Angast 9, 1677. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



1C9 



two giants, and the contest even at this distance of time is 

 talked about, and is the cause of much interest and excite- 

 ment. Looking back over the exhibitions and comparing 

 notes I am struck with one thing which is of rare event, and 

 that is the number of excellent new Eoses which have been ex- 

 hibited this year. By new Roses I do not mean plants sent 

 out this year, but those of the two last years. Both from 

 France and England good novelties have been put in com- 

 merce, and we cannot be too thankful that this is the case 

 when we remember what a lot of rubbish is usually sent. 



Abel Carriere is a great acquisition to the Pierre Notting 

 class of flower, while Avocat Duvivier is equally good. Mr. 

 George Paul's seedlings are all great gains to this class of 

 oolour, particularly Duke of Connaught and Sultan of Zanzi- 

 bar. Madame Prosper Langier and Madame Emilie Verdier 

 are moBt important additions to our rose and carmine shades, 

 while Marguerite Brassac is a worthy partner of Charles 

 Lefebvre. Monsieur E. Y. Teas is all that can be wished in 

 a Rose, and too well known to require description. Mr. 

 Turner's Royal Standard and Mrs. Baker are gems of the first 

 water, and these with Duchesse de Vallombrosa and Souvenir 

 de Arthur Sansal make a quartet of light beauties quite worthy 

 of the company of Monsieur Noman, Marguerite de St. Amand, 

 and Mdlle. Marie Cointet. Mr. Cant has given the Rose world 

 a priceless jewel in Prince Arthur, and many other French 

 Roses will prove, if I mistake not, worthy of a place in the 

 best stands. 



Among new Teas Marie Guillot, concerning which a corre- 

 spondent inquires, is in my opinion — and one which is founded 

 on much experience — positively worthless out of doors. It 

 is a splendid grower, and perhaps indoors would do well, but 

 in the " open" she will not open. It may be punning to say 

 so, but it is strictly the truth. I have given the Rose the best 

 and fairest trial I can. I have grown her under a south wall 

 in the sunniest and most sheltered spot in my garden, and I 

 have a splendid lot of standards with an eastern aspect, and 

 also another lot with a south aspect, and wherever they are 

 they disgrace the rosery. They grow, they form huge intensely 

 double buds, but when these try to open they cannot perform 

 the operation; it is too much for them, and so they become 

 first dirty and then die. Shading I do not think would do 

 any good, but perhaps a magnifying, or what schoolboys use 

 and call a "burning" glass might. I have as yet seen no 

 good new Teas shown. I was not at the Alexandra, but was 

 at all the other shows except Hereford, and no nurserymen 

 staged any new Teas. So as far as I can judge there are none 

 worth growing. This, if so, is a great loss, as we are very 

 much in want of a few new good Tea Roses. For the last 

 eight years at least no English nurseryman has produced 

 a new Tea, always excepting Mr. George Paul's Hybrid Tea 

 Cheshunt Hybrid, and I cannot understand how it is when 

 he and Mr. Charles Turner have produced so many good 

 Hybrid Perpetuals they cannot send out a new Tea. Is it that 

 the seed will not ripen ? or are the Teas barren in England ? 

 or what is the reason ? Depend upon it the English nursery- 

 man who does produce a Tea Rose which will rank with Cathe- 

 rine Mermet or Marie Van Houtte will have earned undying 

 fame, and be the greatest benefactor that the Rose world has 

 ever known. Devoniensis was an English-raised Rose, and 

 came from fair Devon. Why, then, cannot we have more of 

 the same sort ? Perhaps some learned gentleman will answer 

 to illuminate the ignorance of a — Wtld Savage. 



POTATOES. 



I am growing upwards of thirty sorts this year ; some of them 

 are quite new, and some are to my certain knowledge fifty- 

 eight years old. These are London Don, Blue Don, Glasgow 

 Buff, and Perth Red. Those sorts up to 1845 and 1846 were 

 in general use, and they were very fine, but they are apt to be 

 badly diseased in wet seasons. They are now very little 

 grown. I think if they were grafted on some free-growing 

 sort, such as Champion, that in a few years they might be 

 restored to their pristine vigour, and it is worth trying. 



Some of the new sorts I am trying. Alpha seems to be a 

 useful early sort, and not a robust grower. The foliage is not 

 the least curly, it is 18 inches high. Schoolmaster is growing 

 very freely, and is about 2 feet high, but it does not look to be 

 so early as Alpha. Covent Garden Perfection grows freely, 

 and is 14 inches in height. Yorkshire Hero is growing well 

 and full of promise, and is about 2 feet high. It appears to be 

 like the Lapstone Kidney, which is a very fine sort. Porter's 



Excelsior was recommended to me by a nobleman's gardener 

 of high standing, and I bought a stone of it, but it seems a 

 puny-growing sort, and is not above 7 inches high. There are 

 a few amongst them, one out of twenty, that grows more freely 

 and is 14 inches high, and though they are growing beside 

 those named, and have the same treatment, they look like 

 Pharaoh's lean kino among the strong roots. Climax is not 

 very new, but it is new to me, and is much grown by the 

 market gardeners for the Edinburgh market. It is 2 feet 

 high, has fine full foliage, and is very promising. Extra Early 

 Vermont, a sort very like the American Rose, is equally pro- 

 mising, but I have grown it for the third time. I sold some 

 this season for seed at 24s. per cwt. They left me a good profit. 

 When I lift the crop I will give you an account of them. 



I saw a patch of blight this week on the Early Vermont ; 

 the haulm was much decayed, and some of the roots were 

 rotting. The position was rather damp, and sheltered by 

 Currant buBhes. The weather is now dry and rather cool, 

 and I hope there will be no more of the disease. — J. Addison, 

 Ormiston, Edinburgh. 



A GARDEN LUXURY. 



The Ashantee hammock of Messrs. Seydel & Co., which has 

 found favour in tropical countries by travellers and others, is 

 adapted for use on the shady lawns of English gardens. 



Fig. 24. 



Especially, perhaps, by invalids it will be cherished for the 

 comfort it is capable of affording to them ; and if those who 

 are unfortunately more or Iobs afflicted can enjoy it, it oan be 



Fig. 25. — Aabaatee Hammock Suspended. 



enjoyed the more by those who are hale and hearty. It has 

 been awarded a gold medal at the recent Oporto Exhibition. 

 As a garden requisite it is alluded to, and the accompanying 

 figures show its nature and appropriateness as a garden ap- 

 pliance during the summer months. 



STRAWBERRIES FOR LIGHT SOIL. 

 A few years ago there was a Strawberry election in the 

 Journal, and several interesting and instructive letters were 

 published from correspondents on Strawberries and their culti- 

 vation in vol. ii., 1872. I was induced to try three or four 

 fresh sorts, and have now given them a fair trial, and propose 

 to say a few words about them ; but in the first place will 

 refer to Keens' Seedling. This sort I have had a long time, 

 and it is undoubtedly the best early Strawberry. I have a 

 bed 8 yards long and 7 wide which has produced about seventy 

 quarts of Strawberries this year, and nearly the same last year. 

 This bed has been down about eight years, and the plants 

 look likely enough to go on for another eight. There is 

 nothing particular in the management. They are 2 feet apart, 

 and annually manured with well-decayed hotbed manure. 

 They are trimmed up in autumn, and all the leaves cut off 

 but abont five or six at the top. The manure being thoroughly 

 decayed, there is never any necessity to rake it off. The fork, 

 as a rule, is never used, but there was an exception this spring. 

 The soil was rather caked over on the top of the bed of which 

 I now write, and it was dug over with the point of a small 



