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JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ September 12, 1872. 



the longer they are so kept, so proportionately does all expe- 

 rience show that they lose the power of healthy vegetation. 

 In the Potato so treated the foliage produced is diminished, 

 and liable to the curl and its premature decay ; and I have a 

 strong opinion that the small produce and early decay of the 

 tubers has its origin from the same cause. 



I quite agree with Dr. Lyon Playfair in thinking that the 

 disease itself is an ulceration or decay of the Potato tissue, 

 arising first in the sap of the leaves, and, like all other putre- 

 factions, attended by the phenomenon of combination with an 

 unnaturally large amount of oxygen. The diseased spots in the 

 tubers appear first near the spiral vessels which convey au- 

 to the internal cells. The rapid decay of the cells, I agree 

 with Dr. Playfair in thinking, arises from their unnaturally 

 weak constitution — a weakness we have seen, from Mr. Grey's 

 experiments and almost universal experience, occasioned by a 

 lengthened detention of the tubers from the soil. 



From those opinions the writer has not changed, but he has 

 changed from the opinion that autumn planting would prevent 

 the occurrence of the disease. He so thought because he con- 

 cluded that such planting would insure an earlier ripening of 

 the tubers ; but experience has proved that autumn-planted 

 Potatoes ripen their crops later than spring-planted Potatoes 

 of the same variety. He does not alter, however, from his 

 experience-founded conviction that early-ripening varieties 

 are safe from the disease. He recommends that varieties pro- 

 ducing tubers ready for storing by the end of July should be 

 exclusively cultivated. If this practice be adopted, and the 

 Potatoes are stored in a shed in layers, alternating with dry 

 sand or dry earth, there will never be any serious loss from 

 " the Potato murrain." — G. 



DUBATION OF STANDABD EOSES. 



In your impression of August 29th, Mr. Bartrum asks the 

 question, " To what age standard Eoses may be expected to 

 last?" and I venture to give some results of my own expe- 

 rience, in the hope that others also will let us know the con- 

 clusions at which they have arrived. 



With regard to Hybrid Perpetuals, the class of Eoses in 

 which we take most interest, the answer is not a very easy 

 one, as we must take into consideration accidents of tempera- 

 ture as well as natural decay. The winters of 1860 and 1870 

 well nigh cleared off all the old standards which were then in 

 existence, and those which were not directly frozen to death 

 were so injured as to die shortly afterwards. I, in common with 

 many others, lost at least nine-tenths of my standards on 

 each occasion. A few, however, survived, and of these I have 

 Louise Odier and Enfant de Mont Carmel planted in 1859, 

 Jules Margottin about 1862. Theso are all I can identify, 

 though probably there may be others as old. The former two 

 are in bad order, and would have been removed ere now, but 

 that the place where they were first planted was the front 

 of a plantation, which has so far overgrown the border as to 

 render it useless to plant any Eose there which I care about. 

 Jules Margottin in a better position is in good health and 

 vigorous, but the flowers are small. 



I have several more which I know to be seven or eight years 

 old, and I daresay I should have many but for the two great 

 frosts, my custom of weeding-out all second-rate sorts (and 

 there are few which are not superseded in six years), and all, 

 even of the best varieties, which show signs of old age, as soon 

 as I can supply their place with younger plants. 



Of summer Eoses I have but few, but of those some half- 

 dozen grow where they were planted in 1856 under similar 

 circumstances to the two mentioned above, and one, La 

 Joyeuse, which I believe (I am not certain) to be twenty-four 

 years old, still vigorous, in spite of age and neglect, as are 

 several others. 



How long it is advisable to keep standard Eoses is another 

 matter ; not many, I think, will produce good flowers for more 

 than five or six years, and if I could spare time for the con- 

 stant budding required I would have none for more than 

 three. 



The age of Eoses on their own roots is much more extended, 

 and seems practically indefinite. I remember an old Maiden's 

 Blush, which was said to have been an old Eose when my 

 father was a boy, say eighty years ago, and was vigorous and 

 healthy till, alas ! modern improvements, quite lately, im- 

 proved it off the face of the earth. 



I have very few Boses on then- own roots ; one I know to be 

 twenty-three years old — Lamarque ; it has been moved twice, 



and killed down twice, and covers a wall for the space of more 

 than 100 square feet. Of the Manetti standards I know prac- 

 tically nothing, as Eoses do not take kindly or grow well on it 

 with me. I suppose my Boil is too heavy, suiting Briars 

 admirably. — Duckwing. 



Youk correspondent, page 162, wishes to know if worked 

 Boses will last in good health longer than three years, and in 

 doing so opens up a very large question. Many undoubtedly 

 perish after two years, or so degenerate as to be worthless , 

 while others with good constitutions will live and thrive for a 

 score of years or more. Those who doubt the ability of Boses 

 to thrive so long should see a lot planted by the late Mr. 

 Eogers at Biverhill. They are principally strong-growing kinds 

 of Perpetuals and Hybrid Chinas. The latter are trained on 

 the umbrella principle, the old shoots being taken out and 

 young ones tied down each year ; they thrive amazingly, and; 

 are trees in fact as well as name. 



One great cause of failure is, I think, attributable to working 

 on stocks not properly ripened. I consider the stock should 

 have at least two years' growth before it is taken from its 

 native hedge. Many are, however, mere suckers, and as such 

 are frozen through the first year they are planted ; and though 

 they may grow strong enough to be budded, the seeds of 

 disease are in them, and in a short time the trees will perish. 



Another cause of failure arises from amateurs persisting in 

 trying to keep tender Eoses out of doors when they ought to- 

 be taken up and put in a house every winter. In some of the 

 principal nurseries this course is followed, not only with Teas 

 and Noisettes, but also with many of the delicate Hybrid 

 Perpetuals. 



The Boses here have been all that we could wish this season, 

 and many kinds before thought worthless have turned out 

 first-rate. Cloth of Gold flowers freely enough if the shoots 

 are laid-in entire. 



I should like to add a word on October Peas. With me they 

 invariably fail, nor do I ever remember seeing a crop worth 

 the name in the middle of October. — Chakles Woodhams, 

 Bans Elms Park, Barnes. 



GREAT INTERNATIONAL FRUIT SHOW. 

 We are in a position to announce that there will be a 

 Great International Fruit Show held at South Kensington on 

 Wednesday, November 6th, in which all home and foreign 

 growers of fruit are invited to take part, and on which occasion 

 prizes will be offered for very varied collections of fruits. The 

 schedule will be found a copious one. 



THE BEDDING-OUT IN THE LONDON PARKS. 



(Continued from page 167.) 

 In the account already given of the bedding in Hyde Park, 

 we left off at the Marble Arch ; we will now strike across the 

 Park to Mr. Chamberlain's house, in front of which is an ad- 

 mirably executed piece of bedding in the form of a semicircle. 

 In front of the house is a semicircle, at the outside, next the 

 Park, a semicircular border, and in the space between the two- 

 are circular and heart-shaped beds in two ranks. Beg innin g 

 at the outside, first there is a row of Echeveria secunda glauca, 

 next Mesembryanthemum cordifolium variegatum ; in the 

 middle, small ovals of Gnaphalium lanatum, surrounded by a 

 chain of Alternanthera magnifica, which in its turn is sur- 

 rounded by a chain of Golden Feather Pyrethrum, between 

 which and triangles of Antennaria tomentosa the ground is 

 carpeted with Alternanthera amcena, which has a bright ami 

 lively appearance. At each end of this border are planted mis- 

 cellaneous fine-foliaged plants, as Palms, Dracajnas, Coleuses, 

 and Solanums. Coming now to the heart-shaped beds forming 

 the first rank in the space included between the two semi- 

 circles, the two end beds are margined with Semperrivurn 

 tabulseforme, edged with Alternanthera arnosna, and filled 

 with a mixture of white-variegated Pelargoniums and Purple 

 King Verbena. The other two heart beds are margined with 

 Sempervivum californicum, edged with Alternanthera mag- 

 nifica, and filled with a mixture of bronze-leaved Pelargo- 

 niums and Viola cornuta. The circles forming the inner rank 

 are all margined with Echeveria, and edged with Mesem- 

 bryanthemum cordifolium variegatum, next to _ which is_ a 

 band of Alternanthera magnifica, the centre being occupied 

 with Geraniums, except in the middle circle, which has a rich 



