Angnst 2, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



87 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day ! Day 



of 1 of 



Month Week. 



AUGUST 2- 



8, 1877. 









Average 



Temperature near 



London. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 EiBes. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 before 

 Sun. 



Day 



of 



Year. 















Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



h. m. 



h. m. 



h. m. 



fc. ra. 



Daya. 



m. s. 





2 



Th 













75.3 



50 9 



61.1 



4 27 



7 45 



10 7 



1 83 



23 



5 58 



214 



S 



F 













74.9 



50.6 



62.8 



4 29 



7 43 



10 34 



2 53 



24 



5 54 



215 



4 



8 













75.9 



50.6 



62.8 



4 SO 



7 41 



11 13 



4 12 



25 



5 49 



216 



6 



Son 













74.5 



50.9 



62.7 



4 32 



7 40 



morn. 



5 24 



26 



5 43 



217 



6 



M 



SouthamDton Show closes. 











73.2 



50.8 



62.0 



4 33 



7 88 



11 



6 20 



27 



5 37 



218 



7 



Tu Royal Horticultural Society- 



-Fruit and Floral Com- 



74.6 



50.9 



62.7 



4 35 



7 36 



1 28 



6 69 



2S 



5 30 



219 



8 



W Winster (Derbyshire) Show. 



[ mittess 



at 11 



A.M. 



74.5 



49.4 



61.9 



4 36 



7 34 



3 



7 27 



29 



5 22 



220 



From observations taken near London daring 



forty 



three 



years, the average day temperature of the week is 74.5° ; and its night temperature 



E0.6-. 





















REMINISCENCES OF ROSE SHOWS. 



HE 23rd of July and a wet day. Eoses out of 

 doors existing and that is all — not blooming, 

 nor yet, so far as I can see, growing ; bat 

 alive and, let us hope, kicking under the 

 ground. All the Bose shows over for the 

 year ; the great nurserymen hard at work 

 budding ; here and there a bloom of a Tea 

 Eose to be seen struggling against the fog 

 and rain. 



Such is tbe state of things as I sit down 

 to write on Eoses. Not an inspiriting scene, nor a bright 

 and glorious prospect, nor exactly the kind of thing to 

 inspire one to write glowingly and enthusiastically of our 

 pets ; but in spite of all I must try to give you a few 

 reminiscences of the days that are gone — days spent 

 happily in tented field and shire hall, or in noble palace 

 of crystal ; and if I fail to interest or please any of your 

 readers, if never a smile illumines the face as they read 

 my ravings, well, let them remember that I am but a 

 Wyld Savage, and perhaps am "hipped" just now. If 

 the wine proves to be corked or the olives bad, at least 

 forgive me, for I have written very many accounts of 

 shows and cannot always " fool it well." 



To begin with the year that is just over. Pardon, I 

 mean of course the Eose season ; but I get so in the way 

 of looking upon everything in connection with Eoses 

 that to me 1877 is over. Looking back, then, over the 

 last season and taking stock of the various shows and 

 exhibitions, I once more have to record Mr. George 

 Paul as the champion exhibitor of the year. Taking 

 seventy-two distinct varieties as the head or champion 

 class, and counting only the great metropolitan exhi- 

 bitions, it will be found that Mr. Paul won the first prize 

 at the Alexandra and at the National. He was beaten 

 at the Crystal Palace, it is true, but that show was held 

 at so early a date that hardly anyone was in, and Mr. May 

 of Bedale, Yorkshire, who won, cut his blooms entirely 

 from under glass. However, as Mr. George Paul neatly 

 puts it, " We were beaten there, yes ; but we went down 

 to Leeds, just to show our friend that we were still alive, 

 and there we turned the tables." The chorus of disap- 

 probation with which the schedule of the Crystal Palace 

 was received was, and I hope will be found to be so to 

 the Directors, a caution. Already a round robin is being 

 prepared, stating that if another such schedule is sent out 

 none of the leading exhibitors will show ; and it is to be 

 hoped that next year the Manager will retrace his steps 

 and once more make his show what it used to be — the 

 leading show of the season. This year there can be no 

 question it was the worst. 



Among amateurs Mr. Baker is still facile princeps. 

 He was beaten, it is true, at the National for the head 

 class, but he was first at the Alexandra in all the amateur 

 classes in which he could compete, and at Hereford he 

 took the first prize in the four leading classes, and at the 

 National he was first for thirty-six, twelve trebles, and in 

 a multitude of other classes. 

 No. 853.— Vol. XXXin., New Sebies. 



But Mr. Jowitt, besides winning the challenge cup and 

 the prize of the year, has shown splendidly all the season 

 through, and we must indeed take care in the west lest 

 our champion is reduced to accept second honours next 

 year. From the first show up to the very end of the 

 season Mr. Jowitt was in splendid form. He was first 

 at Sydenham on the 23rd of June, and he was first at 

 the Aquarium for twenty-four (the leading class) on the 

 18th of July, and during the interval he showed some- 

 times at two shows a- day. He is a splendid grower. 



Of all the curious places for staging Eoses commend 

 me to the Eoyal Aquarium, Westminster. I have set up 

 my blooms at Clifton next to a wolf, who seemed to eye 

 the proceedings with the greatest contempt. I have had 

 parties asking me, " What's o'clock ?" till I was weary of 

 answering; but all these companions were as nothing to 

 those I met with at Westminster. " Just wire this Bose, 

 will you?" I am saying to my man, when bang thump 

 comes down a little girl from the very top of the dome 

 into a net. " Well done ! well done ! but kick out your 

 left leg a little more," is the astonishing remark made by 

 a great swell on the stage. We look up in amazement 

 to see a younger member of the Zazel family mounting 

 up to the top of the roof to repeat the feat, as if it were 

 only crossing a room. "Bah !" said a great rosarian with 

 a sign of disgust, looking at his Eoses; "are we taking 

 part in tbe pantomine of Beauty and the Beast ?" " By 

 no means," said another great exhibitor, as he gently 

 touches up a bloom; "this iB Paradise and the feri." 

 Then presently as we are judging, the infant Zazel dressed 

 in her tights comes skipping with a rope all among the 

 boxes, raising a most penetrating cloud of dust which 

 settles on all Mr. Cranston's best blooms. Then towards 

 the close of the second day, when we went to remove 

 our boxes and blooms (?), we found what I may best 

 describe as box et prceterea nihil, for every bloom had 

 been — well, borrowed let us say. "WelJ," said my 

 man, as he found a stranger collecting a few Bose 

 leaves, the gleanings of the harvest, " yon are driven 

 short." r.. 



How amusing also is it at some exhibitions to bear 

 amateurs extolling Borne novelty (?) which they believe 

 that they and a few particular friends alone possess, and 

 when we rush to look at it, find that if not as old as the 

 hills it is not much younger than the United States. 

 This year at Torquay, in the midst of all the bustle of 

 staging, " Sir," said an excited exhibitor to Mr. Curtis of 

 Torquay, " let me show you a bloom better than all your 

 Eoses put together ; one you have not got, I know. Here 

 you are. There, what do you think of that ?" "Monsieur 

 Etienne Levet." Then, on the other hand, how often do 

 we meet with exhibitors who are far from pleased with 

 what they see, and who lash themselves with fury with- 

 out the slightest reason, as it seems to us. I remember 

 at Bath when the Boyal Horticultural Society held their 

 provincial Show an exhibitor rushing all round the tent 

 detailing in a loud voice his grievance. "Whatever is 

 the matter?" I asked of Mr. George Paul. "The gentle- 

 man appears to be in distress about a waterpot," was the 



No. 1505.— 'Vol.. LVIII., Old Semes. 



