July 7, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTQRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



great picture or statue, and yet it would only create within him a feel- 

 ing of admiration ; but you might take the dullest lout out of the 

 streets, or the moat savage Arab who ever slept under a dry arch, put 

 him amongst flowers and trees — things which appeal to something in 

 the man that awakens within him a consciousness of hiB duty to his 

 Creator. He believed that anything which tended to refine the popular 

 taste deserved encouragement by the nation. 



Mr. R. Garth, Q.C., proposed the health of the noble Chairman in 

 terms the most eulogistic. 



The Earl of Derby, in responding, announced that H.S.H. the 

 Prince of Teck would honour the Institution with his presence at the 

 nest annual festival. 



Mr. Donald Nicoll proposed the health of the Vice-President of the 

 Institution, and Mr. J. J. Mechi responded in suitable terms. 



The Secretary announced the amount of the subscriptions promised 

 at the festival to be upwards of £500. 



The Chairman then proposed the health of the Secretary, which 

 Mr. Cutler brieSy acknowledged. 



Groups of plants for the decoration of the room were contributed by 

 Messrs. Veitch, Lee, B. S. Williams, Turner, and Carter & Co. 



THE NEW ROSES 



AT THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S SHOW. 



As the report already given has entered largely into the general 

 character of the Show and named the successful competitors, I shall 

 confine myself to the new Roses — viz., those of 1868 and 1S69, not 

 specifying the stands, but picking them ont here and there. 



Edouard Morren was again largely exhibited. My opinion of it 

 remains as it has always been ; it is a somewhat coarse flower, and 

 inclined, like General Washington, to show a green eye. Probably 

 not one bloom in a dozen would be fit to put into a stand of twelve, 

 but when caught it will grace any stand. Heine Blanche, as shown 

 here and at the Palace, was a great deal too rough for exhibition, and 

 a good white Rose is still a desideratnm, Nardy Freres is a good 

 Rose, as I have said before, somewhat dull in colour, but we must wait 

 for another season before deciding finally as to its position. Madame 

 Clert is a very pretty bright pink flower of good shape ; and Thyra 

 Hammerich a very pretty blush white Rose with shell-like petals, formed 

 somewhat in the style of Baronne Prevost, only a little more cupped — 

 very pretty indeed at times. Souvenir de Monsieur Poiteau has come 

 very rough this season where I have seen it, but its colour will always 

 ensure it a welcome. Mademoiselle Eugenie Yerdier is a very pretty 

 Rose, and likely to be an acquisition. Of Clemenee Raoux a box was 

 exhibited by Messrs. Lee, and if constant to that state it was decidedly 

 a novelty, being of a light blush ground distinctly margined with pink. 

 Monsieur Journeaux is of a very peculiar shade of colour — reddish 

 Bcarlet with a purplish tinge through it, good form and large ; this 

 struck me as a very desirable Rose. Marquise de Mortemart is an 

 undoubtedly good Rose in a section where good flowers are much 

 wanted, blnsh white ; Madame Creyton, a fair Rose ; Devienne Lamy, 

 again shown in good condition ; Henri Ledechaux, a fine carmine 

 Rose, of which I have again to say that it deserves to be grown more 

 than it has been ; Julie Touvais, a very curious Rose with large petals, 

 almost reminding one of a Tea, but I think one not likely to be of 

 much use; Emilie Hausburg, a prettily-shaped pale rose, and with 

 imbricated petals — a flower deserving of being grown if its habit be 

 good, which it seemed to be ; Madame Josephine Guyot, a very pretty 

 and well-shaped Rose, which I cannot find in any catalogue : Victor 

 Trouillard, too rough ; Victor le Bihan, beautiful bright rosy carmine ; 

 Dupny-Jamain, of which I have again to repeat what I said, that it i3 

 a beautiful carmine Rose well worthy of cultivation; Andre Fresnoy, 

 not very remarkable as shown. The same may be said of Ferdinand 

 de Lesseps and of Comtesse d'Oxford. 



It will be seen from the above that comparatively few of the new 

 Roses of this season have been exhibited— not one of the Teas ; one 

 Noisette. Reine d'Or, at the Crystal Palace ; and not above five or six 

 of the Hybrid Perpetuals. This is to be accounted for by the fact 

 that nurserymen are busy propagating them, and hence cannot afford 

 to allow their plants to grow on for exhibition. Of those of 1868 the 

 following have, I think, made good their claim to remain amongst our 

 favourites — Devienne Lamy, Dupuy-Jarnain, Edouard Morren, Henri 

 Ledechaux, Madame Creyton, Marquise de Mortemart, Monsieur 

 Journeaux, Souvenir de Mons. Poiteau, Thyra Hammerich, and Victor 

 le Bihan. 



I have bloomed some of the new Tea Rose?, and am inclined to think 

 that we have some good kinds amongst them. Chamois is rightly 

 named, but there is too little of it. Madame Ducher has a good deal 

 of analogy, as I have it, with Devoniensis, and is a very fine Rose. 

 Lamarque a fleurs jaunes promises to be a good yellow climbing Rose. 

 Unique is a very remarkable-looking flower, shaped like a Tulip, but 

 I wait for another bloom before deciding. But to my mind the finest 

 flower of the season, as far as I can see, and from all, too, that I heard 

 in Paris, is Louis Van Houtte, raised by my old friend Lacharme, 

 one of the most conscientious of our Rose raisers in France, and 

 already dear to all lovers of the Rose by Francois Lacharme. Louis 

 Van Houtte is likely, I think, to uphold his fame ; it is of the shape 

 of the old Cabbage Rose and of that fine Rose Francis Treyve ; it 

 has also the fine perfume of the old Cabbage ; in. colour it is like 



Charles Lefebvre when it comes dark, approaching at times to that of 

 Prince Camille de Rohan. The habit of the plant is vigorous, and 

 altogether I am inclined to consider it the best Rose of the season. 

 There is another Rose whose position is now so well established that it 

 is not needful to say much of it, but I question if at the Show on 

 June 29th there was one Rose which sooner caught the eye and held 

 captive the beholder than Duke of Edinburgh. Mr. George Paul may 

 well be congratulated on having 6ent out this fine English Rose, for 

 in brilliancy of colour it is unsurpassed, while its fine habit gives it 

 also a claim which many dark Roses do not possess. — D., Deal. 



STRAWBERRIES NOT FRUITING. 



The soil for " Sir Harry " Strawberry has been highly ma- 

 nured, and is on a generous clay, but we have hitherto failed 

 in procuring anything beyond most luxuriant growth and fine 

 dark foliage — no fruit at all worth speaking of, although the 

 bed is a large one. What would be the most judicious mode of 

 treating this bed in order to insure fruit next year? I should 

 add that this is the third year since the bed was planted. — 

 F. TJ. S. 



[Perhaps your instance of Sir Harry not fruiting, but grow- 

 ing so luxuriantly, may be partly owing to the rich manuring, 

 and the strong rich soil in which the plants are growing. _ I 

 have known cases of Strawberry plants taken from a prolific 

 stock yielding but little fruit, owing to the over-luxuriance, 

 of the plants, arising from rich manuring, and having the 

 plants so close together in the bed that the sun had little 

 power to ripen the fruit buds, and then the following year there 

 was vigorous growth and only a sprinkling of puny flowers, 

 followed by few and Bmall fruit for the kind. If you deter- 

 mine to keep this bed of Sir Harry, and give the plants another 

 chance, then I should advise the following treatment. 



As soon as the fruit is gathered I would remove all the 

 runners, but keep none. In your soil there must no mowing 

 off nor cutting the leaves, but I would go over every plant, and 

 cut out with a sharp knife all the little pieees with the smallest 

 buds from each plant, or rather stool, leaving to each three or 

 four with the plumpest buds, and all the leaves attached to 

 them. The sun and air will have more power to act on such 

 1 thinned-out stools. By this thinning-out mode and surface- 

 manuring, I have known Strawberries continued in prolific 

 bearing for many years, and the crops were nearly as good as 

 from those fresh planted every two or three years. In your 

 case, as the plants seem very luxuriant, I would not manure 

 with decomposed dung, but would merely place a little loDgish 

 litter among and round the stools, to protect the buds from the 

 frosts of winter and spring. If your plants have come originally 

 from a prolific stock, with such treatment you would probably 

 have a fair supply of fruit the next Bummer. 



But though I should be glad if you adopted the above plan, 

 and informed us of the results this time next year, for the 

 benefit of all concerned, still as you state that you have had 

 scarcely any fruit from these luxuriant plants for three years, 

 unless the ground is of no consequenoe to you, I would advise 

 yon to have only a part of your bed so treated, and plant 

 another bed with young plants obtained elsewhere from a pro- 

 lific stock. I have proved over and over again that the above 

 plan will often make unfruitful plants fruitful, but I have also 

 proved, at least to my own satisfaction, that there are Straw- 

 berry plants, and not confined to this or that kind, so naturally 

 sterile that no treatment will make them prolific. And what 

 is more, I have found, and more especially of late years, from 

 my attention being turned more to the matter, that the runners 

 taken again and again from such plants continue sterile, though 

 as an experiment I have repeated the process from year to 

 year with Keens' Seedling, British Queen, Elton, and even Sir 

 Harry. Such facts have so settled this matter down into a con- 

 viction, that had I time I would clear out every such sterile 

 plant that did not show bloom the first year after^ planting. 

 Unless taken as a runner from a prolific plant, there is the risk 

 that it never becomes prolific at all, and there is a greater risk 

 that from such plants you continue the sterility, as the sterile 

 plants are always the most luxuriant, the most plentifully 

 supplied with strong, fine-looking runners, and, therefore, are 

 more likely to be selected for pricking out and planting than 

 the smaller runners from prolific plants. Such plants, besides 

 their excessive luxuriance, may also be distinguished, as already 

 stated, by the number and strength of the runners, and by the 

 buds of plants and runners being long and sharp-pointed, in- 

 stead of more flat and obtuse. I have no desire to go beyond 

 my own observations and experience, but I would not know- 



