June 12, 188-4. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
463 
petal and colour. Does your correspondent prune his too closely ? 
If he has not already done so let him try it on the “ long rod” 
system, and if he has strong matured wood he may expect 
plenty of handsome flowers. 
Another queen has been “sat upon”—Her Majesty. What 
next? Is “ J. A. W.” a floral communist? 1 thought when I 
read the bold letter how suggestive were the initials, and it struck 
me they were intended to mean what they spell—a bit of—well, 
good-humoured banter. Even if Her Majesty is large and some¬ 
times flat before fading, like a Souvenir de Malmaison, she is a 
beauty nevertheless before reaching that stage, will find her 
way into most Rose gardens, and be first in the class for any 
light variety. Even adverse criticism often does good, and 
Mr. Bennett will not suffer by the attention that has been 
directed to this right Royal Rose. 
“ Adverse criticism ! ” I see the manner of exhibiting flowers 
is again reached by it. My thought on this subject is that in 
Carnation-showing no person should be allowed to receive a prize 
for flowers he did not grow and he did not “ dress.” Dressing 
has won many a prize. Comparatively inferior blooms skilfully 
dressed possess an advantage over better grown examples un¬ 
skilfully treated; an exhibitor therefore should only have a prize 
for his own work, not for the work of another person. But as 
matters now stand it is not only not illegal, but quite permissible, 
for persons to win prizes at horticultural shows with products 
other than of their own growing, unless at least there is a rule 
to the effect that all articles must have been in charge of the 
exhibitor for a stipulated time for proving his skill as a cultivator. 
The authoritative exponents of horticulture in this country—the 
Royal Horticultural Society of England and the Royal Botanic 
Society of London, abrogated that rule and expunged that con¬ 
dition. It was evaded and cracked and broken, and big shows 
became of such importance that exhibitors were left free to get 
examples for staging one amongst another, or any way they 
could. What is the use, then, of finding fault with a method of 
exhibiting which is not in contravention of schedules ? and what 
is the use of persons complaining who are suspected of indulging 
in a practice that is not prohibited ? There are, of course, 
numbers of persons who would rather lose a prize than win it 
with the aid of another, but all men are not so particular, and 
complaints will necessarily continue as long as the combination 
practice exists, whether they do any good or not. 
The method of growing plants in turf as described on page 
442 is an excellent one, provided there is no couch grass in the 
material used, and which it is not desirable to establish in 
gardens. All ordinary bedding plants will, under favourable 
conditions, grow better in squares of turf than in pots, and the 
best evidence has been produced of the suitability of turf recep¬ 
tacles for Vines and Strawberries in preparation for planting; 
but as I once established some very fine couch in a Strawberry 
bed and a flower garden—and the plan in that case was certainly 
not a success—I think it well to mention this circumstance, with 
the object of giving a hint to others who might otherwise mate 
a similar mistake, and thus introduce one of the most trouble¬ 
some of weeds into their gardens. I have used clean squares of 
turf for sowing Mignonette in for transplanting.—A Thinker. 
THE QUEEN ONION. 
Why does not every gardener cultivate this valuable Onion ? I have 
repeatedly drawn attention to it, and yet again I hear complaints of a 
broken supply of Onions because the mild winter caused the summer 
crop to start into growth prematurely in the store shed, and it became 
worthless before the autumn Onions were ready. Valuable as are the 
varieties of Tripoli Onions, upon not one of them can we depend for an 
early supply ; but the Queen had good bulbs two months ago, and now 
there are plenty of really excellent bulbs, many of them being 4 inches in 
diameter, and are still growing fast. So few of them have run to seed 
that out of curiosity a row was taken at random, and only five have run 
to seed out of 135 in it. 
The details of culture are few and simple. Sow on or about the 
15th of July, not necessarily upon the permanent bed, but thickly upon 
any spare border. When the plants are 5 or 6 inches high take them up 
carefully, breaking no roots, and plant with a trowel in rows a foot apart 
and 6 inches apart in the rows. Water, weed, and keep the soil stirred 
between the plants with a hoe, and there will be an excellent supply next 
spring quite ready for use before the stored crop is exhausted.— Edward 
Luckhurst. 
ROSE REINE MARIE HENRIETTE. 
A correspondent in your last issue says that he has had this Rose 
for three years and never had a bloom from it. Three years ago a friend 
—well known to the readers of this Journal—procured for himself and 
me a plant each of this Rose in pots. They were duly planted out, and 
while his, I believe, like that of your correspondent in question, has never 
produced a single bloom, and is, moreover, now acting as stock to a 
foster-child, mine produced flower buds the first year to such an extent 
that sixteen were sacrificed at one disbudding. Last year I had it on a 
warm wall facing south by south-east, and it was in bloom a fortnight 
before any other Rose. This year it and the Gloire de Dijon came in 
together. I cannot say much for the quality of the bloom. This year it 
is coming better, but generally speaking it is a long time in opening its 
buds ; indeed nothing short of a hot day, such as we are not often favoured 
with, will induce it to open before the petals have lost the rich red colour 
shown in the bud, and have become of a washed-out pinky hue. The 
foliage, too, which is very fine, is tender, and is rendered unsightly by 
cold winds, which do not affect Teas growing on the same wall. 
To an amateur who has but little space, or who has to look at both 
sides of a shilling before spending it, I would say, Wait a bit ; the Rose 
may prove valuable, but at present there are more enticing investments 
in the market. , 
One word more. This Rose will strike in the open like twitch, 
scarcely a cutting failing. I see it will also bloom when on its own roots, 
but more I cannot at present say.—W. R. Bland, Derby. 
BOG GARDENS. 
Very few gardens of any pretension are without a sjvarup or 
bog garden, natural or artificial, and wliieh with a little judicious 
care and management in selection might be made most attractive, 
and where now we may only find in great abundance Nettles, 
Rushes, and many other coarse-growing plants. That much may 
be done to enliven such places is fully proved in not a few 
gardens at the present time in various parts of the country. 
The choice of the plants most suitable for the different situa¬ 
tions and aspects should be considered, and at the same time 
with regard to their seasons of flowering. In making artific al 
bogs shady corners should be chosen, and might be made to teem 
with interest. 
In the country few gentlemen’s gardens are without a natural 
stream or swamp, and these, with very little trouble might, and 
ought to be, made as beautiful as many of our mixed borders. 
In such places we may find the beautiful Spiraea palmata, aud its 
varieties intermedia and alba, quite at home, adding a charm 
rarely felt in such situations, and enlivening the landscape. 
Here also may be introduced, with a sure hope of success, all 
the stronger-growing and charming-coloured Iris Kaempferi, a 
damp situation to all appearance being the main requirement 
for their successful cultivation. The Typhas, too, although 
many are natives of our own country, seldom get the attention 
which they deserve, for when planted with a view to natural 
effect they give a quiet at-home rest to the eye at times, and 
where glaring colours would be discordant. The great Speai- 
wort (Ranunculus Lingua), with its large, handsome, sulphury- 
yellow flowers, and pretty glaucous stem-clasping leaves, would 
also be quite at home here, along with the Bog Bean (Menyan- 
thes trifoliata), in the more swampy places, the flowers of which 
are prettily fringed, and almost, if not quite, equal to an Oichid 
in chasteness of design. The Spike Rush (Eleochans), and the 
Cotton Grasses (Eriophorums), with their white woolly heads, 
lend to the scene a naturalness which it would be hard to imitate 
or arrange with an entirely artificial and exotic flora, lhen 
amongst foliage plants many of the Aca.nthads might be lntio- 
duced into the drier places with advantage, as also Cladium 
mariscus, Saxifraga peltata, E juisetum maximum, Garex pen- 
dula, Rogersia podopliylla, and many others. A place mig it 
also be found for the Marsh Shield Fern (Neplirodium tlielyp- 
teris), and also for Her Majesty, the Royal Fern (Osmuntia 
j 
°Among dwarfer-growing plants we have also a large col¬ 
lection from which to choose, and as much must be left to t ie 
taste or inclination of the cultivator, mention of a few ot the 
best and most suitable may suffice._ On damp, but slightly- 
raised positions, the charming Bog Pimpernel will find a home; 
and here special care must be given to keep weeds, mosses, cVC., 
at a distance, as it might easily be overlooked, so c.ose does it 
cling to the soil, forming as it creeps along a complete carpet, 
which in June is studded with its pretty pink blossoms quite 
a picture.” Mentha Pulegium is also suitable for such places, 
Sibthorpia europsea, Samolus Valerandi, and many others with 
the same low creeping habits.—D. 
SYRINGING VINES. 
The excellent remarks on this subject by “ C., Dorset, favour my 
previous observations rather than otherwise, as he states that much care 
is needed to avoid the injury that would surely follow. 1 his being so 
where first-class appliances are used shows the syringe to be a dangerous 
tool at the period I remarked when used by amateurs like myself working 
under difficulties, with old houses badly ventilated, and very little coal. 
