December 21, 1876 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



tion they should be packed in leaf soil and be kept moist by 

 syringing them occasionally, yet they grow quite freely without 

 any soil. 



It is most important that Potatoes for planting should be 

 carefully prepared, for if neglected in the early stages of their 

 growth when out of the ground, no after care, no mode of 

 planting, no sort of soil, and no additions of manure can com- 

 pensate for the neglect, and can produce the beat possible crop 

 at the earliest possible period. — A Nokthsrh Gakdeneb. 



BTJPLEURUM FRUTICOSUM. 



This is said to have been introduced to this country about 



1596. From that time to the present one would hare thought that 



it would have been met with almost everywhere, but it appears 



Jo have found little favour in public estimation : perhaps it is 



Fi-j. 76. — Buplearmn fruticosam. 



"iittle known. It is a charming umbelliferous dwarf evergreen 

 shrub, having fine glaucous shiniDg foliage, whioh makes it 

 very detirable in a choice selection of flowering shrubs, and 

 its umbels of pretty yellow flowers give a charm to it during 

 the summer months. It is worthy of a place in shrubbery 

 borders, baing of dwarf habit, and with a little eare may be 

 made an object of great beauty. It requires an open and 

 moderately dry situation. It may be increased by cuttings of 

 half-ripened shoots inserted in well-drained pots filled with 

 very sandy soil, plunging the pots in sand or ashes in a oold 

 pit or frame. This Bhrab might possibly be turned to good 

 account for indoor decorative purposes. — N. 



CARROT GROWING. 

 I, last winter, trenched a small piece of ground where 

 formerly nothing but rushes were produced. Throughout the 

 early part of the year it was frequently stirred up and broken 

 with a five-tined fork, at the same time mixing in a good quan- 

 tity of soot, guano and sand. I added the sand to make the soil 

 work better, it being a wet spongy peat. In April the seed was 

 sown, and I must say that I have never seen a better crop of 

 Carrots. 



I write this to show that Carrots can be grown on what I 

 may term waste land, where scarcely anything else will succeed. 

 In this country (Dumfries-shire), there are thoueands of acres of 

 waste land, which if cultivated would yield magnificent crops 

 of this useful esculent, at the least worth £40 or £50 per acre. 

 I should say that an acre of Carrots similar to those I lifted a 

 few days since would in the market be worth £70. — Jailes 

 Dkison. 



THE ROSE CONFERENCE. 



The queen of flowers has for so long a time been a speciality 

 of the Journal, that it was natural that our " most potent, 

 grave, and reverend seigneurs " should have desired to give 

 its readers a report of a meeting which some of us belieTe to 

 be the most important one that has ever been held in connec- 

 tion with our cherished flower, and I am sure we all feel 

 indebted to them for the full account that was given of it in 

 last week's number. I know under what difficulties the re- 

 porter laboured, and I only wonder how he could have managed 

 to bo so full and generally accurate ; but as in a meeting like 

 that, where there are many speakers, there is always a difficulty 

 in ascertaining the exact details, and I have only to refer to a 

 few corrections. The first resolution that was passed was " That 

 a National Rose Society be formed." There was no society to 

 revive, as none had ever existed, although some confusion 

 existed in the minds of some present on this point. The second 

 resolution was " That the first Show be held in St. James's 

 Hall on either July 4th or June 28th," not July 1st, which 

 falls next year on a Sunday, and at which we parsons at any 

 rate should rebel. But this Wfis clearly a slip of the pen. It 

 was found afterwards that the Hall could not be had for June 

 28th, so it was engaged for July 4th, with the understanding 

 that if a show be held in London in 1878 it should be on the 

 last Thursday in June ; tho date for 1S77 suiting the more 

 northern and midland growers, while that for 1878 would be 

 more agreeable to the southerners. 



Mr. Cant's question with regard to Mr. Mayor was a natural 

 one ; but there were many present who know him not only to 

 be a keen rosarian and an ardent horticulturist, but a thorough 

 man of business of kind and conciliatory manners. Without 

 his aid I could not have undertaken the post which the meet- 

 ing wished me to do. He will be financial Secretary, for, like 

 most parsons, I am a shocking bad hand at figures, and more- 

 over the Horticultural Club gives me quite as much of that 

 as I care for. It was a mistake to represent me as saying 

 that Mr. Mayor resided in my neighbourhood, for he lives at 

 Winchmore Hill. What I did say was that we were members 

 of the Club, and so had often opportunities of meeting. I 

 have already seen what a valuable helpmate he will be, and 

 I think if the success of the movement depends on the Secret- 

 aries pulling together, our friends need be under no appre- 

 hensions. 



Many thanks, my dear " Wild Satagb," for the kindly way 

 in which you have written of poor wooden " D." It was in 

 truth a meeting of which I felt not a little proud. How 

 worthily was the Rose represented ! It was pleasant to see 

 the worthy son of the father of Rose-growing in England there, 

 for I think all will acoord this to Thomas Rivers, whose inde- 

 fatigable industry and Bkill have more than anything tended 

 to make English Rose-growing what it is ; to see the heads of 

 the two sister firms of Cheshunt and Waltham Cross ; the 

 Colchester hero, too. with all his blushing honours of the past 

 season thick upon him; the hearty and genial champion of 

 the Manetti from Hereford ; the king of florists from Slough ; 

 the prince of the seedling Briar from Oxford ; and the goodly 

 company of amateurs from all parts. And as after dinner we 

 sat discussing the merits of the various Roses, one might have 

 thought we were met together on a sunny day in June rather 

 than on the dreariest of winter days. 



And may I not add, too, that it proved the value and use- 

 fulness of the Horticultural Club as a central rallying point 

 for all who love the craft ? Here at once was a plaoe for the 

 meeting, so central that in two minutes you are in the busiest 

 part of the Strand, and yet so quiet that all the traffic through 

 that busy thoroughfare was as absolutely unheard as if we had 

 been miles away, while the offer of the use of the rooms for 

 the Committee of the National Rose Society at once relieved 

 them of any trouble on the score of expense or a place of 

 meeting. 



Xhe letters which I held in my hand represented a larger 

 number of supporters than those present, and one and all 



