December 7, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



439 



mansions, and I have carried a few cat flowers to the table by 

 bedside of an invalid to cheer the dull surroundings of the sick- 

 room by their lively looks and sweet odour; but it is on festive 

 occasions that the decorations of the table rise in the esteem 

 and play an important part in the merrymaking ; and, like the 

 music and the dancing, they are really part of the get-up, 

 since the setting-out of t'le tible on sueh occasions would be 

 the talk of the guetH for many years to come. It was only 

 following the true spirit of merrymaking that made the Northern 

 minstrel say — 



" A Christmas gambol oft would cheer 

 The poor man's heart through half the year." 



— Alex. Forsyth, Salford. — {Florist and Pomologist.) 



TEA ROSES IN THE OPEN AIR. 



As regards Tea Eoses and Hybrid Perpetnals I do not think 

 there is so much difference in their hardiness as many suppose, 

 at least I do not find it so. Much, of course, depends on the 

 soil and locality, yet I think more on the former than the latter. 

 I have read with much interest the lists given from time to 

 time in the Journal of the twelve best Roses, and, as I fully 

 expected, the lists vary considerably, which, I think, may be 

 accounted for as much by the soil on which they are grown, 

 as the taste of the selector. Eoses that do well with me are 

 but poor in comparison in the gardens of some of my friends, 

 and also, on the contrary, those which thrive well with others, 

 Sn some instances I cannot induce even to grow. Take, for 

 instance, that fine Rose Margohal Niel, I have tried it on the 

 Briar, on the Manetti, on Gloire de Dij )n, and on its own roots, 

 and it will not do. Some of the Hybrid Perpetnals serve me 

 the same way. Lord Macaulay will not do with me, and I have 

 seen it strong in other grounds. Bat what I wanted to say is 

 •that the few Tea Roses 1 have are in the most exposed position 

 in my grounds, on the slope of a hill that has a north-east 

 aspect, and no protection from the winds coming for miles and 

 miles over the valley of the Medway, and I have not lost one 

 from the cold or wet. I had one blown ofi close to the ground, 

 but it did not break again, and that has been my only mishap. 

 It was the Duchesse de Gazes, and had become a good-sized 

 bush. I have Bougere, Souvenir d'Eliee, S luvenir d'nn Ami, 

 Comtede Paris, Madame 'WiUermoz, Madame Labonte, Duchesse 

 fie Gazes, President, with others, doing well, and seldom cut up 

 by the frost ; in fact, not so much so as my Hybrid Perpetnals, 

 eome of which I lost last winter, and others nearly so. I have 

 a pillar of Celine Forestier, 6 feet high, in a most exposed 

 position, and it only, as a rule, loses the tips of the shoots 

 each winter. Gloire de Dijon does wonders, and is, I think, 

 one of the hardiest Roses I have, and one of the most beautiful. 

 My soil is a kind of loam on a dry subsoil, and I think the dry- 

 ness of the roots helps much to my success with the Tea Eoses. 

 AH the protection they have is a little rough stable straw 

 shaken in between the branches. I am of opinion that Tea 

 Koses in the south of England are much more easy of cultiva- 

 tion than is generally supposed, and I have just ordered a 

 number of other varieties than those I now possess on purpose 

 to test them, but I have no fear of thejresult. I do not think 

 they will do well out-doors on wet clays, but on light or high 

 land I think the grower will be very agreeably disappointed 

 with them. 



I shall not attempt to scrutinise the various lists of twelve 

 Eoses that have appeared, for, as I have said at the commence- 

 ment of this, soil and situation have a great influence, but I 

 may say some mentioned I shall not grow any longer, as they 

 will not do well with me, while others not noticed have with 

 me been fine. In the Rose it is so much a matter of taste. 



I write the foregoing with the hope that other amateurs, as 

 well as myself, will try the capabilities of the Tea Rose for out- 

 cloor cultivation, and if they do I shall be pleased to learn from 

 them their experience, as by such means we can help each 

 other. — Hakeisos Weie, fVeirleigh, Kent. 



JMANCHESTER BOTANIC GARDEN. 



It is certainly much to be regretted that the term Botanic 

 Garden is often given to a place widely different to what one 

 would suppose it to be from its name. Sometimes a fashion- 

 able resort for those who care no more for plants than the 

 colour of the flowers they bear, is unduly dignified by the name 

 of "The Botanic Garden;" or it may be that some garden, 

 once deserving that name, has through the force of circum- 



stances, descended into the condition of a plot of ground de- 

 voted solely to the display of showy summer-flowering plants. 

 There are, however, exceptions to this, and now and then we meet 

 with a place where the legitimate purpose of cultivating a 

 collection of plants having permanent botanical character and 

 distinction about them is still pursued, whilst sufficient atten- 

 tion is paid to the more showy ornaments of the present time. 

 In other words. Botany and Floriculture are united, and work 

 pleasantly and well together ; the mere eight-seers are delighted 

 with the blaze of floral beauty, and the studious botanist has also 

 a regard paid to his wantf. Taking into consideration the many 

 natural disadvantages it has to contend against, the Manchester 

 Botanic Garden is one of the most successful of its kind, 

 especially in the cultivation of potted and out-door bedding 

 plants. Shrubs and trees, owing to the proximity of a large 

 town, it is impossible to grow well, but all that it is possible to 

 do in that way is done. 



The site of the Manchester Botanic Garden is about a mile 

 from that city, by the side of one of the many thoroughfares 

 leading out to the south-west. The appearance of the imposing- 

 looking gate and lodge, which strike the paeser-by as being a 

 likely entiaace to some place of importance, is farther enhanced 

 by another gate (difiering in detail but yet artistic) on the 

 other side of the road, leading to the mansion of Sir Humphry 

 de TraSord, Birt. Unfortunately the presence of houses on 

 both sides destroys the quiet seclusion of the garden, and their 

 rapid approach threatens at no distant day to swallow it up. 

 Even now it is hemmed-in nearly on all sides, and the difficulty 

 of growing good specimens of shrubs and trees is increasing 

 every year. We fear that department of the garden will not 

 be pleasing-to those who reside where a purer atmosphere pre- 

 vails, and before proceeding to details we must remark that 

 everything is being done to mitigate an evil which no one de- 

 plores more than the worthy curator, Mr. Findlay. Indeed, the 

 wonder is how he manages to present such a healthy collection 

 of exotic plants under glass, and also to furnish such a rich 

 display in the flower beds, which are both numerous and full- 

 sized. 



The garden is on that tract of land extending some miles to 

 the south of Manchester, which is very dry, and consists 

 chiefly of a black sandy soil, very productive and absorbent. 

 On entering the garden, the first thing we see is a large and 

 somewhat open grass plot. On this the Manchester horticul- 

 tural shows are held. There is a pecn'iirly-constructed glass 

 house of large size, some of its details certainly having an 

 oriental rather than an Eoglish outline. This building, I 

 beheve, was originally intended as a conservatory, but owing to 

 some canse has never been heated, and is now used to hold the 

 horticultural shows in. Adjoining and leading out of it, the 

 ground has been formed into a series of turf-covered stages for 

 plants, much in the same way as at the London Botanic Society, 

 Regent's Park. This, of course, at show time is covered with 

 canvas, and with gravel paths between must look remarkably 

 well. Eren at the time of my visit Mr. Findlay had turned 

 some of the circular stages to account by planting upon them 

 Gladiolus and other showy plants, which were doing well, and 

 showed to advantage. Fronting this was the flower garden 

 proper — a series of beds laid out on grass, not crowded, yet 

 ample in size as well as in number, and with the exception of 

 Calceolarias, which in some places showed symptoms of disease, 

 everything was in as promising a condition as could be wished. 

 This geometrical garden was, of course, planted with the or- 

 dinary bedding plants, which by conventional usage are sup- 

 posed to be best adapted for such purposes ; and other beds- 

 scattered promiscuously over the ground, contained plants 

 interesting to the lover of novelties as well as the studious 

 botanist. The ground in this direction is bounded by a piece 

 of ornamental water and some shrubbery, with some ruslic- 

 work, and only requires the shrubs to thrive better in order to 

 look well. 



Pursuing our walk to the left we come upon the range 

 of plant houses, and here is ample scope for the lover of 

 Cape and New Holland plants to indulge his tastes. It is a 

 singular thing that so many fine plants of this class are 

 omitted in private collections, as many of them possess beauty 

 of foliage equal to that of some more recently introduced. 

 Plant stoves are also to be seen, and two or three Orchid 

 houses lower than those we have been in before. Mr. Findlay 

 makes a great distinction between tropical and temperate Or- 

 chids, and although he by no means goes the fullest extent in 

 cool treatment, on the other hand he considers that most of 

 them require a warm temperature at the proper growing sea- 



