July 19, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



rainfall of a very moist summer is about 4 inohes a month, 

 therefore I gave twice as much water as the crops required. 

 I had two very powerful reasons for not giving more than was 

 required — namely, the difficulty of procuring water and the 

 lack of time for using it. If my twenty-five years of experi- 

 ence aB a gardener has taught me anything — experience which 

 I think the Editors know has not been without some fruits — it 

 is this, that the crops did not receive a drop too much. 



Opinions deduced from rainfall are not always sound, and 

 they never can be sound unless something besides the mere 

 rainfall is considered. The rainfall in the hill district of 

 Cumberland is of more than twice the weight of the rainfall 

 in the fens of Lincolnshire and the flats of Cambridgeshire, 

 but the influence of the water on the soil and crops is about 

 the same in both cases. No one can say that Cumberland has 

 twice the quantity of rain that is necessary for the district, or 

 that the fen country on the east coast has only half sufficient. 

 The fact is that during most seasons it is more than the crops 

 require, notwithstanding the little that is caught in the gauges. 



The rainfall taken alone is no test as to the real dryness or 

 wetness of a district, nor is the amount falling on a " rainy 

 day " a sufficient guide for applying water artificially during a 

 period of tropioal weather. A dull rainy day when only an 

 inch of rain falls has more power in supporting the crops than 

 has water representing in amount 3 inches of rain when the 

 element is applied artificially during a period in summer when 

 the days are cloudless and the nights dewless. It is not the 

 actual water that falls from the clouds that must be the sole 

 guide in determining the requisite artificial supply, for there is 

 another all-important faotor in the sum (measureless it may be, 

 but is yet immense) — evaporation — which must be taken into 

 account, and without which any conclusions arrived at will and 

 muBt be erroneous. "J. B. K." appears to have overlooked the 

 question of evaporation as he had forgotten the ground between 

 the crops. I adhere to all I have previously written on fer- 

 tilisers and their application. — A Retired Gardener. 



KOSES IN SOUTH WALES. 



Much, but not a line too much, is written about Roses in 

 England, but reference is rarely made to Rases in Wales, hence 

 an allusion to them may be acceptable. 



Some varieties of Roses commenced blooming here about 

 the second week in June, but the earliest buds do not as a rule 

 produce the finest blooms, as they are often injured by the 

 eold winds in April. The best flowers follow the buds formed 

 in May and the early part of June, and consequently ours 

 were about at their best during the " Rose week " — the time of 

 the National Show. The season has been favourable to a cer- 

 tain extent for Roses in this part of Wales — a mild spring, 

 plenty of rain, and a good deal of heat, only too frequently 

 overbalanced by cutting east winds. The winters here are 

 comparatively mild and the summers hot. The soil in every 

 part would not grow Roses well, but abundance of excellent 

 loam can be had to form beds , and the situation is well sheltered 

 from the north about two miles off, and partially protected 

 from the sea, but is much exposed to the east, from whence 

 much damage is done in spring. 



There is more in having a good situation for Rose-growing 

 than good soil. Deficiency in the latter can always be made 

 up by manure, but it is no easy matter to have good Roses in 

 a bad season without shelter. Some say that late pruning 

 will induce late blooming. This may be so, but early pruning 

 will not cause the plants to bloom early. Some Roses were 

 pruned here in November last, and others in March and April, 

 but they all bloomed together just as if they had been pruned 

 on the same day. 



Referring to our best varieties and those which seem to suc- 

 ceed best in this part. Duchess of Edinburgh has come out 

 well, and so has the Duke of Edinburgh, which is much superior 

 in form and colour to the first-named. By far the best dark 

 Rose we have is Louis Van Houtte. It has not grown very 

 strongly, nor the blooms are not large, but the depth of claret 

 shade in them is superb. La France, in a position where it 

 only gets an hour or cwo's sun in the afternoon, has grown 

 well and opened some good blooms, and they remain much 

 longer perfect than when fully exposed to the sun all day. 

 Hippolyte Flandrin is somewhat after the same colour, but 

 more globular in form and a freer bloomer. The old General 

 Jacqueminot still shows up well amongst the others, and this, 

 with Charles Lefebvre and John Hopper, are three Roses which 

 would, I think, succeed anywhere. Baronne de Rothschild 



bears the same oharacter and is doing well here. SSnateur 

 Vaisse has some splendid blooms. Thomas Mills and Thomas 

 Methven have not succeeded. The first is weak in growth ; the 

 latter has grown well enough and shown plenty of buds, but 

 not one of them has opened. Prince Camillede Rohan, a fine 

 Rose in some districts, is not so with us ; and Princess An- 

 toinette Strozzio is poor ; but Marquise de Gibot and Marquise 

 de Mortemart are both splendid, the latter especially, although 

 it is said to be delicate in many places. Francois Michelon 

 does as well here as it need be desired anywhere. Centifolia 

 Rosea has plenty of wood and leaves, but is defioient in flowers. 

 Edouard Morren is splendid, its massive pink blooms not being 

 surpassed in size or substance by any other sort. Without 

 enumerating more varieties I may state that, with the few ex- 

 ceptions which occur in all gardens, Roses will do equally as 

 well in South Wales as in any part of England, and the only 

 thing to be regretted is that they are not grown more exten- 

 sively than they are. 



There is only one really good amateur's collection in the 

 neighbourhood, and that belongs to Mr. Powell, Eglwyswmyd, 

 who has a garden that shows there are exceptions to all rules 

 when it is asserted that farmers' gardens are invariably cha- 

 racterised by bad management. All our Roses are on the 

 Briar and Manetti stocks, and so are a good many of Mr. 

 Powell's, but this season he is trying some on Mr. Prince's 

 seedling Briars, and so far they have done well. 



Amongst the Hybrid Perpetual varieties of more than or- 

 dinary merit in the Eglwyswmyd collection I may name 

 L'Esperance, Fisher Holmes, Horace Vernet, both magnificent 

 darks; Dupuy-Jamin, Dae de Wellington, Countess of Oxford, 

 Boule de Neige, Abel Grand, Baronne Prevost, Sir Garnet 

 Wolseley, Dr. Andry, Jean Cnerpin, Madame Victor Verdier, 

 Pierre Notting, May Turner, and Monsieur Claude Levet. 

 Tea-scented — Cheshunt Hybrid, Alba Rosea, Clotilde.Homere, 

 Madame Falcot, Safrano, Marie Van Houtte, Souvenir de Paul 

 Neron, Madame Margottin, and Perle de Lyon. These Teas 

 are chiefly growing in a border against the house, and if they 

 are more tender or worse to cultivate than the Hybrid Per- 

 petuals they have not yet shown signs of it here. — J. Muir, 

 Glamorganshire. 



CARNATIONS AND PICOTEES. 

 Phillips has written the history of these flowers, and we 

 have little to add to his notes. Chaucer says that the Clove 

 Gillyflower was cultivated in this country as early as the reign 

 of Edward III., and that it was used to give a spicy flavour to 

 ale and wine, and from hence it was called Sop-in-wine : — 

 " Ther springen herbea grete and smale, 

 The Licoris and the Setewale, 

 And many a Cioue Gilofre, 



• — to put in ale, 



Whether it be moist or stale." — Cliaucer. 



It seems to have been a flower in high estimation in Queen 

 Elizabeth's time, since we find it so often celebrated by the 

 poets of her day. Spenser, who was remarked for his care in 

 retaining the old manner of spelling, calls them Coronations, 

 probably because they were used on these festive occasions, 

 and from hence the name of Carnation seems a corruption. 

 Some writers are of opinion that they were called Carnations 

 after a flesh colour so distinguished, whilst others suppose 

 that the colour was so named from the tint of the Carnation 

 flower. 



" Carnation'd like a sleeping infant's cheek." — Lord Byron. 



Spenser says in his " Shepherd's Calendar :" — 



" Bring hether the Pincke and Purple Cullambine, 

 With Gelliflowres ; 

 Bring Coronations, and Sops-in-wine, 

 Worn of paramours." 



The name of Clove, as well as that of Caryophyllus, was 

 given to this speoies of Dianthus from the perfume being 

 similar to that of the spice so called, and the flower was on 

 that account frequently used to flavour dainty dishes as well 

 as liquors, and it was also thought to possess medicinal pro- 

 perties. Gerarde tells us that he had a Carnation with yellow 

 flowers, " The which," he says, " a worshipfull marchant of 

 London, Master Nicholas Lete, procured from Poland, and 

 gaue me therof for my garden, which before that time was 

 neuer seene nor heard of in these countries." 



He enumerates by name forty-nine kinds of Carnations 

 that were cultivated in the time of Charles I., whose Queen 

 was excessively fond of flowers ; but although it appears that 

 varieties were then procured from France and other parts of 



