July 12, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



37 



a very good season for globular Roses, but, singular to say, 

 while it suits these it has suited G6u§ral Jacqueminot, which 

 was shown by Mr. Paul and Mr. Turner at Richmond in extraor- 

 dinary condition. Mons. E. T. Teas is doing well this year ; 

 it is a grand addition to dark Roses, and it has a worthy light 

 associate in Ducliesse de Vallombrosa. These two new Roses 

 will be in great request. Le Rhone, Abel Carriere, Baron de 

 Bonatetten, Madame Prosper Langier, Star of Waltham, Sir 

 Garnet Wolseley, Prince Arthur, Marchioness of Exeter, Emily 

 Laxton, Miss Hassard, Royal Standard, and John Bright have 

 all been in fine condition, and have attained a foremost place 

 as exhibition Roses. TriomphedeFranoe is not a " triumph " 

 in England, and while the Rev. J. B. M. Camm should be in 

 every garden it has not won a high position in the stands. 

 — J. W. Moorman. 



ABTIFICIAL FERTILISERS. 



"A Retired Gardener " details a very interesting practice 

 with so-called artificial manures in the garden, but it is of 

 rather an expensive, not to say wasteful a character. He ad- 

 mits as much when he says that an equally good effect will be 

 produced if only half the manurial elements are used, the rest 

 of the dressing being of simple water. Yet even with this 

 reduction his quantities so far surpass any usual or necessary 

 amount, that it will be useful to consider what they really 

 come to. On a few rows of Peas extravagance in manuring is 

 of no particular consequence, but when we come to some 

 acres of kitchen or flower garden it would inevitably be a de- 

 terrent from what on a reasonable scale would be a valuable 

 aid to the gardener. 



First as to water. " A Retired Gardener " prescribes an 

 unlimited quantity, which he says he is confident would ex- 

 ceed a gallon to the square foot of ground, to be applied once 

 a-week. But this quantity is equal to a rainfall of 2 inches 

 per week, or as much as two days of constant rain in the 

 seven. It therefore exceeds 8 inches per month, which is an 

 amount that does not occur once in a dozen years. Half the 

 quantity, or 4 inohes in a month, is above the average of even 

 a very moist summer. Those, therefore, who have not an un- 

 limited supply of water or of labour at their command may 

 well be content if they can in a period of drought administer 

 once a-week only half a gallon per square foot, using, of 

 course, all proper precaution against evaporation. 



Next as to fertilisers. " A Retired Gardener " suggests 



1 lb. of guano to ten gallons of water, which he would use on 

 10 Bquare feet of ground, though he admits it would suffice 

 for 20 square feet if the ground were previously soaked with 

 plain water, and a solution of this strength he would apply 

 once a-week ; but 1 lb. of guano to even 20 square feet is equal 

 to about a ton per acre, and to 10 square feet it is equal to 



2 tons per acre. If this is to be applied once a-week, say 

 during only eight weeks of drought, it will come in the one 

 case to 8 tons, in the other to 16 tons per acre, and the cost of 

 this will be. at importers' prices, £120 to £240. With nitrate 

 of soda and superphosphate of lime "A Retired Gabdener" 

 is only a little less extravagant. He would add to each ten 

 gallons of water 1 J lb. of the latter and a quarter of a pound 

 of the former, to be distributed as before, once a-week, on 

 10 to 20 square feet of ground. This would in eight weeks 

 oome to 10 to 20 tons per acre of superphosphate, costing £60 

 to £120, and 2 to 4 tons of nitrate of soda costing £30 to £60, 

 the total cost being thus £90 to £180 per acre for a single 

 crop! 



It need not be said that such quantities and such outlay are 

 alike unknown in either agriculture or horticulture on a large 

 scale, and that no plants exist which could assimilate, far less 

 repay, anything approaching to such doses of manure. In 

 ordinary farming 1 owt. of nitrate of soda or 3 cwt. of guano 

 are a usual dressing once in the year in addition to farmyard 

 manure. The effect of such an application is instantly 

 visible, and few farmers find profit in more. Mr. Lawes' valu- 

 able experiments on farm crops on the same ground during 

 twenty years in succession, show that when no farmyard ma- 

 nure is given the highest fertility may be maintained by annual 

 dressings containing only 3 cwt. of nitrate of soda; that 4 cwt. 

 gives somewhat larger returns, but not in proportion to the 

 increase in the manure ; that 8 cwt. gives a little more than 

 4 cwt., but that hardly any addition is obtained to the crop by 

 manuring beyond that point. It is, indeed, true that the gar- 

 dener desires his crops to be of greater sueoulence and luxuri- 

 ance than the farmer does, and we may therefore concede that 



he may beneficially employ double what the farmer finds pro- 

 fitable ; but he should also recollect that it has been proved 

 that when plants intended for food are too richly fed their 

 juices contain the manuring ingredients in an undecomposed 

 state, and that sheep and cattle have often been poisoned by 

 eating herbage or Turnips raised by overdoses of nitrate of 

 soda, or ammonia, or guano. 



If, then, we take as the limit of safe application to each 

 crop double the amount that a farmer would use we shall find 

 that when we reduce it to pounds, to be applied to 10 square 

 feet of ground, we ought not to exceed — of guano one-third of 

 a pound, or, instead of guano, of nitrate of soda a quarter of 

 a pound, and of superphosphate half a pound. These may be 

 sprinkled on the surfaoe in rainy weather and left to be washed 

 in. In dry weather they may be dissolved at once in five 

 gallons of water and poured on, or, what will be better, they 

 may be divided into four doses and repeated at a fortnight's 

 interval. If too much water is given so as to flow away in the 

 subsoil or the drainB it will wash away the manure, and this is 

 no doubt the way in which the excessive doses of manure ad- 

 ministered by " A Retired Gardener " were disposed of, and 

 thus were prevented from poisoning the plants and their con- 

 sumers. — J. B. K. 



THE NATIONAL EOSE SHOW. 



From first to last your Rose number is a pleasure to me, and 

 I doubt not very many more of your subscribers, for throughout 

 the number but one spirit seems to pervade it, and that is of 

 the congratulatory or jubilant order. Why even, mirabile dictu ! 

 " A Parson's Gardener " can say a kind word about a " Wyld 

 Savage," and also write an exceedingly pleasant letter upon 

 some of the best and oldeBt of our Roses. Surely the Rose mil- 

 lennium is not a thing of the future, but has come and gone 

 last week. 



And this reminds me of the wish expressed by my respected, 

 not opponent (let even a " Wyld Savage " claim fraternity) but 

 confrere, as to a wish that I should make some criticism and 

 remarks on the National Rose Show. This I have already done 

 in the Rose number, but the exigencies of going to press were 

 so great that my remarks and yours were mixed up together, so 

 that there is still left plenty to say about our great Show ; and 

 indeed strange it would be if bo great an event as the first exhi- 

 bition of the rejuvenated National Rose Society could not furnish 

 food for many articles in the English Rose Journal. Now that 

 the duBt has a little subsided from the hot racecourse, now that 

 the Rose boxes are empty and all the great shows are over, now 

 that the stupendous whole is removed from the mind's eye, let 

 me say a few words about some minor things that struck me. 



And first of all I wiBh once more to congratulate you, the 

 Editors and Proprietors of the Rose Journal, in having the best 

 contested fight for the cup which you presented for competition. 

 This, as most of your readers will remember, was for twelve 

 blooms, distinct varieties. The stands which were staged in 

 this class were both numerous and good, but I do not hesitate 

 to say that in my humble opinion the stand which won the first 

 prize was not only the best in the Show but aho the best twelve 

 I ever saw. Mr. Smallbones, of Chatteris near Cambridge, 

 must be a wonderful grower to be able to stage such blooms as 

 they were. All my notes of the Show were left at your office, 

 but if I remember rightly there were blooms of La France, Eu- 

 genie Verdier, Charles Lefebvre, Marie Baumann, &c, which 

 were all splendid specimens. I never saw a more even lot. 

 There were twelve blooms of equal Bize, of bright freBh colour, 

 perfect form, and well set up. The only drawback (alas ! that 

 there should have been one for such blooms) was that they were 

 too crowded together. The box was never intended for twelve 

 such blooms as those; it might have accommodated six, but not 

 more. No sign of moss waB to be Been and very little foliage. 

 The blooms were so large that they touched one another. Mr. 

 Keynes, who judged them and who travelled back with me, 

 quite agreed with me as to their great excellence ; bo that the 

 Editors may rest aBsured their cup waB well contested for and 

 well won. 



Working one's way up the room I do not think anything was 

 more striking than the boxes of nurserymen's Tea Roses. One 

 thing that I remarked was the one marvellous bloom (at leaBt) 

 that each nurseryman had— eg 1 ., Mr. Davison of Hereford 

 showed a marvellous bloom of ComteBse de Nadaillac, Mr. 

 KeyneB an equally good bloom of Niphetos, and Mr. Cant of 

 Boule d'Or. Now these three Roses are so difficult to make 

 anything of that it iB quite an event to Bee good blooms shown, 

 ana if the National was memorable for nothing else it would by 

 me be ever remembered for the astonishing blooms of Tea Roses, 

 which are so difficult of cultivation. 



In the class for twenty-four distinct varieties (Hybrid Per- 

 petual) Mr. Curtis staged a very beautiful lot of blooms. I 

 could not help exclaiming, "Bravo dear old Devon!" as we 



