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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 17, 1372. 



Beet may be said to be in season all the year round, for by 

 sowing a few seeds early in April in a sheltered spot we obtain 

 roots sufficiently large for salads by the middle of July, and 

 the stored roots will keep good up to that time. The best 

 variety for the early sowing is Dewar's Dwarf Red. The 

 kinds of Beet that I have grown are : — 



Dewar's Dwarf Bed. — Roots of good shape and size, top 

 short, roots formed nearly half their length above ground. The 

 colour is a deep red. It is very desirable on account of its 

 attaining a good useful size long before any other kind I have 

 grown ; in fact, when the others are the size of the little finger 

 this kind has a circumference equal to four fingers. 



Whyte's Black. — Roots large, not of good shape, rather long 

 and furrowed; top large. If sown before the middle of May the 

 plants are apt to run to seed. The flesh is of a very deep blood 

 red, approaching to black, tender, and of fine flavour. Although 

 a large and coarse-looking kind, it is one of the most profitable 

 and best-coloured sorts in cultivation. It is next to Dewar's 

 Dwarf Red in coming early to a useful size. About 2 inches of 

 the root grows above ground. 



Nutting's Selected Dwarf Bed. — Roots of good or medium 

 size and form ; top short ; attains to a useful size about the same 

 time as Whyte's Black, but is not nearly so large. Flesh deep 

 red, tender, and of good flavour. 



Pine Apple Short-topi. — Roots medium-sized, of good shape, 

 and produced almost entirely below ground; top short and com- 

 pact ; colour of flesh deep blood red, approaching black, tender, 

 and rich flavoured ; undoubtedly the best-coloured, most tender, 

 and best-flavoured Beet in cultivation. The roots are late in 

 attaining a good size ; indeed, in a cold and wet season they do 

 not come to a good size. It keeps well and late. The stock is 

 difficult to obtain true, and the seeds of the true sort are very 

 ■uncertain in their germination, being mostly indifferently 

 matured. 



Dell's Crimson (Dwarf Waterloo). — Roots medium-sized and 

 good, produced for the most part entirely below ground, very 

 little of the root being exposed : hence its value to remain over 

 the winter where sown, not being so liable to injury from frost 

 as varieties having a considerable portion of^the root above 

 ground. Top short, of a rich brilliant metallic lustre, dark 

 crimson, compact, uniform in habit and colour ; height 1 foot, 

 the leaves gracefully arched or recurved, after the style of a 

 Dracsena. Flesh deep red, tender, and of good flavour-. It is 

 decidedly a late sort, being the last to have a root large enough 

 for use. In foliage it is the very finest of all the kinds of Beet. 

 Of the kinds named, Dewar's is to be preferred for its earli- 

 ness, Pine Apple for colour and quality, and Whyte's for size 

 combined with colour and quality ; and if I were asked which 

 is the best, I should say Pine Apple. It must, however, have 

 high cultivation, and so must all vegetables to be good. — 

 G. Abbey. 



STRAY NOTES ON THE EOSE. 



A coeeespoxdent of the Journal has asked for information 

 regarding the qualities as a show Rose of Perfection de Lyon, 

 which the Rev. W. F. Radclyffe believes to be the best show 

 Rose of all. I obtained several plants in consequence of his 

 recommendation, and found them most vigorous growers, 

 abundant bloomers, and of exquisite shape, but, alas ! this 

 Rose, unless caught at once, its beauty of colour and shape is 

 gone. One should have a very large supply to succeed in 

 showing it in its full beauty. Its colour, too, is not such as 

 will ever admit of its attracting much attention in a show box. 

 Indeed, it was very poorly, and in only a few instances, ex- 

 hibited at the Grand International Rose Show at Dublin. On 

 interrogating some of the nurserymen exhibitors they desig- 

 nated it a very capricious Rose. 



Having relinquished all hope of succeeding in growing Marie 

 Bamnann by ordinary out-of-door cultivation, I had some 

 plants of it carefully protected from wet and frost during 

 winter and spring ; the result this season was a continuous 

 production of most brilliant flowers, perfect in petals, durable 

 in colour for several days after being cut. In fact, I believe 

 it would be the most prized of all Roses were it not that it is, 

 as far as I have experience, and also have learned from others, 

 totally unsuited to our climate unless with unusual pro- 

 tection. Other plants of it which I had treated according to 

 the usual course died-off in the months of June and July. It 

 was very remarkable how scarce it was at Dublin on the 25th 

 and 26th of July ; the best flower I took to be a middling 

 Alfred Colomb, until I was assured by the exhibitor it was 

 Marie Baumann, so unlike was it to the many gorgeous flowers 

 I had myself a month before. 



As regards the International Rose Show, I regretted no 

 notice was taken of it by any of the correspondents of the 



Journal. It was a feast for the rosarian not soon to be for- 

 gotten. Having spent several hours each day t aking notes of 

 the grand and varied collections displayed, a few remarks on 

 them, I trust, may not be uninteresting to your readers. 



The first prize was awarded, in every class belonging to 

 nurserymen, to Mr. Alexander Dickson, of Newtownards, 

 except the Tea and Noisette. It was rare cultivation indeed 

 that brought the Rose to be exhibited with such enormous 

 trusses, and at the same time with every flower quite full. 

 For my part I shall regret if it should be deemed necessary for 

 perfection to have every Rose as large as Prince of Wales, one 

 of last year's new kinds. The most conspicuous for beauty of 

 outline and brilliancy in this collection were Charles Lefebvre, 

 Pitord, Dr. Andry, Beauty of Waltham, Due de Wellington, 

 Paul Verdier, Maurice Bernardin, Due de Rohan, Mareehal 

 Vaillant, Mademoiselle Marie Rady, and Mademoiselle A. Wood. 

 The Messrs. Campbell took the second prize for, I believe, 

 the loveliest stand of sixty ever set up in Dublin of the usual 

 medium size ; the most noteworthy was a really beautiful 

 Mareehal Neil. This firm had two of it, and were the only 

 exhibitors of it, also of Madame Vidot and Sophie Coquerelle, 

 both exquisite specimens ; Minerve, Alfred Colomb, Madame 

 Charles Crapelet, Dupuy Jamain, and Fisher Holmes. 



The Tea and Noisette Roses were wonderfully fine ; the best 

 were Adam, David Pradel, Homere, shown in every box, 

 Madame Trifle, Moiret, and Triomphe de Guillot fils. The 

 first prize was deservedly given to Messrs. M. Saunders & Sons, 

 of Cork ; the second to Messrs. Campbell & Sons. 



The amateurs were as deserving of notice as the nurserymen. 

 I mention the latter only, having' taken the list of the most 

 attractive from then- larger collections. In the new section of 

 Roses, Louis Van Houtte, La Motte Sanguine, and Louisa 

 Wood, were by far the most beautiful. The unanimous 

 opinion was that Baroness Rothschild was the premier Rose of 

 the Exhibition ; it was in every stand, and in every stand first- 

 rate ; Charles Lefebvre, the best I have seen it ; Dupuy Jamain, 

 dazzling. It was remarked how very few blooms were here 

 of Duke of Edinburgh, and that none of them were what it 

 ought to be. With me this year it has been a perfect failure, 

 as likewise La France. I trust, however, it is only a tem- 

 porary failure. Miss Ingram was shown very fine, as also 

 Emile Hausburg, and Edward Morren. The general public, I 

 apprehend, are more enamoured of bright colours, and some- 

 times judges at exhibitions are swayed by a stand's brightness, 

 overlooking others where a great variety of colour prevails, 

 which I should suppose ought to be essential along with bril- 

 liancy. 



An article on the subject of judging would be highly appre- 

 ciated by many of your readers, and by none more than by — 

 An Amateue, South of Ireland. 



THE WALTHAM CROSS GRAPE. 



Like many more I hope this will prove, as seems likely to 

 be the case, a really good late-keeping Grape ; we want such a 

 Grape. Muscats require so much fire heat in order to finish them 

 properly, that in these days of dear coal they are very expen- 

 sive, and we have no other late white Grape of high quality. 

 White Lady Downe's, though perhaps the best keeper we have, 

 is not superior in flavour to black Lady Downe's. Royal 

 Vineyard cracks. Rasin de Calabre keeps till March, but is 

 very second-rate in quality. The same may be said of all the 

 other white Grapes having pretensions to being late-keepers, 

 such as Syrian, White Nice, &c. 



I highly approve of the step taken by the Royal Horticultural 

 Society in sending Mr. Barron to see Mr. Thomson's new 

 Grape the Duke of Buccleueh growing at Clovenfords. Let 

 them do the same in the case of the Waltham Cross Grape. If 

 Mr. Barron can report that he has seen this Grape hanging 

 in good condition next March at Waltham Cross, it will- give 

 the Grape-growing public confidence in it and quadruple its 

 sale. — A. M. 



Eakly Feosts. — The frost appears to have been exception- 

 ally severe here (North Hants, along the valley of the Test), 

 and many places only a mile higher up have scarcely felt it. 

 On the morning of the 21st of September we had 3° of frost, 

 which killed the Dahlias, Coleuses, and Vegetable Marrows; 

 on the 22nd 5° of frost ; on the 23rd 7°, which quite settled 

 everything in the flower garden but Calceolarias, also late 

 Peas, and Dwarf Kidney Beans. During the seventeen years 

 I have been here we have not before been visited so exception- 



