December 19, 1372. ]i 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



487 



and most respected Eose-growers — may his shadow never be 

 l ess — replied first, " The Eose best suited for the purpose re- 

 quired." Pressed by me kindly to name one, he did so, but 

 added, as if to express a greater admiration for one rather 

 than another of his favourites had given him quite a pang, 

 " How is it possible to answer the question ? " Another reply 

 was more after my own hearts — " I have given my vote for 

 that dear, useful old snob, Gloire de Dijon, as a republican 

 president, sadly against my will, for one rarely sees him in an 

 exhibition stand; but as blossoming early and late in every 

 situation, clime, and soil, in peer and peasant garden, he is 

 unequalled for usefulness and excellence." An old proverb 

 says, " Nine times out of ten the women can do as well as 

 the men." Mrs. H. looking over my shoulder remarks, if I 

 cannot say more for the softer sex than that, I had better 

 say nothing ! Thus admonished, in fear and trepidation I 

 venture the remark, that the tenth time they do better. Some 

 of us men folks have been stumbling over the difficulties of this 

 question : let me show how the Gordian knot has been untied 

 by a fair sister rosarian in the Emerald Isle. I print the 

 whole, and trust the " mystifiers " do not include me ! " ' As 

 Ahateub, South of Ireland,' would vote Gloire de Dijon the 

 Eose- best suited for all purposes. Sixteen perfect and most 

 beautiful blooms she cut from a plant on a south wall the first 

 week in Hay, and has taken from a standard without any pro- 

 tection a perfect flower on Christmas-day. Have we in cul- 

 tivation one other Eose that the same could be said cf ? Being 

 the first who elicited all the very valuable information we last 

 year received regarding the Bose, the present discussion is 

 anticipated with great anxiety and interest ; but being too 

 modest a Bose-grower, would not attempt entering a list for 

 the fifty." Mr. Peach, I like to see that fruit well coloured 

 and certainly this ought to put the bloom on it, " writes what 

 one can comprehend ! Some others only mystify matters." 

 Of course this vote was retained. I may add my testimony. 

 Tears ago I made a note in " our Journal " and remarked that 

 on that New Year's-day I had cut several well-formed half- 

 open buds of that valuable Bose from a north wall. Take him 

 for all in all, probably -no single Bose gives as much general 

 pleasure, and I am glad that, tried by Mr. Beachey's system of 

 points, he comes out in the position he occupies here. 



It may interest some of our readers to know how the electors 

 voted on this question ; I shall therefore publish the names 

 and votes. Eight Eoses in all were named for this honourable 

 position. There were forty-three voters, and Gloire de Dijon 

 obtained the votes of the " lady of the Emerald Isle," the 

 Eevs. S. Beynolds Hole, C. P. Peach, Denis Knox, E. Pochin, 

 C.Bulmer, and H. H. Dombrain ; Capt. "Webb, Messrs. Parsons, 

 Grubb, Mount, Nichol, Beaehey, " Modest Bose-Gkowee, 

 Ripon," and Hinton; and the following nurserymen — viz., 

 Messrs. J. Cranston, John Durbin, C. Turner, H. May, E. B. 

 Cant, Paul & Sons, and K. Smith — fifteen amateurs and seven 

 nurserymen, twenty-two in all. Marechal Niel, amateur votes, 

 Eevs. J.^Camm, B.N. Milford,'.E. Lascelles, and E. Handley ; 

 and Messrs. Scott, Smith, Stratton, J. Marsh, jun. ; Messrs. 

 Prince and W. Paul alone supporting him amongst the trade 

 — in all ten votes. Cliarles Lefebvre was named by the Eev. 

 W. P. Badelyffe, the anonymous Bose-grower from Bury St. 

 Edmunds, Messrs. Barrell and Tapner, and by Mr. H. Bennett; — 

 five votes. Alfred Colomb was supported by Messrs. J. Keynes 

 and G. Cooling — two votes ; and the remaining four Boses — 

 Marie Baumann, La France, John Hopper, and Harquise de 

 Castellane were respectively named by Messrs. 'Wheeler, Kirk 

 Allen, Procter, and T. Lister. 



And now I bring my self-imposed task to an end. It has 

 been a labour of love, still somewhat a labour ; but if it tends 

 to bring out more clearly the best Boses (and we may fairly 

 say that those that have received half the possible number of 

 votes ought to be in every collection) , if it assists in spreading 

 the love for our national flower, I shall be very gratified. I 

 venture to express the opinion that the extension to fifty 

 Boses is an error. No less than 145 Boses have only been 

 named four times and under, whilst seventy-eight only received 

 one single vote ! After wading through all these returns 

 several times, I arrive at this conclusion, that naming the 

 best twelve Boses, and adding to these the twenty-four next 

 best would be quite sufficient, especially if at the same time 

 there is an election of Teas and Noisettes. It will also cer- 

 tainly be desirable to hold the election earlier in future. I 

 again gratefully return my thanks to all who have contributed 

 to make the return as complete as it is. I trust it may be- 

 come in some shape an annual affair, and I believe such an 



election would prove very useful. I will simply add, that my 

 own list was drawn up before any others were received. — 

 Joseph Htstos, Warminster. 



Tn our next number we shall publish how each voter voted, 

 there being no Act of Parliament to the contrary in the Bose 

 kingdom. — Eds.] 



PROPAGATING THE CALCEOLARIA. 



I ah induced to say a few words on this subject, as there are 

 some who think Calceolarias are difficult to manage, will not 

 stand frost, and must be taken great care of during the winter. 

 I have sometimes visited places where I have seen them put in 

 pans and boxes, and coddled-up in houses during the winter, 

 and still they looked pitiable objects ; in spring, when potted- 

 off, there might be one-half of them alive, sometimes not that. 



The method I adopt is very simple. I dispense with pans, 

 boxes, and pots, and I use frames, which are placed at the 

 back of a north wall, or of a hedge facing the north (I am par- 

 ticular about the aspect). In these I place a mixture of loam 

 and leaf soil to the depth of 6 or 7 inches, then a spr inklin g 

 of sand on the top. The bed having been made smooth with 

 the back of the spade, it is ready for the cuttings, which are 

 taken off at the end of October or beginning of November, 

 selecting strong .short-jointed shoots that have not bloomed, 

 and which the plants generally produce in abundance at that 

 season. A board the width of a light is used to stand en. 

 Everything is now ready for inserting the cuttings 2J inches 

 apart. When the frame is filled I give a good watering. I 

 allow the cuttings to dry a little, and the lights are put on. 

 If the frames are in the aspect I have mentioned, as being the 

 preferable one, it will not be necessary to look at the cuttings 

 again until spring, when it will be found that ninety-nine out 

 of a hundred "are alive. I have years since proved that even 

 the protection of hand-lights at the back of a north wall is 

 sufficient. 



In spring, when the cuttings begin to grow, I pinch-out the 

 top of each, arid give air on all favourable occasions, and when 

 the young plants show signs of overcrowding I have a place 

 prepared for them in some sheltered position, where a little 

 protection can be afforded in severe weather. They are then 

 carefully lifted with a trowel, planted out 6 inches apart, and 

 well watered to settle the soil. Thus treated they will be nice 

 bushy plants set fullpf bloom by planting-out time, when 

 they can be lifted with large balls of soil, and transferred to 

 the beds or borders ready to bloom at once. They will be far 

 ahead of those plants that have been stunted and crippled in 

 small pots, and which will only be putting on their best dress 

 when the season is half spent. It is not too late even now to 

 put in the cuttings ; anyone who has a frame or hand-light 

 may secure plenty of plants for next year. At this season I 

 have sometimes lifted a few old plants and potted them ; they 

 flower early in the spring in the greenhouse, and when their 

 flowering is over I have had all the old blooms picked-off, 

 turned the plants out in any of the mixed borders, and have 

 had plants 2 feet through full of bloom. 



I may also mention that Gazania splendens can also be pro- 

 pagated in the same manner. — J. Axdeesox, Hill Grove, Kid- 

 derminster. 



HARDINESS OF OSMANTHUS ILICIFOLIUS. 



This Holly-like evergreen shrub, introduced a few years ago 

 from Japan, promises to become an ornament to our lawns 

 and shrubberies, for with us it has survived the last four 

 winters out of doors without the least protection. It is in a 

 very exposed position, open to the north and north-east winds, 

 yet I have never seen a leaf discoloured with the cold, and 

 this year it is in a great measure covered with flowers, which 

 I fear are too late for seeds to follow. It is, however, very 

 interesting to see shrubs in flower in December, and, as I 

 mentioned in a former article, the present year has been an 

 exceptional one in this respect, for there are several flowering 

 now, and amongst them Osmanthus ilieifolins is not the least 

 important. In habit it strongly resembles some of the Hollies, 

 the leaf being, like them, armed with prickles, and the general 

 character of growth much the same, but perhaps less robust. 

 Our specimen is planted on ground of a highly calcareous 

 character, and the very reverse of that in which the Bhodo- 

 dendron and similar plants delight. It might, perhaps, grow 

 more freely in a soil more congenial to it, but even as it is it 

 is a shrub deserving attention, and' forms a useful addition to 

 onr lists of evergreen shrubs. Being one which we may call 



