February 5, 1898. 



GA RDENERS* MA GA ZI NE. 



81 



Some Roses of 1895. 



Scarcity of Late Winter Pears. 



Charlotte Gillemot, H.T. (Guillot).— We have a ew plants of this lT often happens^ that, even in the best seasons, or when there are full 

 rose, but looking over the list I see we did not stage a flower of it at any 

 of last year's exhibitions, nor do I remember seeing a bloom on the 

 plants. These, however, are maidens, which throw up long shoots 

 bearing no flowers. It may do better as a cutback. The following is 

 the raiser's description : " Growth vigorous ; very floriferous ; flowers 



large, of perfest imbricated form ; colour ivory white 

 remarkable for its perfectly formed flowers, which are of great beauty. 

 One of the most beautiful roses of this class." I wonder whether we 



# l ■ 7 t-T^wfc 7 • — — mmm^m 



crops of fruit, we have a scarcity of good late winter pears. In this part 

 of the country there are very few pears fit for table in March — at least, 

 such is my experience, for I have never been able to keep them good at 

 Syon even as late as that month. wSoil and locality will in a measure 

 account for this. I fear, however, that many more growers are in a 

 This variety is similar position, as at the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society 



there was but one good dish of pears — Josephine de Malines ; yet there 

 was no lack of apples, thus showing a scarcity of good late pears, for on 

 other occasions exhibitors have sent pears with their apples to compete 



_ r for the flavour prizes. I have come to the conclusion that we are lacking 



This has been very free here under glass " ; and another in varieties of really good keeping pears. Certainly the catalogues 01 



have been cultivating another rose under the name of Charlotte Gillemot, 

 especially as one English grower, after quoting the raiser's description, 



cfnt^c *t TTiic V>nQ Hppn v#*rv frpp hf*rt* unrlpr o-la^Q " • anrl ,*nnthpr 



states, 



rosarian calls it, " Quite first-rate." 



Helen Keller, H.P. (A. Dickson and Sons). 



In striking contrast 



to the foregoing, this new rose has been most useful to us during the 

 past season, being staged in ten out of fourteen principal classes. The 

 colour is lilac-pink, not a good shade, perhaps, as regards brilliancy, but 

 nevertheless quite distinct. I do not know its pedigree, but it is sugges- 

 tive of a combination of Mrs. John Laing and Francois Michelon, pro- 

 ducing large handsome flowers, perfect in form, globular, with good 

 depth of petal. Vigorous in growth, very free flowering, the blooms 

 standing erect on remarkably long foot-stalks, a characteristic of the 

 variety. With us it is one of the best, if not the very best, hybrid 

 perpetual that Messrs. A. Dickson and Sons have distributed, and has 

 well deserved the gold medal of the National Rose Society awarded to it 

 at the Crystal Palace in 1895. ^ n habit and wood it closely resembles 

 Mrs. John Laing, and I think will prove nearly as useful. It stood the 

 cold nights of last spring well, scarcely any blooms being deformed or 

 rough, although on all sides of it other varieties were greatly injured. 



Marjorie, H.T. (A. Dickson and Sons).— A pretty little white rose 

 for the garden, of good shape, but too small to be classed as an " exhibi- 

 tion " rose. 



The texture of its petals is so thin that it damps off at the 

 Is this one of the reasons why the raiser recommends it "for 

 pot culture," and states that "for forcing purposes this is most valuable " ? 



least wet. 



It is included in Mr. Benjamin R. Cant's list of hybrid teas, and his 



Wh 



full, of medium size, and very pretty, especially good under glass." 



J 



(A. 



Dickson and Sons). — This charming 



rose has had such a very remarkable career, and, in consequence, so 

 much has been written about it that little more need be said. It is well 

 known that Messrs. Dickson, afterlexhibiting it, and obtaining the gold 

 medal of the N.R.S. for it under the m 



e of Mrs. W. J. Grant, out of 

 compliment to the well-known rosarian of that name, disposed of the 

 entire stock to an American firm, who, having adopted it as their own 

 child, distributed it under the new name of Belle Siebriecht. When, 

 however, it returned to this country, it was quickly recognised and called 

 by the name under which it was first presented to the public. Colour 

 rosy-pink, very free flowering, always in bloom, from first to last, pro- 

 ducing clusters of long pointed deep-petalled flowers, which, if required 

 for exhibition, must be well disbudded, although for garden and house 

 iecoration the buds may be left. It cannot, with us, as yet be called 

 vigorous or quite hardy, and, in budding, it either does not take very 

 readily, or else the buds are injured by the winter frosts. It appears to 

 have a considerable strain of the tea rose in its constitution, which it 

 more nearly resembles than the hybrid perpetual. No one, I think, has 

 exhibited it so well as the raiser himself, who last year, as in previous 

 years, staged magnificent flowers brought all the way from Ireland ; 

 flowers that really seem to thrive upon a sea trip. For my part, probably 

 because we do not manage it well, the flowers have a tendency to develop 



too quickly after cutting, and therefore have to be discarded upon . . t . , lr , . - . . . 



arriving at the place of exhibition. Nevertheless, as exhibited by the Easter, at least, in a good condition. We cannot keep it after this date, 



leading fruit growers contain a fair list of pears in season from December 

 to April, but so far I have never been able to keep pears so long as 

 stated, and it has not been for want of attention to those small details 

 that assist in preserving fruits. We have left Josephine de Malines, 

 Oliver de Serres, and others hanging on the trees till November, after 

 the leaves had fallen, to endeavour to keep them into the spring ; this 

 was an experiment, and it failed. 



We have a wealth of good pears which give us supplies from late 

 September to November, but I wish we could have this plentiful supply 

 after Christmas. There are, however, new varieties coming to the front, 

 and we may in time have something akin to Doyenne du Cornice among 

 them, which matures in February or later. I had hoped great things 

 from the new Le Lectier, and as regards quality, shape, and size, am not 

 disappointed, for it is a nice fruit ; it is a variety raised in France between 

 the popular Williams' Bon Chretien and the French Bergamotte Fortunee, 

 and its season is stated as from January to March. We have it as cordon 

 trees on a south wall ; these are young certainly, but gave good fruit, but 

 we could not keep them after December, though it is only fair to add our 

 soil, the warm position and hot summer may have affected its keeping. 

 Still, I fear it is not as late as one could wish, though it will make a good 

 Christmas pear. President Barrabe, a new pear, given an award of merit 

 n December last and a first-class certificate in January, by the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, promises well, and Mr. Allan, of Gunton, is to be 

 congratulated on the way he grew this variety ; we have it in cordon 

 form and expect great things, but fear it will ripen earlier than January ; 

 it will, however, be a valuable December fruit, and we have room for it, 

 as the quality is excellent. So far, our most useful December pear has 

 been Nouvelle Fulvie, not a handsome fruit by any means, but a splendid 

 quality for dessert at the season named ; it does well in our light soil, 

 where it is grown mostly in pyramid form, but it is well deserving of a 

 wall. Josephine de Malines we grow as pyramid trees, but the fruit is 

 none too large, and those who like this variety, will find it worth wall 

 space ; when in a distant county I grew this variety on a west wall, 

 where it was really grand. In the north it is worth a warm wall. At 

 Syon we have never been able to keep good fruit of this variety after 

 January. The fruits shown at the meeting alluded to were grown in 

 Berkshire. A revision of dates as to the keeping qualities of pears is 

 needed, as I fear very few dishes of Josephine de Malines could be kept 

 good till April, or even May, as stated in some catalogues. 



The best keeping pear we have is Oliver de Serres, but unless this 



well it is so small that it is not much cared for : it is not a 



It shrivels so badly if gathered early 

 If grown on a bush or pyramid it 



is grown 



showy fruit, but of fair quality, 

 that it is then soon unpresentable. 



should be well thinned. The useful Beurre Ranee, w T hich is so good at 

 the season pears are scarce, does not do well with us. In Gloucester- 

 shire we had five dwarf standards of this variety, but could not keep the 

 fruit after January, though in fruit catalogues it is often described as a 

 much later pear. The well-known Easter Beurre is rarely seen at 



This is a distinct variety, 



raiser, it is one of the best hybrid teas. 



Madame Joseph Com 



both in flower and foliage. Each plant sends up four or five long short- 

 jointed thornless shoots, with leathery dark green shiny leaves, and 

 bearing on the top of each shoot a cluster of buds. The bloom is creamy 

 white, of good size, well up to the exhibition standard, but not sufficiently 

 pointed to develop well. It is a late-flowering rose, coming into bloom 

 with us, about the last week in July, or the first week in August. As the 

 hard round buds when opening have a tendency to coarseness, the 

 plant should not be too severely disbudded. The flowers require a hot 

 ary season to open well, and cannot stand the least dampness, for they 

 soon discolour and decay in rain. For this reason I do not think it will 



™fi r , a foreraos t place, and cannot recommend it for a general 

 collection, but only for the sake of varietv. 



ro^if;« I 3 ;eRpoint Morgan, T. (H. N. May).— I have included this 

 bit in if ° m havin & se en it so well staged at some of the exhi- 



anH I 5 i ^ do not £ row [t U is a s P° rt from Madame Cusin, 

 thint ?f - l 7 l ; esembIes that variety both in form and size that I 

 mink . it is best described as a bright cerise Madame Cusin. 



cannot Vr!l V ^j"*" Paul and Son).— Not having grown this rose I 

 varietv Vi 1 ■ ° m ex P erie nce. From the excellent blooms of this 

 and wp SI k S y J ear at various shows k a PPears to be a useful one y 



better ah£ a few ? f il for lhe comi ?t r season, when I hope to be 



an opinion. J 



and it is not very productive here I regret to say, though I am aware in 

 many gardens it is a splendid variety. Ne Plus Meuris, a variety often 

 catalogued as a March or later variety, does not keep nearly so late with 

 us, and our large pyramidal trees fruit so freely that unless well thinned 

 it is useless for dessert. Doubtless the stock in our case is at fault, for 

 this pear needs double grafting, while in exposed places it is worth a 



There are others I could aote, but as several of them are earlier 



A 



wall. 



to mature than those mentioned there is no need to extend the list. 



I saw staged in very fine 



condition in the middle of February, gaining a first-class certificate. I 



It * 



variety less known— Duchesse de Bordeaux 



is 



have not yet fruited it, but it should be valuable for its lateness, 

 above medium size, of good shape, russety, and with firm flesh. I hope 

 to get fruits of it this next season, that they will eke out our scanty 



supply of late pears. 

 Syon Gardens. 



G. WVTHES. 



Chrysanthemums for December and January.— The following 



notes may be interesting to those who]have to supply cut flowers for indoor decora- 

 tion, and at the same time keep up a gay display in the conservatory at this dull 

 season. We have now, the middle of January, groups of chrysanthemums all 

 fresh and bright, edged with smaller plants such as primulas, cinerarias, celsias, 

 cjclamen, ferns, &c. , the whole presenting a very gay appearance. I will give 

 the names of the varieties as arranged. Phcebus, best yellow to last; Ada 

 Spaulding, delicate blush ; H. J. Jones, Cecil Wray, Etoile de Lyon, Boule d'Or, 

 Golden Gem, A. T. Symonds, W. H. Lincoln, Wilfred Marshall, Elmer D. 



in othpr I l "^* x ^puiiuii. juugiug iiwiii wiia i i nave Seen OI It uuiucu ucm, n. x. *jy u^uuo, * ?*— i — ■ ; ■ ■"— ■■■■I — ~" 



thp ^ Pe ° P & ar dens it is a very free bloomer and well adapted for Smith, Lily Gore, refined white ; G. C. Schwabe, and L. Canning, the latter is our 

 JhJi* I. cannot do better than give the raiser's description of it best late white > eitl ? er for cuttin S or for conserva tory. We split up the old plants 



centre rrZ n . X T? 5 : * lowers ivory white, tinted with peach colour ; 

 centred ?nrr y -^ ,nk ^ J Ver y beau * iful blending of colours ; large, high 

 rose th e and / lth u st,ff d 5ep P etals 5 habit erect > a magnificent exhibition 

 abund™r^° W i - ,S v ^ rorous an d the flowers are produced in 

 on^J: ^ rendering ,t also one of the most desirable varieties for 



great 



garden decoration and for 



cutting purposes 



Josef 



best late white, either for cutting or lor conservatory, we spilt up 

 of this latter in April, planting them out on a south border, carefully lifting and 

 potting them up again in September. We grow a big batch of this, as it carries us 

 through February. By growing the above varieties in the ordinary bush fashion 

 (not disbudding), housing late, keeping them in the coolest house available, we 

 secure a grand supply of these ever welcome and useful flowers. I would add 

 that we find the following are superb for cutting from : Ada Spaulding, Wilfred 

 Marshall, Golden Gem, L. Canning, Elmer D. Smith, and Phoebus.— 

 J. Masterton, Weston House Gardens, Shipston-on-Stour. 



