September 28, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOIJTICDLTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



233 



WEEKLY CALENDAR, 



Day 



of 



Monti 



"o7 



Weei. 





Average Tempera- 



Rain in 



Son 



Son 



Moon 



Moon 



Moon's 



Cloek 



Day 



SEPT.:28-OCT. 4, 1871. 



ture near London. 



43 years. 



Bises. 



Sets. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Age. 



Sun. 



Year. 









Day. 



NiRhl. 



Me?n. 



Days. 



m, h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Days. 



m. B. 





28 



Th 



Length of night 12h. 11m. 



65.1 



44.0 



54.5 



23 



56af5 



45af5 



14af6 



5af 6 



O 



9 16 



271 



29 



F 



Michaelmas Day. 



65.5 



44.S 



54.9 



26 



58 5 



43 5 



31 6 



20 6 



15 



9 S'i 



272 



80 



S 





66.0 



43 3 



54.2 



24 



69 5 



41 5 



48 6 



33 7 



16 



9 56 



273 



1 



StIK 



17 SCNDAT ATTEB THINITT. 



63.4 



44,7 



54.1 



21 



1 6 



40 5 



6 7 



45 8 



17 



10 15 



274 



2 



M 





64.4 



4B.9 



54.1 



19 



3 6 



88 5 



27 7 



57 9 



18 



10 34 



275 



S 



To 





6S.7 



41.5 



62.6 



16 



5 6 



35 5 



52 7 



5 11 



19 



10 63 



276 



4 



W 



Eoyal Hort. Soc., Fruit, Floral, & General 



63.7 



42.4 



5S.1 



31 



7 6 



33 5 



22 B 



11 



20 



11 11 



277 







[ Meeting. — International Frnit Show. 























From observations taken near London during forty- three years, the average day temperature of tbe week is 64 4°, and its night tern " 



peratnre 63.4°. The greatest heat was 80", on the 4th, 1853 ; and the lowest cold 17", on the 2nd, 185S. The greatest £aU of rain was 



1.89 inch. 









1 



RUBUS DELICIOSUS. 



MAKE no apology for contributing tlie fol- 

 lowing additional information to that given 

 at page 179 in reply to your querist " G. S.," 

 relative to this very showy shrub. 



In 1866 or 1867 seeds of the Rubus deli- 

 ciosus were purchased at Stevens's rooms, 

 Covent Garden, by David A. Patterson, Esq., 

 of Dalnagear, who, at his town residence, 

 Restalrig Park, has one of the most interest- 

 ing collections of both hardy and tender 

 plants in the vicinity of Edinburgh. A portion of those 

 seeds which he kindly gave to me produced several plants : 

 one of which flowered here in May, 1869, and another 

 bloomed about a week later in the neighboiu'ing garden of 

 I. Anderson-Henry, Esq., of Woodend ; these plants having 

 been, in so far as I can learn, the first that flowered in 

 Europe. In May of the present year my plant had attained 

 to over 4feet in height, by fully as much in diameter, and for 

 fully four weeks it was profusely covered with large, showy, 

 white blossoms, resembling, in size and appearance, those of 

 the white-flowering wild Dog Briar, to which the plant also 

 approximates so closely in the peculiar arching branched 

 habit of its growth that visitors frequently remarked, 

 " That Wild Briar is blooming remarkably early ;" and 

 only on a closer inspection did they detect the difl'erence 

 by the absence of spines and the undivided form of the 

 leaves. Only two of the flowers have as yet produced ber- 

 ries, and these only partly developed, or having but a few 

 of their pips fuU-sized. When fully grown they are likely 

 to resemble those of the Cape Berry of North-west America 

 (R. nntkanus) in size and flattened roundish form. The 

 few pips were of a duU, hoary, purplish colour, and had a 

 pleasing, luscious, somewhat musky flavour ; but whether 

 they deserve the specific name applied to them by the 

 discoverer. Dr. James, more than thirty years since, can 

 only be satisfactorily ascertained when fully-developed 

 berries are produced. 



The plant belongs to the lobed, not pinnate-leaved 

 section of tlie genus Rubus, and has permanent shrubby 

 branches, instead of these being biennial, as in the common 

 Raspberry and Brambles. Dr. Torrey, the American 

 botanist, by whom it was first described, merely sup- 

 posed its flowers to have been purplish, and accompanied 

 this part of his description by a (?), which Loudon and 

 others have omitted : hence the apparent discrepancy. 

 Dr. Hooker, however, has no doubt of its being the true 

 R. deliciosus, from an inspection of specimens sent to him 

 by Mr. I. Anderson-Henry. From a portion of the seeds 

 which were kept a year longer before sowing, and then 

 lay over a year before vegetating, other plants have been 

 grown, which are expected to flower next year, from some 

 of which, or by fertilising the blooms of one plant with 

 those of another, it is hoped that berries will be more rea- 

 dily produced. The seeds grown from the afore-mentioned 

 imperfect berries have also been sown with this view. 

 That some exotics thus become fruitful which were almost 

 barren at first is exemplified by the Berberia dulcis, the 

 No. 648.— YOL. XXL, New Sbeieb. 



I original plants of which scarcely yet produce any fruit, 



j while their descendants of only a few years old are bending 



; under their berry-loaded branches. 



! I may mention that the R. deliciosus was figured and 

 described by me in the horticultiu-al columns of Tlie Farmer 

 in 18G9, and it was also figured and described in the " Villa 

 Gardener" for September, 1870, page 280. — William 

 GoRRiE, Trinity, near Edinhurcjh. 



ROSE GOSSIP. 



Your correspondent who a week or two since inquired 

 about the best Tea Roses, appears to be without three 

 kinds, which, in my opinion, are amongst the very best — 

 viz., Madame Falcot, Madame Bravy, and Devoniensis. 

 The first of these is, if not the very best Tea-scented Rose, 

 very nearly at the head of them. It is true and distinct 

 in colour, hardy, of a nice bushy habit, and exceedingly 

 floriferous. Early in the season it is scarcely full enough, 

 but in the autumn no fault 'can be found with it in this 

 respect. The second is not very floriferous, but it is a 

 good Rose, well shaped, and distinct, and pretty hardy. 

 There is little or no difference between it and Alba rosea. 

 Devoniensis your correspondent must know, and I wonder 

 he does not grow it. Although an old Rose it is not yet 

 approached in its particular colour. Rubens, which is 

 somewhat like, and which flowers more profusely, has not 

 the substance of Devoniensis. 



Your correspondents who a little time since mentioned 

 some good garden Roses, omitted one of the very best — viz., 

 Anna Alexieff, a hardy robust Rose of a bright pink or 

 rose colour, and remarkably floriferous. One of them 

 recommended Prince Leon, and I must say to my great 

 surprise, for it is not brilliant nor choice in colour, and it 

 is a wretched grower. I had it several years ago, but 

 I really could hardly keep it alive. I would strongly 

 advise amateurs who are without this Rose not to get it, 

 for I am certain it will disappoint them. It is certainly 

 a nice-shaped Rose, though it is not even in that respect 

 a model. There is not sufficient depth of petal. 



I often see it asked, "Which are the best twelve Roses?" 

 In answer to this question I have seen Roses recommended 

 which I should not place in the first thirty-six. Either, 

 therefore, people's tastes differ considerably, or some soils 

 and situations suit some Roses better than others. Very 

 likely the differences in the answers to this question arise 

 from both of these causes. Certainly there is a good deal 

 in the soU, for I can never obtain blooms of such intense 

 and vivid colouring as those grown at Waltham Cross and 

 Cheshunt. Some people believe that to obtain this bril- 

 liant colour the soil should contain a large portion of iron 

 in some form, and I am inclined to think that this is so. 

 If you will permit me I wiU tell you which I think to be 

 the best twelve Hybrid Perpetuals — this as a means of 

 eliciting the opinions of other growers on the point. If I 

 were limited to twelve Hybrid Perpetuals, then I would 

 choose Marie Baumann, Baroness Rothschild, La France, 

 Louis Van Houtte, Countess of Oxford, Mdlle. E. Verdier, 

 Madame Vidot, Charles Lefebvre, Marquise de Castellane, 

 No. 1200.— Vol. XLVI., Old Seeies. 



