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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



[ April 21, 1863. 



Mr. Turner had, in our southern taste, some marvellously 

 fine plants and flowers ; and, although no competitor entered 

 the lists with him, one may very safely say that it would 

 have required something super-excellent to have heaten him. 

 His twelve were, Duke of Cambridge, Pizarro, Mrs. Sturrock, 

 Sir C. Napier, Am. Smith, Lovely Anne, Glory, Mary Ann, 

 Catharina, Perfection, Apollo, and Smiling Beauty. 



Amongst Amateurs, Mr. Butcher was first with Eliza, Badajoz, 

 Duke of Wellington, Glory, Sir J. Moore, Pizarro, Favourite, 

 and Privateer. Mr. James was second with Duke of Wellington, 

 Eliza, Bright Phoebus, Lady Jane Grey, Duke of Cambridge, 

 Mary Grey, Lady Blucher, and Bobert Burns. Mr. Potts was 

 third ; and Mr. Holland exhibited some rather promising seed- 

 lings. Besides these Mr. Turner had a collection of twenty- 

 eight varieties, amongst which were Ashton's Prince cf Wales, 

 Blackbird, Spalding's Metropolitan, Formosa (a most lovely 

 shade of colour), Mary Gray, Eclipse, Lady J. Grey, Bellona 

 (somewhat rough), Countess oiDunmore, &c. — altogether a very 

 pretty show, and one which was evidently appreciated by many 

 of the visitors. 



Mr. Holland sent six Alpines, two of which I should not have 

 considered to belong to that class. 



A box of Pansies was sent by Mr. James ; and also Fancy 

 Pansies in pots. It is, however, somewhat too early in the season 

 for them. We observed amongst Mr. James's flowers Lord 

 Clyde, Telegram, Rev. H. H. Dcmbrain, Maid of Bath, Canary, 

 &c. 



Two collections of cut Roses came from the two firms of the 

 hrothers Paul, and were considered of equal merit. Amongst 

 the newer varieties we noticed Beauty of Waltbam; Madam C. 

 Wood, very large ; Eugene Lebrun, dark and well-filled ; Jean 

 Goujon, dark, not very full ; Olivier Delhomme ; John Hopper ; 

 Louise Margottin ; Maurice Bernhardin, dark crimson and fine ; 

 Le Baron Rothschild, very brilliant and shell-like ; Cornelia 

 Kock, pale citron Noisette. 



Besides many of the older flowers in good condition, the pot 

 Roses were excellent — not the great gawky things one sees at the 

 great shows supported by a forest of stakes, &c, hut neat, 

 natural-looking plants, especially those of Mr. Turner, who has 

 taken the place I was sure he would do, heating in Sixes his old- 

 established competitors, the Messrs. Paul. His six were Souvenir 

 de la Malmaison, Baronne Prevost, Coupe d'Hebe, General 

 Jacqueminot, Victor Verdier, and Souvenir d'un Ami. Mr. W. 

 Paul was second with Cardinal Patrizzi, Madame Damaizin, Anna 

 Alexieff, Madame Boll, Souvenir d'un Ami, and Madame Wil- 

 lermoz. Messrs. Paul & Son were third with Paul Ricaut, 

 President, Madame de Vatry, Jules Margottin, Charles Lawson, 

 and Madame Damaizin. 



In Four RoBes the same gentlemen were first with Jacque- 

 minot, Souvenir d'un Ami, Belle de Bourg-la-Reine, and Victor 

 Verdier. Mr. Turner was second with Souvenir de Comte 

 Cavour (beautiful), Comtesse de Chabrillant, President, and 

 Queen of Denmark. The first-named was most beautiful, fine 

 in shape, and brilliant in colour. Mr. Wm. Paul was third. 

 Messrs. Lane had also a nice collection, not for competition, 

 among which was President Lincoln, a promising flower : and 

 Mr. Turner had a nice plant of that beautiful Tea-scented Rose 

 L'Enfant Trouve. 



The Cinerarias I shall not attempt to speak of, farther than to 

 Bay that I think there is a great mistake in the mode of exhibit- 

 ing them. On the home-stage they are very pretty, but on an 

 exhibition-table, tied-out and staked as they generally are, they 

 are to my mind anything but ornamental. 



There was a large collection of Hyacinth blooms sent by Messrs. 

 Krelage, of Haarlem, which did not give one a very exalted idea 

 of Hyacinth-growing on the Continent, containing nothing of 

 novelty, except a curious-looking flower called L'Enfant de 

 France. 



There can be no doubt that these Spring Exhibitions greatly 

 stimulate the growth of flowers; and another year will, I hope, 

 lead to a more agreeable arrangement than the present season 

 has witnessed. — D., Deal. 



Red Camomile to Destroy Iksects. — The Journal d'Sor- 

 tumlture de Selgique states that a powder made from the flowers 

 of Red Camomile (Pyrethrum roseum) emits " an odour so strong 

 and penetrating that it kills all the insects and all the vermin 

 of which until now no certain agent of destruction has been 

 found." 



NIEEEMBEEGIA GEACLLIS. 



Like your worthy correspondent Mr. Earley, I admire this 

 pretty and interesting plant ; but I fear I cannot vouch for its 

 hardiness, although twice during the last fifteen years I have 

 had beds of it that stood the winter pretty well. Strange to say, 

 the most of i he plants that I left in a bed the past winter are 

 dead, though the situation is by no means a damp one, and 

 the winter was unusually mild. I have been led to regard 

 damp as more fatal to it than cold, as the parts of the plants 

 now alive seem to be the extreme tips. I have, however, had a 

 bed that stood through the winter, and flowered early and well, 

 and it continued to do so the whole season. Such, however, 

 was not the case with Calceolaria-beds that had stood and 

 flowered in like manner ; for they bloomed very abundantly early 

 in the season, and, dry weather setting in soon afterwards, the 

 after-bloom was anything but plentiful. This was in the summer 

 of 1851, and the same thing has occurred once since then. 

 Latterly, excepting for some special purpose, I have preferred 

 destroying Calceolaria every season rather than run the risk of 

 the uncertainty mentioned above. — J. Robsok. 



OECHAED-E.OUSES. 



" Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us, 

 To see oursels as others see us, 

 It wad frae monie a blunder free us, 

 And foolish notion." — Burns. 



It is amusing to see with what pertinacity some people will 

 ride their hobby. No sooner is an insinuation made against 

 orchard-houses, or, more properly, fruit trees in pots, than up 

 starts-the champion, " R., of S." who tells us in The Joijbnai, 

 oj EoKTiccxTUEE of last week, that " he has one quality which 

 carries, and has carried, Englishmen through many ill-organised 

 plans and many scrapes, and made them triumphant in so many 

 quarters of the world — the most dogged perBeveranoe." But 

 perseverance would be more commendable in well-organised 

 plans, which would save him from many scrapes. Can the gar- 

 dener or amateur be sanguine of success when he is told in the 



Journal of the same date, by "Duckwesg, Rectory" that 



" the Plums, Vines, and Cherry I may dismiss at once, with an 

 acknowledgment that I could get no blossom to set on the 

 Plums and Cherry, and but few bunches, and those very poor, 

 on the Vines. The Apricots have not done well. I have never 

 had more than six or eight on a tree ?" This communication 

 was headed, "Merits of Orchard-houses." If suchis the merit, 

 I should think the demerit would be prodigious. Mr. Pearson 

 also tells us in the Journal of the same date, that "Pears are 

 not grown in my house because they were never good with me." 



We are also told that Peaches and Nectarines are the only 

 trees that have done well : therefore, " orchard-house " is a mis- 

 nomer, it should be called the " Peach-house." 



Gardeners should bear in mind the advice given in the pre- 

 face to the "Theory of Horticulture." " The difference between 

 failure and success, in practice, usually depends upon slight cir- 

 cumstances, very easily overlooked, and not to be anticipated 

 beforehand, even by the most skilful ; their importance is often 

 unsuspected till an experiment has failed, and may not be dis- 

 covered till after many unsuccessful attempts, during which 

 more mischief may be done by extensive failures than the result 

 is worth when attained. No man understood this better than 

 the late Mr. Knight, who tells us in the following pages that it 

 is the duty of gardeners to put in practice that which they have 

 learned ; and having to expend the capital of others, they ought 

 to be cautious in trying expensive experiments, of which the 

 results muBt necessarily be uncertain ; and, I believe, a very able 

 and experienced gardener, after having been the inventor of the 

 most perfect machinery, might, in very many instances, have 

 lost both his character and his place before he had made himself 

 sufficiently acquainted with it, and, consequently, become able to 

 regulate its powers." . 



It was a wonder, by-the-by, that Dr. Lindley did not think 

 of this advice when he endeavoured to goad gardeners into an 

 advocacy of the Polmaise system of heating. 



Amateurs may try experiments, and blame themselves for 

 failures ; but if a gardener undertakes them he is responsible to 

 his employer. The coiling-system of growing Vines in pots was 

 strongly advocated by the late Mr. Mearns, at Welbeck ; but of 

 five hundred grown, fifty were fruited for exhibition, and when 

 many gardeners lost their places, depending by limited means 

 on a few for success, my esteemed friend Mr. R. Fish exploded 



