180 



JO CBN AIi OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 16, 1877. 



Charles Lawson, Coupe d'Hebe\ Juno, Paul Perras, Paul 

 Ricaut, ComtesBe de Lacepede, Fulgens, Madame Plantier, 

 Madame Zoutman, &a. I rejoice in the possession of trees 

 or bushes of the above and other varieties, and I can truly 

 say they are worthy of cultivation by all those who ean see 

 beauty in a Rose not calculated to shine upon the exhibition 

 table in the present day. Some of these old favourites of 

 my youth have disappeared altogether from the catalogues, 

 where I look in vain for a few I would fain replace. Does any- 

 one grow these Roses now — Princess Clementine (H. Prov.), 

 Comte Plater (H. Prov.), George IV. (h.c), Charles Duval 

 (h.e.), Le Capitaine Sisolet (h.b.), Beauty of Billiard (h.c.)? 

 Methinks I shall obtain but little sympathy from a " Wild 

 Savage," but at least " A Pabson's Gardener " may claim a 

 kindred spirit in one who still admires the good old garden 

 Roses, although he has achieved, and hopes still further to 

 achieve, some little success as — An Amateur Exhibitor. 



STRAWBERRIES FOR LIGHT SOIL. 



No doubt the success of " Amateur," as detailed on page 110, 

 is primarily attributable to his keeping the surface of the soil 

 protected from the rays of the sun. When this important 

 matter is attended to Strawberries may be grown almost as 

 well in tolerably light and deeply worked soil as on stronger 

 ground, and especially if the light soil is kept firm by little or 

 no digging being done between the rows. It is important to 

 remember that some light soils appear to be favourable to the 

 Strawberry. The soil of many of the fields in Kent, for in- 

 stance, where Strawberries are grown by tons, is light and 

 gravelly, but the plants bear heavy crops for two or three years. 

 The soil of " Amateur " must be in some way peculiarly 

 suitable to the Strawberry, or the crops would not continue so 

 profitable for " eight years, and likely to go on for another 

 eight." It is not the mode of culture that has been adopted 

 that has rendered the plants so perennially profitable so much 

 as the natural adaptability of the soil to the crop. I do not 

 suggest that the culture has been wrong, for the results prove 

 that it has been right ; but the same plan if carried out in 

 many light soils would probably have a different and less 

 favourable result. It is a rough-and-ready mode of culture 

 that I have occasionally seen successful, but far frequently the 

 reverse has been the case. 



The more reliable practice to adopt on light soils is to plant 

 strong early runners annually. I have often planted such 

 runners in August just a foot apart, leaving out every fourth 

 row for a path, and have gathered a splendid crop of dessert 

 fruit from such beds the following year. The plants when 

 planted thus closely do something to shade the soil, and lawn 

 mowings do the reBt. I have occasionally allowed these heds 

 to remain untouched a second year, and have gathered from 

 hem a prodigious crop of smaller fruit for preserving, but after 

 that they have been of little further use. 



I prefer clearing away the runners immediately after 

 gathering the crop, not cutting off any of the foliage of the 

 plants, and then covering the soil between the plants with 

 lawn mowings, to the somewhat rude practice adopted by 

 "Amateur." Although it has answered well in his case I do 

 not think it is generally recommendable. 



Mr. Douglas recommends the plants being placed in slight 

 cavities. The plan is good provided the cavities are " slight." 

 I once saw a large bed planted where the word " slight " had 

 been largely interpreted. The plants had been placed in con- 

 siderable hollows, and in the winter the heavy rains washed 

 the light soil into them, injured the hearts, and spoiled the 

 crop and plants. 



Some of the varieties mentioned by Mr. Douglas I have not 

 grown. One sort I shall look forward to with special interest — 

 Loxford Hall SeedliDg. A good free-bearing late Strawberry 

 is greatly required. Frogmore Late Pine, Elton, and Eleanor 

 are all shy bearers with me. The last-named is the larger of 

 the three, and if not sweet is always very welcome on the table 

 on account of its good appearance. Elton is of good size, 

 also acid. 



I agree on all that has been written on the general useful- 

 ness of Keens' Seedling, but if I were condemned to grow one 

 variety only it would be Sir Joseph Paxton.— W. S. P. 



NATIONAL CARNATION AND PICOTEE SHOW. 



In the reports of the Show held at Manchester last week, 

 the Journal says Mr. Simonite won premier both for Carnations 



and Pieotees. In the Gardener's Chronicle report it is stated 

 that the premier Picotee was Chadwick's Miss Chadwiok. 

 Whioh is right ? — Ex-Exhibitor. 



[I believe the Gardener's Ohronicle report is wrong, as I 

 have two independent reports of the Show, and one from Mr. 

 B. Simonite, in which he says, " I also took premier Picotee 

 with Teresa, light rose edged, though some thought my bloom 

 of Mrs. Allcroft was the best." Another correspondent says, 

 " Ben was first (and premier) with Teresa, a good bloom show- 

 ing quality all over." As the premier flower in the Exhibition 

 is of great importance to fanciers, and as Mr. Simonite won 

 both with his own seedlings, I think this explanation neces- 

 sary. — J. Douqlas.] 



BY THE SEASIDE. -MEADOW SWEET. 

 No greater contrast in gardens could be found than in two 

 on which I now look daily, and which are side by side, divided 

 by a low party wall. One of those gardens is totally covered 

 with unmown grass, yet it was once cared for ; but the hands 

 which once tended it, and the head which arranged it, and the 

 heart which loved it, are at rest in the cemetery. There 

 remains one plant which, though neglected, still clings to the 

 wall, and still yields flowers. It is a Passion-flower, and 

 suggested a flower sermon that would be misplaced to repeat 

 here. The other garden is well cultivated, and without any 

 regard to order let me note some of its tenants. There are 

 Tamarisks with their pink flowers now out and peeping from 

 among the multitude of fine pale green needle-form leaves. 

 Near it is the Viburnum Lantana or " Wayfaring Tree," a 

 name which suggested these lines — 



" Wayfaring Tree ! what ancient claim 

 Hast thou to that right pleasant name '? 

 Was it that some faint pilgrim came 



TJnhopedly to thee 

 In the brown deseit's weary way, 

 'Mid toil and thirst's consuming sway, 

 And there as 'neath thy shade he lay 



Bless'd the Wayfaring Tree ? " 



The Rose trees are numerous, and all exempt from mildew and 

 brown-blotched leaves, seemingly indicating that a climate uni- 

 formly temperate and air impregnated with saline particles, 

 iodine, and other marine emanations, are preventive of mildew 

 as they are of other fungi. Among those Roses, far superior 

 to their junior relatives, are two genuine and ancient Moss 

 Roses — giants compared with others dwarf of stature and 

 flimsy-flowered, and 



" Vaulting o'er hanks of flowers that glow 

 In hues of crimson, gold, and snow." 



The old gardener who was hoeing among the border flowers 

 is a quaint character, full of practical knowledge, but totally 

 ignorant of garden literature. You will need no other proof of 

 this than that he had never before heard of the Journal of 

 Horticulture ; yet he wished for information, and asked who 

 the " Polly Hanthus " was called after ! This paralleled the 

 inquiry of the woman who during the Peninsular war asked, 

 " What Sally Manker Lord Wellington had been with ? " 



The old gardener I have mentioned was earnest in com- 

 mending some of our wild flowers for garden ornamentation, 

 and Mr. Abbey thus writes of one — " A moist piece of land in- 

 clining to a brook is profusely studded with the Queen of 

 the Meadow — Meadow Sweet (Spiraea Ulmaria), adorning moist 

 meadows, brook and river banks, and ditch sides, perfuming 

 the air with its sweet Hawthorn-like scent. Scattered patches 

 or even clumps, as we see them in pleasure grounds, are de- 

 lightful, but to meander amid acres of suoh sweetneSB is truly 

 pleasing alike to tight and smell. A voioe close by pronounced 

 it ' A beautiful thing, I like its scent far before Spiraa j aponica, 

 I'll warrant it would force well; in faot, someone stated in 

 the Journal that it had been so employed successfully.' ' In 

 what Journal were the statements made ?' ' In the Journal of 

 Horticulture.' My friend went on — ' A great batch of it would 

 look well and smell better than the honey-like sickening smell 

 of Spiraea japonica in any moist pieoe of land, as the sides of a 

 feeding stream to a pond ; and patches here and there in 

 pleasure grounds would be superb, especially if planted in well- 

 manured ground, and occasionally top-dressed with decom- 

 posing matter, with good waterings and doses now and then 

 of liquid manure. It would make a famous specimen, just 

 what is wanted in front of shrubberies, for see how fine it is 

 wild, and imagine how much finer it would be under culti- 

 vation.' I must admit now, as I did then, the foroe of those 

 remarks, but I must return and pass from plants wild to plants 



