December 12, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



481 









WEEKLY 



CALENDAR. 















Day 



of 



Month 



Day 





Average Tempera- 1 Rain in 



Sun 



Sun 









Clock 



Day 



"Week. 



DECEMBER 12—18, 1872. 



ture near London. 



43 years. 



Rises 



Sets. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Age. 



Sun. 



of 



Year. 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m, h. 



Days. 



m. s 





12 



Th 



Nees von Esenheck died, 1S37. 



48.0 



37.0 



42.5 



18 



59 of 7 



50af3 



29 2 1 6 5 



12 



5 50 



847 



13 



F 





47.5 



86.5 



42.0 



23 



8 



50 3 



55 2 



24 6 



13 



5 21 



348 



14 



8 



Prince Consort died, 1861. 



46.9 



34.3 



40.6 



21 



1 8 50 3 



25 3 



36 7 



O 



4 52 



349 



15 



SCN 



3 Sunday in Advent. 



47.0 



33.6 



40.3 



19 



2 8 50 3 



6 4 



44 8 



15 



4 24 



S50 



16 



M 



Cambridge Term ends. 



46.5 



32.9 



39.7 



15 



2 8 51 3 



58 4 



40 9 



16 



8 54 



851 



17 



To 



Oxford Term ends. 



45.9 



84.0 



39.9 



20 



3 8 51 3 , 59 5 



21 10 



17 



3 25 ! 352 



18 



W 



Ember Week. 



45.8 



83.7 



89.7 



20 



4 8 51 3:5 7 



57 10 



18 



2 55 353 



From observations taken near London during forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 46.8 D ; and its night temperature 



84.6°. The greatest heat was 59', on the 15th, 186S ; and the lowest cold 7 D , on the 13th, 1853. The greatest fall of rain was 1.24 inch. 





ELECTION OF EOSES. 



i 

 HOUGH I can only reckon myself aniong 

 those whom Mr. Hinton calls the more 

 modest Rose-growers, I still venture to hope 

 that a few remarks from me on the letter of 

 " Senateur Vaisse " may make the task of . 

 himself and others who purpose taking part 

 in the coming election of Roses a more sure 

 and easy one, and thus be the means of 

 enhancing the value of the votes that may 

 be forwarded to Mr. Hinton in favour of the 

 different varieties. 



First, as to the qualification of the electors. It by no 

 means follows that a lack of ability to judge correctly of 

 the merits of exhibited cut Roses, should also imply a 

 want of ability to judge of the quality of the plants from 

 which those Roses were cut. Nor, on the other hand, 

 does it of necessity follow that an expert judge of cut 

 blooms should be also aware of the great difference that 

 exists in the bloom-producing powers of the plants the 

 flowers of which he sees before him in greater or less 

 perfection. The judge must be able to decide between 

 the merits of those flowers, but it matters not to him 

 whether they were cut from- strong growers or weak 

 growers, from certain or uncertain openers. He must 

 know the distinctive characteristics of each variety as to 

 wood, foliage, colour, &c. ; but it is not necessary that he 

 should be acquainted with the peculiarities which render 

 those varieties of different value to the general cultivator. 

 These peculiarities manifest themselves not necessarily 

 to the judge or to the exhibitor ; the one may have the 

 needful amount of knowledge, the other be a skilled gar- 

 dener, but neither may have taken that personal interest 

 in the propagation and cultivation of Roses which alone 

 leads to a perception of their good and bad qualities as 

 flower-producing plants. 



In my own ease, for instance, though I should hesitate 

 to undertake the responsibility of deciding between the 

 rival claims of Messrs. Paul's and Cant's show blooms, 

 I still fancy that the knowledge I have gained in propa- 

 gating my thousand Rose bushes, and tenderly antici- 

 pating their .wants, may not be without its interest and 

 value to others. I may add, also, that as an exhibitor in a 

 modest way — that is to say, chiefly in this locality, I have 

 met with a very fair share of success, as out of ten col- 

 lections exhibited during the past season I have been 

 placed first six times, second once, and third twice. Such 

 experience, then, I should say entitles anyone who has 

 it to register himself as an elector, and if he chooses, to 

 forward his vote to Mr. Hinton. 



Secondly, as to the candidates. The electors are re- 

 quired to select one Rose pre-eminently as the best for 

 all purposes ; then twelve of the best Tea and Noisettes ; 

 then the fifty best, distinguishing the best twelve of the 

 fifty, I presume for all purposes. 



" Senateur Vaisse " asks, " What does ' best ' mean? " 

 "Best for what?" Mr. Hinton himself supplies the 

 answer — " For all the purposes " for which the Rose is 

 No. 611.— Vol. XXIII., New Sebie 



generally grown. The Rose is grown for the sake of its 

 flowers; the wood and the foliage, though beautiful in 

 themselves, are but a means to an end, and that end is 

 the production of flowers. The more freely those flowers 

 are produced the better the variety ; the more beautiful 

 and sweet and lasting they are the better the Rose. 

 Now, it is well known that among the multitude of the 

 varieties cultivated, some as flower-producers are emi- 

 nently good, others miserably bad. What we want to 

 arrive at, then, is the solution of the question, Which 

 among all the Roses grown will produce the greatest 

 quantity and the best quality of flowers with the least 

 amount of labour ? 



A continual? supply of perfect Roses can only be pro- 

 duced by those varieties which have the following ten 

 qualities : — 



1st, Hardiness, to stand our climate in winter. 



2nd, Vigour of growth, that health may be maintained, 

 and flowering shoots freely produced. 



3rd, Good foliage. — Good, substantial, handsome foliage 

 is desirable, not only for appearance sake, but for health. 

 A thin flimsy leaf is soon torn and disfigured by the wind ; 

 and loss of leaves means loss of flowers. 



4th, The wood should not be too thorny. — This has 

 special reference to the flower stalk. I do not myself 

 expect ever to get perfect Roses without thorns. Most of 

 our thornless ones are also scentless ; Victor Verdier and 

 his race, for instance. I would rather have thorns with 

 scent, than no thorns and no scent. Nevertheless, some 

 of our best and sweetest Roses prick one's fingers dread- 

 fully in the handling, and this is not nice. I like to be 

 able to carry my sweet pets in comfort, and to be able 

 to place one in my buttonhole or show tubes without 

 such sharp reminders that there is nothing perfect in this 

 world. All, however, are not so armed ; witness Alfred 

 Colomb, Madame Victor Verdier, La France sweetest of 

 Roses, and most of the Teas. Well, why should not they 

 all be so ? 



5th, Free-flowering. — No amount of foliage will com- 

 pensate for want of flowers. 



6th, The flowers must open well in all tueathers. — 

 Many Roses produce an abundance of buds, but these 

 buds either open badly or else not at all in ordinary 

 weather ; such Roses are worthless to the general cul- 

 tivator. I think, moreover, that it is almost a pity to 

 perpetuate these inferior sorts, even for exhibition — that 

 is, with a view to sale. A magnificent bloom of some 

 uncertain Rose "caught" and displayed in all its glory 

 may add to the attraction of a box, and to a certain 

 extent repay one for the labour and ground required to 

 produce it ; but I fancy that the Rose is' not the only 

 thing " caught." Many an innocent victim, struck with 

 the beauty of the impostor, orders his half-dozen bushes, 

 from which he is, perhaps, destined to cut not so much as 

 one good bloom for the season. After a number of years' 

 experience nothing has struck me more forcibly than the 

 vanity of trusting to the descriptions attached to the 

 names of the various Roses in the. catalogues of those 

 who grow them for sale. Let beginners beware of pur- 

 No. 1268,-Vol. XLVIII., Old Series. 



