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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 16, 1877. 



than in the height of summer. I do not know the reason ; it 

 must be something in the nature of the variety unknown to 

 everybody but themselves. At all events, be the reason what 

 it may, it is very rare to see good blooms of some varieties in 

 exhibition stands. Some readers of these noteB may wish for 

 the names of a few Roses which are thus late in blooming, or 

 which, according to my judgment, bloom better in the autumn. 

 They may wish to prolong their blooming season, so as to 

 have Roses of some kind or other from May till December ; 

 and they can do this if they wish by planting good free climb- 

 ing sorts against a south wall for early spring blooms, and by 

 filling the interval between the first and second blooms by 

 planting Roses such as I am about to name. All of these are 

 the finest exhibition sorts, for I grow none other. 



First I would name that magnificent dark Rose Pierre 

 Notting. How splendid the blooms are in a dry autumn ! 

 while in summer one rarely sees a good bloom. This Rose 

 ought to be grown in partial shade. The place above all others 

 for it is in a south border which has some huge evergreens or 

 thick trees at the east end, so that the sun is not on the Roses 

 till late in the day. I wish I could show the blooms which 

 are on my trees to-day (August 5th). 



Next to this Rose I should name Due de Rohan. This fine 

 old Rose never, to the best of my experience, comes to the 

 front in June. It is a most distinct variety, being wonderfully 

 built up, and of a bright crimson colour — altogether what one 

 may call a superb Rose. 



Then I would name Emilie Hausburg ; I know of no better 

 formed Rose than this. The colour exactly resembles that 

 great delicacy strawberry ice, and the form is in my eyes per- 

 fection. Intensely double and globular, each petal encircles 

 the other ; you sometimes see an eye, but rarely in the autumn, 

 la the summer this Rose doeB not bloom well, but now we 

 have no better variety among the lights. Abel Grand, how- 

 ever, runs her very close. In the autumn I think this fine 

 Rose is even grander than in the summer ; and the same may 

 be said of La France, the sweetest of Roses. 



And now I come to a Rose concerning which I fancy there 

 may be a great diversity of opinion, but I only speak from my 

 own experience. With me this Rose rarely (and never this 

 season), gives a good bloom in June and July. I allude to 

 Madame Victor Verdier. As I have more than once said in 

 the Journal, my Roses are grown in all aspects and in various 

 parts of a somewhat extensive place. Wherever Madame 

 Victor Verdier is, she iB blooming freely and splendidly now. 

 She ia a magnificent Rose, and one I doubt not which will take 

 a very high position in the Rose lists. 



Still keeping to Hybrid Perpetuals, I should next name 

 Marechal Vaillant as being a grand autumn Rose. This old 

 variety has been a little elbowed out of his place by some 

 novelties, but in the autumn the old Marechal is equal to the 

 beat of them. After the soldier I should place that somewhat 

 capricious lady Mdlle. Annie Wood. How rarely in the sum- 

 mer do we see her unfold her charms without having an 

 eye too many ; never, however, a black one, suggestive of a 

 " fighting character," but at times a little green, aa if she was 

 jealous of the beauty of her sisters. But in the autumn she 

 shuts her eye very close and blooms in the most bewitching 

 manner. She always has intense colour, and now she has 

 grand form. Duchesse de Caylus, again, is always better in 

 the autumn, and Horace Vernet too. 



And now I oome to a Rose which I do not heBitate to class 

 as an autumn Rose; I mean Charles Lefebvre. Over and 

 over again have I seen this grand Rose far more magnificent 

 in the autumn than I have ever seen it in the summer. It 

 attainB to a deeper colour, and is often more globular than 

 earlier in the season. Senateur Vaisse ia another old variety 

 which is grand in the autumn, as alao is Alfred Colomb. There 

 is, too, a variety not very well known but deserving of ex- 

 tensive cultivation, which is fine at the present time. I refer 

 to a Rose called Lena Turner. This is a crimson Rose of 

 lovely form, a little cupped, but each petal regularly placed 

 behind the other, somewhat after the form of Horace Vernet. 



There is one other Rose, not a Hybrid Perpetual but a 

 Bourbon, which is never good except in the autumn, but is 

 often grand then. Souvenir de la Malmaison is discarded by 

 a great many exhibitors, but it is quite worthy of a place in 

 any garden for its autumn blooms. 



All the Teaa are good autumn bloomers, and to mention 

 any names would be to take a list and write them down one 

 niter the other. But one or two shy gems must be named 

 which rarely open early in the season — viz., Madame Jules Mar- 



gottin and Comtesse de Nadaillac. Of the Roses I have named 

 there are beautiful examples blooming in my garden, and I 

 doubt if during the summer I have ever had more lovely 

 flowers than on this the 5th of August. There are not, of 

 course, many, but what there are are good. 



Another recommendation too have these autumn Roses, and 

 that one which is not lightly to be estimated— their great 

 fragrance. It is a perfect treat on a still Auguat day when the 

 winds of the capricious summer have at last sunk to rest, 

 when there has been no rain for a week or so, when all nature 

 is quiet and the soft balmy air does not stir a leaf in your 

 rosery, to lift up a bloom of Madame Victor Verdier or La 

 France and to inhale its perfume. 



Then, again, autumn blooms are free from one great defect 

 which their summer brothers and sisters have — they are rarely 

 dirty. How often do we find grand blooms in summer bearing 

 traces of the hard weather they have had to face — a burnt 

 petal here, a damaged leaf there. How many a lovely Rose 

 might plaintively sing — 



" The Spring, she is a young maid 

 Who does not know her mind, 

 The Summer is a tyrant 

 Of most unconscious kind." 



But in autumn the spring frosts and the cold summer nights 

 are over, and if ever we have settled weather it is now; so 

 the Roses can unfold their blooms at their leisure unprovoked 

 by their foes. The grubs have become — something or other 

 (I am no naturalist), and the caterpillars have blossomed into 

 butterflies. The very aphides seem satiated with their sum- 

 mer feast, or are suffering remorse, or, perhaps (let ua hope so), 

 hot coppers from overeating, and they, too, leave the blooms 

 alone, and so the Rose has a chance, and well does she avail 

 heraelf of it. 



" But what of strength of conatitution ?" I fancy I hear some 

 one ask. " Doea your autumn bloom last aa well? Will it 

 bear knocking about in Roae boxea like the summer Roses ? 

 or when you arrive at the autumn shows do not you find half 

 your Roses showing eyes, or past and gone?" Well, perhaps 

 Charles Lefebvre does not last so well now, but of the others 

 that I have named I can never find any differenca ; but all 

 depends upon the strength of the plant, and my experience 

 tells me that the plant in autumn after good cultivation is 

 stronger than in summer. My plants never seem to get hold 

 of the soil till the summer ia over. The soil is so light that 

 it ia a mercy the wind does not blow it away. But there is a 

 silver lining to every cloud, and the soil in which a Hybrid 

 Perpetual Roae can scarcely live is the very kind above all 

 others for the Teas, which, however, I must not discuss now, 

 or there is no telling when I shall stop, and the capacity of 

 the Journal's columns ia limited, and the patience of their 

 readers too ; so I will conclude by expressing my conviction 

 that some autumn Rosea are quite equal to any aummer Roses, 

 and that if anyone thinks that they are not, let him say so 

 and expose the ignorance of a— Wylb Savage. 



[Mr. George Paul's fine collection of Roses at South Ken- 

 sington on the 7 th inst. oontained blooms we think richer in 

 colour than any he has previously this year exhibited. — Eds.1 



EUPATORIUM GRACILE ODORATTJM. 



This is by no means a common plant, though none are easier 

 of propagation and culture. It is a sub-shrubby, half-hardy, 

 or cool greenhouse plant, with opposite oblong lanceolate 

 leaves, and terminal corymbs of white flowera and scented. 

 E. riparium also has white flowers, and E. Weismannianum 

 has rather large corymbs of bloom, but neither of them are 

 fragrant. The heads of bloom of E. graoile odoratum are 

 looser than thoae of the Ageratum, and, though white when 

 first expanded, afterwards become suffused with pinkish purple. 

 The habit is dwarf yet rather loose, and inclined in specimens 

 to be decumbent, attaining to a height of 1 to 2 feet, flowering 

 in spring up to June. Its flowering sprays are useful for 

 outting. 



Propagation is readily effected by cuttings of the young 

 ahoota. If they are inaerted in June and placed in a close 

 frame they root quickly. When struck they should be potted off 

 singly and grown in a cold frame, stopping them when 3 inches 

 high, and again at that extent of growth they form good plants 

 for flowering in 6-ineh pots. If larger plants are wanted 

 the plants may be stopped at every third joint, shifting into 

 larger pots as they fill with roots. After flowering the flowered 

 shoots only require to be cut back to firm growth, and when 



