September 1, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



163 



the riches she offers available. If the British peasant ean be 

 taught to discover hidden virtues in these plants with whose 

 outward forms he has had a life-long familiarity, we do not 

 despair of his acquiring the one secret of salad-making — viz., 

 the judicious employment of oil so as to correot the acid juices 

 of the plants and yet preserve their several flavours unim- 

 paired. — C. J. Robinson. — (Nature.) 



GRAPES NOT COLOURING AND SHANKING. 

 I have a span-roofed house with glass all round to about 

 3 feet from the floor, and with an inside border. The bottom 

 is concreted and drained with pipes ; on this is nearly a foot of 

 broken bricks, &«., for drainage, and on the latter about 2 feet 

 9 inohes of decayed turf, with layers of old wall plaster and 

 mortar. In this material the roots are planted. The Vines are 

 five years old ; they were started this year in the middle of 

 January, therefore the fruit is overripe. For the last two years 

 the Grapes have not coloured well, and several of the bunches 

 have some shanked berries upon them ; I am satisfied with their 

 size (between 2 lbs. and 3 lbs. per bunch), and the berries are 

 fine. I am afraid there is some improper treatment on my 

 part. From their starting the Vines have been constantly 

 watered up to the first week in July, since which time they 

 have not been watered, but they have since then thrown 

 out fresh shoots, producing fresh bunches of Grapes. The 

 foliage is large and healthy when I expected the sap to have 

 been drying and the root action ceased. Did I use water too 

 abundantly, and for too long a time ? or is the bottom and 

 material for the roots wrongly constructed ? or has the soil be- 

 come too dense from the watering and wants now renewing? 

 — J. H. 



[We think the chief faults have been overcropping and over- 

 watering. The Vines seem to be in such a thriving fertile 

 condition that we would not care to renew the soil, but it 

 would be well to have a few trial holos, so as to know the Btate 

 of the border generally before heavy waterings. — Eds.] 



THE AMATEUR GARDENER. 



(CHAPTERS NOT IN WALTON.) 

 No. 4. 



Hortator. — Now then, my friends, permit me to present you 

 to the queen of flowers, for this bright day of June is one of 

 her majesty's most joyous levees. 



Clericus. — Are there no kings or prince consorts to support 

 the royal dignity ? 



Sylvia. — Indeed there are many. For instance, surely this 

 deep crimson Charles Lefebvre is a worthy consort to Coupe 

 d'Hebe ; especially, too, as the beauty of the latter does not 

 extend much beyond midsummer, and so is a true type of the 

 brief existence of feminine charms. 



Cms. — Had Buch a remark oome from masculine lips I should 

 have been tempted to question its soundness, for the calm 

 gentle expression of feminine loveliness in old age has to me 

 peculiar fascination. 



Clericus. — These are indeed lovely Roses ! They are, I 

 perceive, principally dwarfs and pillars. But where are your 

 atandards ? 



Hortator.— Conspicuous by their absence 1 Probably you 

 may greatly question my taste when I tell you that I have an 

 invincible hatred of them. 



Sylvia.— Shared by myself, if Hortator would modify his 

 strong expression by the substitution of objection for hatred, 

 for I can't admit such a word in connection with Roses. 



Civis.— What may be the grounds of your strong dislike. 

 Hortator? 



Hortatok.— Principally their ugliness— a very decided word 

 this, notwithstanding Sylvia's reproof, for standard Roses always 

 remind me of the beautiful princess's head upon the red repub- 

 lican's pike in the great French revolution. 



S-vlvia. — Or a less frightful simile, and quite as appropriate, 

 would be " long broomsticks with a flaunting head-dress." 



Gms. — You modified your objection by the word principally. 

 What are the other objections ? 



Hortator.— Many, one of which is their short-livedness ; a 

 second, their throwing np shoots here, there, and everywhere, 

 so that they require constant watching ; a third, that they re- 

 quire peculiar soil to suit them ; another, that they are often 

 partially destroyed by frost, so that while one side of the head 

 iM strong and vigorous the other is weak and feeble, and in 



severe frosts the head is frequently destroyed altogether, and 

 then your Rose is gone ; whereas, if the heads of Roses on 

 their own roots be killed it is seldom that the roots themselves 

 are, so that they push forth again in spring with little abated 

 vigour. 



Clericus. — But are there not dwarf Rjses budded, or 

 " worked," as I believe they are called, upon foreign stocks? 



Hortator. — You moan upon the Manetti stock. Yes, and 

 they are far less objectionable than the Briar, as, if properly 

 planted, they throw up only a few shoots ; but they are fre- 

 quently difficult to distinguish from the true branch. The only 

 possible defence I can imagine to be mado for standard Roses 

 is the ease with which they may be procured, accounted for 

 readily by the rapidity with which they are budded and sent 

 out for sale Pillar Roses like this [pointing to a specimen of 

 the Duchess of Sutherland] certainly take some time to raise 

 to this height and state of perfection. 



Cms. — It is indeed magnifioent 1 One mass of flower from 

 the top to the very bottom. But surely there must be much 

 art required to reach such perfection as this. 



Sylvia. — No art at all, simple judicious training and prun- 

 ing, which observation of the habit and growth of the Rose will 

 soon enable anyone who loves flowers to do for himself. I 

 always think if Roses must be invested with royalty that I 

 would have kings, queens, and princesses ; all the dark ones 

 should be kings — Charles Lefebvre, by-the-by, should be 

 emperor — the reds and yellows queens, and the Tea-scented a 

 family of princesses. 



Hortator. — If Charles Lefebvre be an emperor, then surely 

 Marechal Niel, notwithstanding the masculine name, should 

 be empress ; never was there a greater misnomer than to give 

 such a name to such a Rose. 



Clericus.— What a lovely Rose is the Cloth of Gold. I 

 know but little about Roses, but my eyes were almost dazzled 

 by the fiaht of this in the garden of the old Bhhop's palaoe at 

 Wells. The gardener there told me that he had cut eight 

 hundred blooms from that tree in one season ! It covers a 

 large space on the ruined stone wall of that venerable pile. 

 He told me, too, what seemed to surprise him much, that he 

 had in vain endeavoured to coax Marochal Niel into bloom ; 

 indeed, that he had lost three plants in succession in the 

 winter, but that he was now going to try it on its own roots. 



Hortator. — And will, doubtless, succeed. 



Civis. — Pray tell me, Hortator, what gardens that are ac- 

 cessible are most worth seeing. 



Hortator. — That is a wide question, but those that at once 

 strike me are — Chatsworth (the Duke of Devonshire's, in Derby- 

 shire) ; Trentham (the Duke of Sutherland's in Staffordshire) ; 

 Enville (the Earl of Stamford's, in the same county) ; and 

 Deepdene (Mrs. Hope's, near Dorking, in Surrey). The latter is 

 unique in its way, which is attributable to nature rather than 

 art, though art has greatly assisted in making it one of the 

 most classical gardens in the kingdom. 



Clericus. — It always seems to me a matter of regret that 

 in such gardens, where the owners so kindly admit the public, 

 some uniform plan of payment for the privilege is not adopted, 

 instead of leaving it to individuals to fee the gardeners. Not 

 knowing whether we have paid sufficient to satisfy them, or 

 may be, that we have overpaid, thus inflicting an injustice 

 upon other visitors, appears to me most objectionable. 



Hortator. — True, indeed, and did I possess such gardens I 

 should adopt a plan that I think all would be satisfied with, 

 and which would be a great help to any neighbouring local 

 charity. I would have printed tickets admitting a single person 

 at Is., and others at 2s. 6d. admitting a party of four, stating 

 distinctly for what purpose the proceeds would be applied, and 

 also that further fees were strictly prohibited. Certain days 

 might be mentioned when the gardens would be accessible, and 

 the expense of the man (he need not be a gardener, thus avoid- 

 ing the inconvenience of the interruption of the work), might 

 be deducted from the amount. Were this plan adopted at such 

 a place as Enville, where visitors may frequently be counted 

 by hundreds in a day, the help to aDy neighbouring hospital 

 would be material. 



Clericus. — An excellent idea. What would I give for soch 

 aid to my parochial institution. 



Civis. — But this is a digression from the great Rose question. 

 Pray tell me the names of those you would recommend me to 

 purchase, for I perceive, like the family human, though they 

 resemble each other in general features, yet they differ ma- 

 terially on closer contact. 



Hortator. — Well, I shall indeed be very glad to furnish 



