JOORNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 5, 1877. 



was in royal session yesterday at the splendid and successful 

 Show of the rejuvenated National Rose Society. What has 

 been the cost of that Show and what its results? Eleven 

 months of care, of watohing — pleasurable care no doubt — and 

 almost a chance fixture, has brought the identical Roses to 

 the front which all rosarians knew would receive high honour. 

 With that result, from a rosarian point of view, we are satis- 

 fied. We as rosarians prepare for eleven months of labour, 

 and do not expect more than one month of perfect beauty — of 

 shows. The Roses which win our prizes, those noble blooms, 

 have their fame spread throughout the land ; and the million 

 of Rose admirers — not rosarians, mind — preserve the names of 

 the prize-winners and order the varieties to make their gardens 

 beautiful and sweet. They dig-up their old trees — those trees 

 which have yielded them blooms for years, and it may be many 

 months in the year — to make room for the new. The nursery- 

 men do the same — they are obliged to do so ; and hence the 

 old Roses, the grand old garden Roses which produce hun- 

 dreds of blooms — small they may be, but they are Roses — 

 lovely, hardy, continuous, and sweet : ought they to become 

 extinct ? We think not ; and we know, for we have had the 

 best proof of it, that there are many who think with us. 

 Where there is one cultivator of Roses whose chief object is 

 to grow them for exhibition, there are ten who grow them for 

 garden decoration. Many exhibition Roses we are well aware 

 are eminently suitable for garden decoration, but not by any 

 means_ all of them are. Some of the leading varieties are 

 capricious — " grand when caught." But there are many old 

 Roses which are wholly unsuited for the exhibition stand, yet 

 which never fail to charm in the garden. It is these garden 

 Roses which are becoming scarce. We fear the Rose societies 

 cannot encourage them : they are beyond their pale, but not 

 beyond their influence. We can only appeal, therefore, to 

 Rose admirers who are not exhibitors to cherish the delightful 

 garden Roses, and we advise them not to destroy the old 

 before they have proved the new. 



We would refer to other florists' flowers, but space forbids — 

 to the beautiful, but sometimes " miffy," Carnations; to the 

 ostracised Auriculas, especially the Alpines which are so beau- 

 tiful in the garden, and— perhaps because of it — so vigorous ; 

 to the Polyanthuses, amongst which those whioh adorn the 

 garden the most effectually cannot have honour at the shows. 

 All the more reason therefore to honour them in the garden, to 

 improve, and cherish, and preserve them there. Let exhibitors 

 grow and show their flowers with all their ardency and all their 

 skill, they are engaged in a right good work ; but forget not the 

 flowers of home — the free, gay, and sweet garden flowers. 



There yet remains another feature in connection with special 

 shows that we would notice. It is an important one — even 

 the specialists themselves. Their special knowledge — their 

 advantages — their power are great. Let them wield their 

 strength wisely, considerately. They " mean well," but their 

 earnestness is not always understood by outsiders. A sentence 

 from a letter which we received the other day is illustrative of 

 onr meaning. The writer refrained from saying what he 



wished because, as he said, while Mr. was no doubt a 



" good sort," he was " terribly touchous." 



SEASONABLE NOTES ON GRAPE-GROWING. 



No plant requires less attention than the Vine when it is 

 leafless and at rest, and there are few with greater demands 

 when it is in full growth. We are now in the midst of the Vine- 

 growing season. It is an interesting time in the vinery when 

 the bunches are forming, and it is surprising how very rapidly 

 the small bunches increase as the berries begin swelling. 

 This year no person who saw our Hamburghs before they came 

 in flower would have cared to stake their life that one bunch 

 would have weighed over 3 lbs., and now I venture to say that 

 some of them would turn the scales at 5 lbs., if not 6 lbs. ; but 

 I rather suspect there is a good' reason for this increase of 

 weight, and it is easily explained. Every time the Vines have 

 been watered they have received abundance of strong liquid 

 manure — made not with chance refuse, but the real pure pig 

 and cow dung. I have ceased using guano for Vines, and 

 nearly for everything else. The manure above mentioned is 

 far oooler and much more nourishing. 



Nothing more distressing can be seen about a garden than 

 Vines starving for want of food, and it is a melanoholy fact 

 that thousands of Vines are actually starved into unfruitfulnees. 

 Let barren Vines of last and former years have an unlimited 

 supply of liquid manure for the next two months, and if they 



do not improve in leaf and wood and become more fruitful 

 next year they will be different to any I have ever had to deal 

 with. This is all I intend saying about the roots at present ; 

 and I now come to what may be considered by Grape-growers 

 generally, but more especially amateurs, to be the leading 

 question at this period of the year. 



Ever since I can remember reading the Journal the numbers 

 in June and July have always contained many answers to 

 correspondents on Grapes scalding, and information seems as 

 much sought for this year as formerly; and I must say I am 

 not surprised at this, as it is a matter quite capable of creating 

 great concern. Still, scalding is not always a sign of bad Grape- 

 growing, as the worst case of it I ever saw was with one of 

 your "crack" market growers near London, but I am in- 

 clined to think it is the result in a great measure of casual 

 neglect. My own opinion is that the evil does not come from 

 the roots, but rests in the state of the atmosphere. It is not 

 always the berries unshaded from the sun that become first 

 affected ; on the contrary, those under the thickest Bhade often 

 suffer severely. Where ten berries would scald in a close moist 

 warm atmosphere not one would do so in a cool or com- 

 paratively cool dry place. The worst eases of scalding I have 

 ever witnessed always occurred in houses where there was 

 much fire heat and sun heat combined. Any person could 

 scald the half of the berries in their house simply by having 

 the pipes hot in the morning and not admitting much air 

 until the temperature rises to about 90°. This will produce a 

 dew on the Grapes, and then they are prepared for scalding. 



Some people appear to have an idea that Grapes cannot be 

 grown without fire heat, and, no matter how hot the day may 

 be, the pipes must be hot also ; and as for allowing them to 

 pass one night without fire, it is entirely out of the question. 

 That is an expensive waste of coal, and it does no good what- 

 ever to the Vines or Grapes. We have a large Hamburgh 

 house in which the Vines were in bloom by the end of April. 

 The Grapes are now nearly half swelled and looking extraor- 

 dinarily well, and all the coal that has been used to supply 

 them with artificial heat does not exceed two barrowloads. 

 Fire heat is never used unless in a wet day, and it will not be 

 used until it is necessary to prevent the ripe fruit from damping. 

 Still the temperature is never very low at night, as we always 

 close the ventilators early in the afternoon, and the sun heat 

 does not all escape until the lights are opened the following 

 morning. 



Nearly all Grapes have been thinned, but wherever it is seen 

 that the berries will be crowded when ripe go over them at 

 once and clip them out, so as to leave the bunches looser. We 

 did this to a house of ours a week ago, and the bunches are 

 now filled up as if they had never been touched ; but no more 

 will be cut out of them, as they will soon be ripe and cease 

 swelling. 



As yet there is not a Bingle red spider on one of the Vines, 

 and this I attribute to giving plenty of water at the roots and 

 keeping the atmosphere sweet, moist, and healthy, combined 

 with little or no fire heat. 



Vines are not making young wood so fast now as a month 

 ago, but they are still forming leaves ; but they must never be 

 allowed to become large, or they may shade a bunoh or a few 

 berries while they are tender, and then by removing the leaves 

 the sun strikes Btrong on the previously shaded parts and often 

 does damage. 



I never shade a Vine from the sun with any covering on the 

 outside of the glass. A Vine, provided it is well watered at 

 the roots, will withstand as much heat or sunshine on its 

 leaves as an Oak will ; and wood ripened, or rather browned, 

 in the shade will bear no comparison with that ripened under 

 full sunshine. — A Kitchen Gaedenee. 



ROSE SHOWS. 



I did not go to the Crystal Palace on the 23rd. Amongst 

 other unacceptable economies they had left out of their 

 schedule the twelve for amateurs, which suited many to whom 

 the twelve triples is too formidable. 



" Vessels large may venture more, 

 But little boats must keep near shore." 



One thing they may be congratulated on, and that is having 

 gone back to the one-day show. The Press deserves great credit 

 for the prompt manner in which the two-day enormity of last 

 year has been protested out of existence. 



I did go to Maidstone, and a very pleasant and oreditable 

 little Show it was. They did not do things, indeed, quite in the 



