236 



THE GARDENERS* MAGAZINE. 



March 23, 1912. 



staked, stirring the soil between them fre- 

 quently, and watering in very dry weather, 

 with an occasional weak stimulant when 



the soil is moist. 



Specially good varieties for flowering out 



of doors are Britannia, Mrs. Burnett, Mrs. 

 T. W. Lawson, Enchantress, Winona, Bea- 

 con, Winsor^ and Lady Bountiful ; in fact, 

 most kinds w^ll respond to this treatment, 

 though those which form good plants, after 

 stopping the lead once before planting out, 

 are most satisfactory. T. H. Slade. 



THE NEWER HYBRID BRIAR 



ROSES. 



For the garden the hybrid briar roses 

 will, in the near future, play an important 

 part, as, since the introduction of the 

 variety Soliel d'Or by Pernet Ducher in 

 1900, we have had many additions to the 

 class, mainly through that source. 



This group includes some of the oldest 

 and most beautiful roses in the garden. 

 For instance, Austrian Copper and Aus- 

 trian Yellow, both grown in England by 

 Gerard in 1590, are even now great favour- 

 ites, as l>oth l)los.som profusely, the former 

 a bright reddish-copper, and the latter 

 deep yellow. These were followed by Har- 

 risoni (Harrison^ 1830), a very pretty yel- 

 low, of dwarf habit, and Persian Yellow 

 (Willcock^ 1837), wnth large double flowers 

 of a deep golden colour. Soliel d'Or (Pernet 

 Ducher, 1900) is the result of crossing Per- 

 sian Yellow with Antoine Ducher; it is 

 perfectly hardy and free flowering, giving 

 large flat blossoms of a distinctly pleasing 

 colour — ■ orange-yellow to reddish-gold, 

 shaded with nasturtium-red. 



From this variety we have obtained the 

 following novelties, all of wliicli are destined 

 to become popular owing to their freedom 

 of flower and brilliancy of colour. e.spe- 



urage 



•cially when grown as a he<lge or screen 

 where they can ramble at will. They r 

 quire little pruning beyond the removal of 

 small and worn-out shoots. A yearly re- 

 novation of the soil about their roots will 



the growth , and a<ld to the 

 numl>er of flowers. 



The year 1910 was es|)iH i;i!ly productive 

 of varieties, giving us no le.4 than three 

 of the five ooming from P. Ducher^Beaute 

 de Lyon, coral-red, slightly shaded with 

 yellow, the flowers full and globular. Vis- 

 countess Enfield, quite one of the most 

 attractive, cop{)ery old rose, shaded with 

 yellow, the inner j>etals tinted with car- 

 mine, with occasional stripings of yellow 

 in the centre. Rayon d'Or, quite unique in 

 colour among roses, the long and pointed 

 buds coppery-yellow, striped with claret- 

 red, and as tlie blooms expand they show a 

 flush of rose, which gradually dies away to 

 bronze, and later to a rich yellow^ ; this 

 rose should l)e valuable in pots for early 

 flowering, as under oool treatment the 

 colour is most interesting. Soliel d'Angers 

 (Ch. Detriche, sen.), deep ochre-red, edged 

 vermilion; the foliage of this variety 

 sweetly scented. Juliet (\y. Paul and Son, 

 1910) is a most remarkable rose in colour, 

 and said to be derived from Soliel d'Or and 

 Captain Hayward. The outside of the 

 petals is old gold, the interior a rich rosy- 

 red, changing to deep rose as the flowers 

 expand ; the blooms are of full size, 

 most shapely, have an extraordinary lasting 

 I>ower, and delightful fragrance. 



The hybrid briars are not nearly so sub- 

 ject to mildew as H.T.'s or other sections; 

 in fact, some of the varieties are quite 

 immune. E. iMoLYNExrx. 



Swanmore Park. 



IS 



MAGNESIA. 



Your correspondent, Mr. Alger Petts, 

 raises a question on p. 141 as to the value 

 of magnesia salts for horticultural pur- 

 poses, and suggests that experiments 

 should be conducted on plots of ground 

 yielding the same produce with some of 

 the magnesiiuu compounds, and also with 

 common salt and lime, to prove their value. 

 This would certainly be a means of testing 

 the relative values of the salts employed 

 on the small portions of soils and ci-o^ps 

 grown upon them, but the results would 

 be no guarantee that they would be the 

 same on another plot. Very often an ex- 

 periment carried out on one formation of 

 soil is taken as a criterion for all future 

 courses of treatment, no matter what the 

 composition is. 



AH soils formed from the magnesium lime- 

 stone are rich in magnesia, and no appli- 

 cation of it could be of any service to plant 

 life upon it. Again, practically all soils 

 that have been under cultivation for a 

 lengthened period have had applications of 

 lime and kainit at one time or other, and 

 as these contain magnesium salts the supply 

 of this indispensable plant food is being 

 unconsciously maintained in the soil. 

 Farmyard and other organic manures con- 

 tain a cei'tain percentage of magnesium 

 salts, and by their application to the soil 

 the store of these salts is augmented, if 

 not to the extent of the quantity extracted 

 by the previous crop, yet suffici^tly to 

 enable growth to develop. 



Soils naturally deficient in magnesia, 

 even when long cultivated, and dressed 

 with magnesium lime, are likely to benefit 

 from periodic applications of magnesium 

 salts, and this I have seen exemplified dur- 

 ing last year. The soil was a heavy loam, 

 rich in potash, but deficient in lime, phos- 

 phates, and ma^gnesia. In Staffordshire an 

 extent of country is being broken up for 

 tilie first time and brought into cultiva- 

 tion, and, although the natural herbage 

 is of the most useless plants, the crops ob- 

 tained aifter the use of lime, kainit, and 

 phosphates are wonderful. Most of this land 

 is heavy clay, with a few sandy bands run- 

 ning through it, and, so far as can be 

 judged from its neglected appearance, has 

 never in its history receive<l any aid to 

 its fertility. This year a portion is being 

 treated with a crude magnesium salt, and 

 this is ful'y expected to foster the p>roduc- 

 tion of an even greater crop than the heavy 

 yields of the last few years. It is on 

 maiden land of this kind, and on an exten- 

 sive scale, that experimental work is of 

 value, showing the natural resources of the 

 soil with the aid of fertilisers of a definite 

 character, and not on small plots in 

 garden which may vary considerably in 

 their chemical composition; a fact often 

 overlooked. 



a 



Some years ago, when in charge of 

 kitchen gj;irden of a good many -acres in 

 extent, I found very heavy clay in one 

 part, almost pure sand in another, and all 

 the variations of soil between these, within 

 the walls, and yet we secoired excellent 

 crops all through. Naturally lime and 

 ma^gnesia were abundant, but potash and 

 phosphates were deficient. Still, without 

 any ai-tificial help in these materials, we 

 had peas go to the top of 7ft. stakes'and 

 down to the ground aga.in '>n some of the 

 quarters. The heavy manurings which had 

 been given to this gairden during the 

 several hundred years it had been in cul- 

 tivation no doubt contributed to the supplv 

 of both organic and inorganic plant fooil 

 constituents available, and also their fairly 

 even distribution. The physical properties 

 of some portions being of a less retentive 



ni^ture than the clays, the deficiencies of 

 potash and phosphates were most marked 

 upon them. Considerable experimental 

 work was carried out in these gardens and 

 the results, in some instances, were quite 

 the opposite of what w^as expected when 

 commencing the experiments. 



On soils almost side by side, and under 

 identically the S£ime treatment, excellent 

 and very indifferent crops v^ere obtained. 

 It is because of this experience that I see 

 the possibility of mistaken impressions re- 

 garding experiments with some of the mag- 

 nesium compounds, common salt and lime. 

 If the lime used in experiments of this 

 kind contains magnesia, which will be the 

 case with 90 per cent, of the liines in the 

 country, then it is useless employing mag- 

 nesium salts alone, and drawing a com- 

 parison. Magnesium salts should be mixed 

 with non-magnesium lime, or lime contain- 

 ing very little magnesia, and then applied 

 to all fruit crops, esipecially stone fruits, 

 and also to all leguminous cixips in the 

 kitchen gairden. Com-mon salt can be tried 

 at the same time, but its effect will not bo 

 mianifest. There would be very little 

 l>enefit from lime and magnesia dress- 

 ing to land intended for the growth of cab- 

 bage, celery, asparagus, and all green vege- 

 tables, but salt, being one of the chief con- 

 stituents required by them, would influence 

 their gro<wth in a mairked degree if added 

 to the soil in which they were being culti- 

 vated. Experiments with magnesium salts 

 should therefore be confined to crops re- 

 quiring large supplies, and the salts always 

 be in either a mixture or in combination 

 with lime, Hibernu. 



PERPETUAL SPINACH. 



A green vegetable that continues to yit^'d 

 useful material for the table during the 

 hottest and driest of seasons, and is 

 at the siame time a capital subject in wet 

 weather^ and so ha^rdy that the severest 

 winter has not the slightest effect upon it, 

 is one that deserves more than passin? 

 notice. Such a vegetable is the Spinach 

 Beet, or Perpetual Spinach^ and thei'e is no 

 douibt it will he grown this year in many 

 ^gardens wh.ere it has never been cultivated 

 previously. 



In .ga»rdens where there i& anip'e provi- 

 sion for the cultivation of the choicer vege- 

 tables, possibly Perpetual Spinach may not 

 be regarded with favour for the employers 

 table; but even if this is so, there are 

 others to be considered in such estaibush- 

 ments, and a good breadth of Perpetual 

 Spinach is a great »tr<ndby, and can 

 drawm upon for the servants' hall, the gar- 

 deners' home, and the bothy. But a p^^^"* 

 son must be very fastidious who canno 

 appreciate a dish of well-cooked Perpetual 



Spinach. i ■ i «t 



Deep rii'h. soil is essential to the hign^-^^ 

 a success but here vMain the Perpet < 



Spinaci is most adaptable, and ^^^^.Y'^^ji 

 be sown in the wrong place. In 'ricn - 

 the beet-like roots grow to a large size, an 

 the leuf deve^-opment is corresipomlmg 

 large and continuous. Perpetual Sp^«^ 

 is, hotanicaJly, a variety of Beta C^^^^j^i 

 is of garden origin, and a, hardy P^^^"^Lr 

 hence a sowing in March and ^'^^ - 

 about midsummer will ^suffice to ^^^P^^ 

 good supply. Sow in drills a. foot or nt ^ 

 inches apart, and thin out the seed ing-.^ , 

 nine inches apart at the earliest P^"*. 



General attention inclucpj^ 

 quent lioeings weeding, regular P*^*^^?^-^ 

 the useful leaves, and a few /*^^^on. 

 of weak liquid manure in a dry , 

 though, if the soil be deep and rich, ^^^.^ 

 latter will not be necessajry even u ^ 

 ab!e. 



moment 



