July 19, 1S64. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



45 



combined the qualities of both parents, the shape of Louise 

 Odier and the colour and perfume of the General. Then, 

 again, his seedling Duchesse de Montpensier, raised by him 

 in 1845 and sent out in 1847, was a seedling from Madame 

 Laffay and Mrs. Bosanquet. Due de Cambridge, again, was 

 a seedling of Madame Premion raised by him in 1850; while 

 Jules Margottin, probably the best and most useful Rose he 

 has ever produced, was a chance seedling, and the plant did 

 not bloom for six years. From this Rose he has a seedling 

 to be let out this year, very bright and clear in colour, and 

 of large size. He had, he tells me, crossed Persian Yellow 

 with a rose-coloured Hybrid Perpetual, and obtained a pure 

 white Rose ; but this never opened, and all his efforts in 

 this direction had been frustrated. 



The immense number of red, scarlet, and crimson Roses 

 annually sent into the market, and their great similarity 

 one to the other, was also commented upon. In excuse of 

 the French raisers, he said that there being no such com- 

 petition as in England, raisers knew very little of what they 

 each were doing. One man at Lyons, another at Caen, 

 another at Abbeville, another at Angers, raise a very fine 

 Rose. It is good — seems to them, at least, magnificent ; 

 and hence it is "put into commerce." All come over here ; 

 and when they bloom with us, alas ! it is the old story of 

 tweedledum and tweedledee. In truth, he says, ever since 

 the introduction of General Jacqueminot the rise has been 

 all in that direction ; and he has now determined to, in 

 sporting phrase, " try back." He has a number of Roses 

 planted under sashes, and these of varieties which were 

 sent out before General Jacqueminot, and he hopes from 

 these to obtain something novel. When I was there the 

 pips were already well swollen ; so that, doubtless, with a 

 fine summer he will secure a good crop of seed. Concern- 

 ing the General, he told me that it was obtained by a 

 M. Roussel, at Meredon near Paris, who had for thirty years 

 been seeding from Gloire de Rosomene, convinced that some 

 day or other he should obtain something good from it. 

 "When on his deathbed, he told his gardener (Rouselet) that 

 he had not much to leave him, but he would give liim all 

 his seedlings, and that if he managed well he would soon 

 make his fortune. That very year Jacqueminot bloomed, 

 though its raiser never saw it, and in 1853 was let out ; but 

 Master Rouselet was too fond of his glass and did not make 

 his fortune. Geant des Batailles was raised, I believe, near 

 Lyons, by an amateur of the name of rTerard, who in the 

 same way for many years had been saving seed, convinced 

 that he would obtain something good. It was sold to 

 Guillot and by him let out. Margottin said he had not 

 been any more successful than others in striving to intro- 

 duce other blood amongst the present race of Roses. He 

 had tried to hybridise with the microphylla Rose, but never 

 could get anything worth keeping. 



Concerning some of the newer Roses, also, we had some 

 interesting conversation. I do not at all find him disinclined 

 to acknowledge the merits of the flowers of other raisers. 

 He pronounced Francois Lacharme and Charles Lefebvre to 

 be the best two Roses in their class. Monte Christo comes 

 sometimes very fine ; but those Roses described by French 

 raisers as nearly full are very disappointing. Tou imagine 

 you are going to have a fine bloom ; it looks beautiful, 

 colour excellent, but it has hardly expanded before the eye 

 shows itself. This is the case with Peter Lawson, Vicomte 

 Vigier, Mdlle. Julie Daran, and many others — splendid when 

 you can catch them in the bud, but very soon disappointing 

 your hopes and expectations. Beaute Franchise he pro- 

 nounced to be too like Leon des Combats, as I have myself 

 since proved it to be in my own garden. 'John Hopper, as 

 already said, he pronounced to be a first-rate and distinct 

 Rose. Baron de Rothschild he also thought, as we have 

 found it here, excellent, and Le Rhone also. 



With regard to new Roses, M. Eugene Verdier purposes 

 sending out six this season. Of these the finest are Rev. 

 F. Radclyffe, named in compliment to the Vicar of Rushton 

 — a Rose of the Madame Victor Verdier class, but very 

 bright and clear in colour ; and Mareehal Mel, a very fine 

 Tea Rose, said to be a seedling of Lamarque, very vigorous, 

 free-flowering, and clear in colour. It is not absolutely 

 new, as it was raised somewhere in the provinces, but is 

 very little known. His other Roses were only under figures, 

 and therefore to say aught of them now would be of little 



use. M. Charles Verdier has two of his own raising of which 

 he speaks highly ; while Leveque has at present one. Mar- 

 gottin has one, certainly not yet named; and another, a 

 white, of the shape of Madame Rivers, but pure white. Of 

 this he is not certain, and waits to see how it is this year 

 before offering it for sale. Marest is also said to have one. 

 This is all I could hear or see of Paris Roses. Mr. George 

 Paul, who had the kindness to find me out in Paris, went 

 further south — to Brie, Fontainbleau, and Lyons, and has 

 doubtless notes of what he saw. I am inclined to think that 

 French raisers generally are awakening to a sense of what 

 they have put on English growers ; and I am hopeful there 

 will be more caution in selling, while I am quite persuaded 

 there will be more caution on this side in buying. 



And now adieu to Roses, and flower shows, and gardens 

 for a while. Ere this is in print I shall be off to the wilds 

 of the far west of Ireland, engaged in other work than this, 

 and in revisiting the scenes where many a happy day was 

 passed — feeling, I dare say, how like a dream life is, and 

 how impossible it is to conjure up the feelings of past days 

 even in the midst of those scenes. — D., Deal. 



A PANELLED LAWN. 



A few days since I saw a beautiful variegated, or, rather, 

 almost white, grass, suitable for lawns. I think that a lawn 

 planted with such grass, or worked into panels or ribands 

 with green grass, would have a very fine effect. Has the 

 plan been tried anywhere ? — Jno. Clayton. 



[Is the grass a dwarf variety of the Gardener's Garter 

 (Phalaris) ? Whether or not, we do not think it would be 

 effective ribanded with other grass alone; but it might 

 make a good edging to flower-beds, with the grass lawn 

 round. We should Hke to see a piece of the grass, and then 

 we should be better able to give an opinion.] 



BLACK PEINCE GEAPES. 



Allow me to correct an error you have allowed to creep 

 in with regard to the weight of our Black Prince Grapes, 

 page 26 last week's Journal of Horticulture. Your 

 weights of the four dishes in the previous week's Journal 

 were perfectly correct, page 5. The weight of the heaviest 

 dish was 13 lbs. 10 ozs. The centre bunch weighed 5 lbs. 

 7 ozs. The heaviest dish previous to this was shown June' 

 24th, 1863, at the Royal Botanic : the three bunches weighed 

 9 lbs. 5 ozs. 



The whole of the Black Prince Grapes exhibited from here 

 for the last four years are from grafts on the Frankenthal, 

 not Mill Hill as mentioned this week. The first dish was 

 exhibited on the 5th and 6th of June, 1861, on the opening of 

 the Royal Horticultural Garden, and weighed 8 lbs. 14 ozs. 

 I find the Frankenthal the best of all stocks for grafting,, 

 and the Barbarossa the worst. — W. Hill. 



[We shall be glad if our readers will furnish us with the 

 heaviest weights of Black Prince they have met with.] 



PEACHES UNDEE GLASS AT BKADFOED. 



There has been much said about growing Peaches, &c.,. 

 between Mr. Abbey and some others of your readers, and a 

 slur was cast upon all the gardeners about Bradford and its 

 neighbourhood. I have been in my present situation nearly 

 twenty years, and I have grown good crops of both Peaches 

 and Grapes. If you look in The Cottage Gardener for 

 December 23rd, 1852, you will find an article by Mr. W. 

 Dobson, entitled " Grape Forcing, good specimens of." 



Our place is as black as possible ; for, about half a mile 

 north of it, there are some chemical works ; three hundred 

 yards to the north-west there is a brickyard; and I have 

 had to close the houses at midday when a kiln of bricks 

 has been burning, or else the sulphur would have destroyed 

 all in the houses. Then, from west by south to east, lies 

 Leeds, a town, I should think, as black as any in England — 

 nothing like it in Herts. The houses are all close to the 

 garden wall, and, except on the north-west, it is as black as 

 anything you can conceive. 



