those who must labour almost from daylight 

 until dark as other than mistakes ; the former is a mis- 

 appropriation, and the latter converts relaxation into 

 labour. Moderate-sized gardens have a much better 

 chance of being well kept and profitably cultivated than 

 large gardens ; and if larger plots are needed to supply 

 the requirements of any, their wants will be better met 

 by allotments. 



But what has that to do with Roses in exposed situa- 

 tions ? Much ; for no exposure is so draughty and trying 

 as that of street gardens. The winds sweep up them, 

 and by beirjg direct in their course form eddies or whirls 

 that batter or twist everything in the way of vegetation. 

 It is hard to tell whether smoke, dust, confined space, or 

 wind are the greatest hindrances to gardening in towns. 

 Walls are all very Well as shelter, but unless they are 

 clothed with verdure are very unsightly, and do not 

 "sift" the wind as a "living" wall — a hedge of some 

 kind. Beech may be named as forming a good wind- 

 screen, and it does fairly in towns. Hornbeam, however, 

 does better, and better still Thorn. Those are, of course, 

 deciduous. Ivy will cover a wall or any fence, only train 

 it up, and Clematises appearing npon its surface are 

 simply charming. The best of all shrubs for standing 

 smoke are Rhododendrons, and where the soil is un- 

 favourable to their growth Aucubas may be planted, but 

 they are not nearly so satisfactory as Rhododendrons. 

 In a fairly sheltered town garden Roses may be grown 

 tolerably well, selection being made of the vigorous hardy- 

 constitutioned kinds. It is more easy, certainly, to grow 

 Roses in an exposed situation in the country than in a 

 town garden. I find, however, that in town or country 

 the cultivator must be prepared for "cross currents" — 

 No. 808.— Vol. XXXI., New Series. 



the wind does not always blow straight — success in most 

 instances being alloyed with failure. I have grown Roses 

 in smoke at a similar altitude for about the same length 

 of time that I have striven to grow them in an exposed 

 situation in the country with results that can only be set 

 down as a mixture of failure and success. I have looked 

 around me, and I find it is much the same in the case of 

 others under similar circumstances. 



I was told the other day that my Roses looked as if 

 they wanted "more shelter. Why not give them it — a 

 hedge of Tew or similar wind-screen ?" We are seeking to 

 afford the requisite shelter, not to anything in particular, 

 but to everything in general, by planting groups of trees 

 and shrubs, mostly evergreen, and these are disposed in 

 the natural or picturesque style, all the lines being curves 

 and all the figures irregular. To introduce a hedge with 

 either curved or straight outline would be to make a pen- 

 fold quite out of harmony with the surroundings. In- 

 stead, therefore, of forming fields by enclosing an open 

 space with a hedge I have introduced groups of Roses to 

 harmonise with the irregularity of the groups of trees and 

 evergreens. So far as groups of shrubs can afford shelter- 

 to associated groups of Roses it is given, but this is of a 

 different character to that afforded by a continuous line 

 or hedge. Our exposure is to the west and north-west ; 

 the winds from those quarters sweep over mile after mile 

 of moor, aglow now (early September) with the rosy- 

 purple blooms of Ling (Calluna vulgaris) ; whilst from 

 south-east to north-east the winds reach us after lashing 

 the North Sea into foam as merciless and unrelenting in 

 their attacks as the Norsemen of old, and far more fleet, 

 scaling our height of over 500 feet with an impetuosity 

 that tries severely the resistance of the obstacle opposed 

 to their course. 



As might be expected standard Boses are not suited 

 for such a situation ; they do not look well, and, what is 

 of more consequence, do not thrive. Standards may do 

 in sheltered situations in soils that suit the Briar, but in 

 a cold exposed situation they are unsatisfactory and ex- 

 pensive to maintain. Bose bushes on tall stems may have 

 originated in the idea of having the flowers produced on a 

 level with the eye, so that the fragrance of the flowers 

 may be inhaled without stooping. A Bose to be seen in 

 all its glory does not want to be on a level with the eye, 

 but beneath it ; its fragrance if not worth stooping for is 

 not worth having. Standard Roses in little circles on 

 lawns are inappropriate — a fritting away of the beauty of 

 a lawn_ and making it appear smaller than it really is. 

 It would contribute immensely to the effect were scattered 

 Bose bushes collected into a bed or border, where they 

 would also be more enjoyable from the advantages of 

 admitting comparison by the varieties being adjudicated 

 upon in juxtaposition, instead of inferential derivations 

 being drawn from isolated subjects. 



Notwithstanding the effectiveness of Boses in the mass 

 as compared with solitary specimens they must be of one 

 variety in each maBS ; for the pinks, roses, crimsons, reds, 

 whites, and yellows vary so much in tint and are so dis- 

 similar in habit that when an attempt is made at assorting 



No. 140).— Vol.. LVI.. Old SEr.i-r. 



