JULY ti »898' 



GA RDENERS' MA GAZINE. 



455 



A 



M 



3 MIXTL 



saluberrimutn 



nt often that I indulge myself in a course of preliminary pen-biting and 

 IT ,s not often tna t ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ present occasion I 



thum b4widdnng severe an attack of that juvenile malady 



fin d myse If ^lab ounng ^ The reasQn of this> lf you ple a se 1S 



35 more nor less than a pull-devil, pull-baker contest as to whether 

 r°cS or shal. no t touch on roses at this particular season. His satan.c 

 1 ,Sv «W^sts that everybody must by th.s tune be heartily sick of 

 1 while the floury one stoutly contends that as the season is yet far 

 f°nm' through, rosarians have only got their appetites nicely whetted. 

 Between the two of them I am a t a stand still. 



On the whole, I am inclined to let the specialists have their innings, 

 rf thev cannot write about roses ever so much better than people who are 

 nt specialists they think they can, which comes to about the same thing. 

 And this reminds me what a humourous study is the attitude of the spe- 

 rialist towards the non-specialist when the latter ventures on the sacred 

 preserves Sometimes it takes the form of jocular scepticism, someti mes 

 of good-natured toleration, sometimes of genial indulgence, sometimes 

 of tremendous sarcasm, but never of serious attention. It is not so long 

 ago that I had a great rosarian in my garden, and to him I ventured — 

 ereatlv daring— to address a few comments on rose practice which are 

 not in' the rose books. He listened with a bland and beaming abstraction, 

 said " Dear me ! " at the end, and immediately afterwards began to talk 

 with great animation to a young solicitor who had won a fourth prize at 

 a local show, and was, therefore, one of the elect. And what do you 

 think was the burden of their eager converse? Whether my pet A. K. 

 Williams would rank as a one or a two point flower ! This about a 

 bloom which I honestly believe would have won the medal at the National 

 was too much. 



Perhaps, however, this sort of thing is only a just Nemesis. Outsiders 

 always say that horticulturists look down upon them from a higher plane 

 of being. Therefore, when the camp sub-divides and one section looks 

 down on another, the same principle is being applied to the sinners 

 themselves. It is capital sport to beguile a rose specialist, who has been 

 lording it over you, into a carnation or chrysanthemum show, introduce 

 him to an enthusiast, and leave him to his fate. If he be an all-com- 

 manding floricultural genius — an F. D. Horner, let us say — he may come 



more disastrous sweep of all classesof orchard fruit as 1898 has presented 

 us with. How, therefore, anyone can advance drought as the cause 

 passes the comprehension of ordinary mortals, and even transcends the 

 massive intellect of that heaven-sent genius, Peter. 



Peter, let it be known, has a theory of his own. You remember the 

 story of the journalist who determined to thwart the cunning scheme of 

 the policeman who desired to keep midnight skulkers off the seats in 

 the square. Robert soused the seats with water, but when he saw a 

 respectable newspaper man there he was obliged to hold his hand. How- 

 ever, he routed the interloper with the whispered warning " insecks." 

 Similarly, when I asked Peter to give his views on the question of fruit 

 loss in or just after the blossoming stage, he responded — " insecks, sir." 

 Peter points to the excess of blight this year, and expounds his theory 

 with such unbounded conviction that I know it is useless to argue with 

 him. I weakly imagined I had presented him with a poser when I 

 pointed out that the imperfect bloom was there before the insects, but he 

 shattered this by asserting that the flowers would have stiffened up right 

 enough if the blamed varmint would have let 'em : he'd known em do it 

 many a time. What can I say to this ? 



It no doubt pleases "A.D." to ask for the papers of the "senior 

 wranglers " in horticulture, whose names have been recently published ; 

 but it would have been more to the point if he had suggested that there 

 should be an examination in practical work. I shall not recapitulate 

 former arguments in favour of this cause* Suffice it to say that such 

 arguments have been advanced and never refuted. I do not know that I 

 should refer to the matter at all, well aware though I am that I have a 

 strong mass of opinion behind me, were it not that some people construe 

 my attitude into one of hostility to the principle of theoretical study root 

 and branch. Rubbish ! What I contend for is a happy harmony of 

 practical skill and intelligent scientific aptitude. It may be difficult of 

 attainment, but it is certainly not impossible. Now, with a mere paper 

 examination you can never be sure you are turning out the right material. 

 A skilful crammer may upset all your calculations. On the other hand, 

 while an examiner is putting a series of candidates through a practical 

 test, he can ask for reasons for each task, and so test theory at the same 

 time. Lux, 



Roses In Decorations. 



through the ordeal triumphantly. But F. D. Homers are few and far be- As far back as we have any history of the rose, it has been one of the 



tween, and as a rule he has a bad quarter of an-hour before the hollowness 

 of his pretensions are exposed. 



Let me hasten, however, to something practical, lest trouble befall 

 me. Some time ago, after venturing on a few brief reflections, which 

 hadn't any particularly practical end, I was admonished by a post-card, 

 which was somewhat to the following effect : 11 Look here ! If you are 

 1 Lux ' stop that fancy jaw and give us something sensible." The young 

 recipient was not the time-worn Lux, but he contrived to get this pain- 

 ful thrust passed on until it reached the right party, who, happening to 

 have taken professional pride in the matter thus contemptuously derided, 

 was badly mauled. My first practical point is about strawberries. I 

 have said so many good things about Royal Sovereign that I cannot be 

 said to have a bias against it in giving utterance to a bad one. It is 

 not altogether pleasing many of the chief market men, and this because it 

 matures so rapidly that unless they can tackle it all at once it is gone. 

 Paxton's develop more gradually, and are therefore more convenient for 

 gathering and marketing. It looks from this as though the process of 

 displacement which was going on between the two great rivals may be 

 checked. Any way, large growers may thank me for the hint to proceed 

 with caution in extending one at the expense of the other. 



iT* 16 *^ tor .d ea .ls with the delicate subject of lawns in a recent note. 

 I choose the adjective purposely. Trimness is hot everything in a lawn. 

 you may shave some lawns as rigorously as you do your own chin of a 

 rooming, and they never possess that indescribable fineness and delicacy 

 which a perfect lawn exhibits. The perversity of people on this subject 

 is very remarkable. I could not help wondering, as I read of the gentle- 

 man who objected to freshly turf or seed his plot on the score of expense 



vTu reac1il Y * n wli ^ the re serve plan of mending it piecemeal, how 

 much he was in pocket when the grass was at last put into respectable 



C £ n i!? n "- Tll * s lawn "P atc hing is doubtful economy. It is not so much 

 the odd bits of seed nor the odd bits of soil which cost money, as the time 

 consumed in the fetching, carrying, and applying. However, his refusal 

 to do the thing thoroughly had an advantage for the public if not for him- 



S f k ? ena ^ lec * an instructive experiment to be made. The mention 

 of phosphates reminds me of a wonderful crop of hay just garnered by a 



[lend a . do P ted a suggestion of mine to dress with steamed bone 

 our ' 11 is> indeed, a remarkable crop, even in what is recognised as a 

 good hay year. The Editor mentions u bone meal." Perhaps that would 

 better still as containing rather more nitrogen. 



« t ^? r * ^- T. Fish writes, in his usual interesting way on the subject of 

 d h P roduction ;" 1 got along capitally with him (as I nearly always 

 oa £ Way ' either in the P ress or in Person), until I came to the last 

 suff 18 ^ ' and then 1 be & an to sniff powder. Fruit trees, says Mr. Fish, 

 to m £ re fr ° m want o{ waterthan want of food > a nd then he proceeds 

 emb ay f- drou 2 ht at the roots shrivels off thousands of blooms and 

 ryo fruits. Wrestling with a slight ambiguity of expression, I came 

 r^n aSt t ,°. thein evitable assumption that drought is suggested as a leading 



ffa • J mperfect setting and swelling. But I ask, When has fruit gone 

 s • * l * has don e this year? And when have we had a more saturating 

 surn"fi niustbe many a year since the two things have run in a more 



5 incant double harness. In all my experience I have never known a 



1 



most popular of flowers, and one used most extensively to decorate the 

 festive board and hall at the principal public and private gatherings of 

 those nations in whose lands it grew freely. The rose has ever been 

 admired by those who loved beauty of form and colour, and delicious 

 fragrance, consequently we find that at the present time roses enter 

 more largely into the composition of floral designs than they ever did. 

 This is not to be wondered at when we consider how rapidly the taste 

 in floral designs and decorations has advanced and improved during 

 recent years ; then, of course an additional incentive to the popularising 

 of the rose for bouquets, baskets, table decoration and personal adorn- 

 ment, has been the continual increase in the number of delicately-tinted 

 roses possessing fragrance. Indeed so wide is the colour range we now 

 possess in roses, so numerous the charming half-shades, and so 

 exquisitely beautiful the combinations of colour seen in many of the 

 noisette tea-scented and hybrid tea roses, that there can scarcely be any- 

 one who cannot be supplied with a rose, or roses, suitable for association 

 with any colour that may be presented by vase or basket, furniture or 

 dress. 



Roses were never more popular than now, especially for brides- 

 maids' bouquets, and for presentation baskets. What could be 

 more effective than a combination of yellow roses with those that 

 have a brownish shade, providing they are tastefully disposed amid 

 bronzy foliage. It would also be difficult to imagine a prettier combina- 

 tion than that of the lovely pink Catherine Mermet with the rich crimson 

 Duke of Wellington. Such combinations as these suggested are more 

 generally admired than are baskets or bouquets of any handsome self- 

 coloured rose, such as Mrs. J. Laing, Captain Hayward, Caroline Testout, 

 Ulrich Brunner, A. K. Williams, Viscountess Folkestone, or Her Majesty, 

 to enumerate only a few of those that are eminently suitable for floral 

 decorations without the assistance of other varieties. Some of the self- 

 coloured roses make charming displays when associated with white 

 variegated, pale green, or bronzy foliage, according to their colour ; thus 

 pink roses and white variegated foliage go well together. 



The greatest difficulty floral designers have to contend with in the 

 use of roses is the lack of substance and rigidity in the stems. It is a 

 great pity that so many of our most beautiful roses have such weakly 

 stems and need to be wired, this process somewhat affecting their 

 charm. Niphetos, Marechal Niel, Safrano, and L'Ideal are sinners in 

 this respect, and florists would be grateful to those who would raise 

 varieties similar in colour, but producing flowers on long stiff growths. 

 We want, for floral decorations, more roses of the class so ably repre- 

 sented by The Bride, Catherine Mermet, Bridesmaid, Captain Hay- 

 ward, &c, for not only would such prove a great help to decorators, but 

 they would prove much more effective when cut, and used unmounted, 

 with long stalks, than those with limp stems, and which have to be wired 

 into position. 



That comprehensive section known as garden or decorative roses, 

 contains many varieties that are of the greatest pcssible use in making 

 up bovquets, coisage and hair spray?, buttonholes, &c, for in the bud 

 state they are suipassirgly beautiful and easily manipulated. A few cf 

 the best include W. A. Richaidscn, L'Ideal, Hcmeie, Madame Chedare 

 Guinoisseau, Ma Capucme, Safrano, Liuret'e Mess "my, ard Ccrre 



d'Hebe. 



Coventry* 



H. A- Perkins, 



