July 5, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



19 



(A. crassinefolia of Ventenat; syn. A. speciosa of Michaux). 

 The aprays were laden with paper-white, globose, campanalate 

 flowers, and were very beautiful. It is a native of Carolina, 

 and being hardy is worthy of more extended cultivation. 



OLD ROSES. 



At last we — I mean myself and your correspondent " Wxld 

 Savage" — understand each other. He does not condemn old 

 Roses and large trees of them as such, but only because they 

 are not suitable for producing exhibition blooms for the great 

 shows. Had he been as explicit before, he would have saved 

 both his time and mine ; but I daresay neither of us begrudge 

 half an hour occasionally in a discussion so congenial and 

 agreeable as that of the Rose, especially in those columns 

 which have done, are doing, and will do so much for the in- 

 crease and cultivation of both old and new Roses — Roses for 

 the garden and Roses for the exhibition. 



I cannot say for how many years I have been a reader of 

 your Journal, nor how many times I have been entertained 

 by the refreshing letters of my — shall I write it ?— opponent. 

 I have written the word ; but it is wrong as it stands, so I 

 will qualify it, and in all sincerity refer to him as my highly 

 respected opponent. But although I have been a reader so 

 long I was not aware that I could write until someone " trod 

 on my corns," a matter which few Yorkshiremen will endure 

 in Bilence. And now the Editors have been appealing to my 

 vanity to write more ! Note that, " Wyld Savage." Is it not 

 proof that they do not despise old Roses ? — those glorious 

 dangling masses of beauty which grace the wall, the bower, 

 the rock with their incomparable trusses, and dispense their 

 perfume — their own inimitable fragrance — in garden and 

 dwelling. They may not value them so highly as they do 

 exhibition Roses, for to the latter I see that they offer a cup 

 which will have been won at the "National" before these 

 lines appear in print. How I should eDJoy a visit to that 

 great tournament ! but if I cannot see it I can do the next 

 best thing— read about it. There will bs grand new Roses 

 there and good old Roses, also old rosarians and young. I 

 hope especially that "Wtld Savage" will be there to win 

 and to write, for I like his free criticism better than elaborate 

 formal " reports." 



The truth is that many old Roses would be found in the 

 winning stand were as good stocks and equally good culti- 

 vation given them that are given to the new. I do not believe 

 in the degeneration of Roses, but I do in the degeneration of 

 Rose culture as applied to the good old sorts. When a new 

 Rose is obtained the best stock is selected for it and the best 

 position ; and old Roses, if they are budded at all, are budded 

 on the inferior stocks — the outsiders — the " culls." 



Your correspondent, my respected opponent, has directed 

 my special attention to the peerless beauty of Marie Van 

 Houtte. I grant that that is a charming Rose which all 

 should grow who can do so ; but all cannot grow that dainty 

 gem who can grow the old, the valuable old Rose which was 

 in such grand form at Exeter, Jules Margottin. This is a 

 Rose that will grow anywhere — in the balmy air of Devon or 

 Dorset, in the bleak fens of Cambridgeshire, and on the bluff 

 moors of Yorkshire. Will Marie Van Houtte do so ? I think 

 not. As an exhibition Rose, a button-hole Rose in the open- 

 ing-bud state, and as a garden Rose to grow into a tree and 

 produce hundreds of rich glowing pink blooms, tell me — I ask 

 the question seriously — of a better Rose than Jules Margottin ? 



I do not intend at present mentioning the old Roses which 

 I have alluded to before ; but one which I have not mentioned 

 is just now opening its blooms — there will be at least a hundred 

 of them on one " tree," and not a few of them of exhibition 

 quality — I mean Paul Ricaut. I cannot afford to despise that 

 good old Rose, although he does not continue blooming like 

 another old friend, the "Jineral" (GSagral Jacqueminot). 

 Already has that good old servant twice received honourable 

 mention at the Rose shows this year. Talk about degene- 

 ration ! I do not believe the " Jineral" will sooner degenerate 

 than will York Minster, provided both have what they deserve 

 — reasonable care. I have General Jacqueminot as good now 

 as he was twenty years ago ; but he is on good stocks, and 

 has his wine (liquid manure) regularly every spring just when 

 growth is commencing. He is a noble Rose. I have him, too, 

 on his own roots and planted in a mass with (I know it requires 

 a Yorkahireman's nerve to write it) the old Monthly China 

 Rose, and a valuable old white Rose one seldom hears of now- 

 a-days— Mrs. Bosanquet. A few of Acidalie, another white Rose, 



are growing in the same bed, a bed from which I expect to 

 out blooms — many good enough for exhibition — until next 

 December, and it may be January. What other quartet of 

 Roses will do that so well as those named ? 



I was about to apologise for my temerity in mentioning the 

 old Monthly China Rose, but I will not do so, for a real lover 

 of Roses who " went south" last year told me of its beauty at 

 the Crystal Palace, where it is grown (he informed me) more 

 largely than any other Rose. I can quite understand how 

 beautiful and long-continued in its beauty it is when planted 

 in long lines, as I am told it is at the Palace, for even in York- 

 shire the bushes are laden with blooms throughout the summer 

 months. It is the first Rose and the last, rendering the garden 

 cheerful and the vicarage rooms gay. 



Let me say another word in favour of Mrs. Bosanquet. If 

 the frost cuts it down to the ground it springs up vigorously, 

 and the same season produces chastely-formed almost pure 

 white flowers, than which few are more welcome when out for 

 vase decoration ; and the more you cut the faster they seem 

 to come, continuing almost throughout the season. It is also 

 one of the best of Roses for forcing, at least for such quiet 

 forcing as a quiet family like ours requires. We start a vinery 

 on the 1st February, and fill it with Roses, and the Rose that 

 gives nearly the earliest blooms and always the most of them 

 is Mrs. Bosanquet. 



If I say anything about Gloire de Dijon it will be a simple 

 record of my opinion that it is the most useful light-coloured 

 Rose ever raised, as I think Jules Margottin is the most useful 

 of deep pink colour, and the " Jineral " the most serviceable 

 crimson. 



I have some other old — no, not old, but only oldish — Roses 

 for which I have a liking, and I think " Wyld Savage" might 

 like them too, because they are not only good garden Roses 

 but yield exhibition blooms. They are Charles Lefebvre, 

 Semateur Vaisse, Alfred Colomb, La France, Baronne de Roth- 

 schild, John Hopper, Comtesse de Chabrillant, Exposition de 

 Brie, Marquise de Castellane, and a few others which I expeot 

 will be honoured at the National Show. I have also some 

 newish Roses, which I shall not now further refer to than to 

 say that, good as they are, they will not drive the old favourites 

 out of the garden, for the old Roses give blooms by hundreds 

 when the new Roses give them only by dozens, and often not 

 at all. 



Bat I have one new Rose which under glass is a gem, only 

 feed it well and thin out its buds. It is Madame Lacharme. 

 "Wyld Savage," recant ! Did you not once " speak ill" of 

 this fair Rose ? — A Pakson's Gakdenee. 



[He has recanted. — Eds! 



CARBOLIC ACID versus MICE. 

 We have been very much troubled with mice in the kitchen 

 garden this spring. Half of the seed was taken out of some 

 of the rows immediately after it was sown. I tried nearly 

 everything I have ever seen recommended to keep mice from 

 destroying the seed, and not one of them was so effectual as 

 coating the Peas over with carbolic acid, and allowing it to dry 

 on before sowing. — J. H. Y. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST AND WORK FOR 

 THE PRESENT WEEK. 



KITCHEN GABDEN. 



We hear of genial showers of rain in the neighbourhood of 

 London. The crops on the dry and loose soil of the Essex level 

 have Buffered from the prolonged drought, but as far as the kitchen 

 garden is concerned we make our preparation in the winter by 

 deep digging or trenching, and manuring with moist cow and 

 stable manure placed at a considerable distance under the surface 

 of the ground, and our crops have not yet suffered. " J. B. K.," 

 writing in last week's Journal on the substitution of artificial 

 manure for Roses, may be quite right in regard to the chemical 

 nature of the constituent parts of the fertilisers, but we would 

 prefer manure. It is not so much the amount of water the ma- 

 nure contains when it is applied to the ground as its capability 

 to absorb and retain water until it is needed in the summer that 

 readers it valuable, and more unfortunate still would be the 

 want of manure for mulching the ground after watering. Other 

 Bubstances might be placed on the surface, but we do not know 

 any so valuable as good manure 



It is a good plan to bow bucq cropa as late PeaB in shallow 

 trenches. Dig out the trench first, say i inches deep, and then 

 draw a drill in the bottom of it and sow the seeds. The crops 



