January 26 , 1882 .] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 69 
reason for placing 8 or 10 inches of rubble under it. 
The subject of aeration is a very important one, and 
possibly not fully understood; but this much we know, 
that the roots of plants cannot live without air, that 
air follows each supply of water given to the border, 
and that a system of drainage which allows a great 
quantity of water to be applied necessarily secures 
abundant aeration. Brickbats and similar material 
also have some effect on the temperature of the soil 
above them, not only from the warmth contained in 
themselves but from the body of air contained in the 
interstices, and which, being cut off from direct contact 
with the atmosphere of the house and that outside, must 
vary but very slowly. I consider that those who insert 
drain pipes vertically through their borders to connect 
the air of the drainage with that of the ordinary atmo¬ 
sphere make a mistake and neutralise to some extent 
the good offices of the rubble, because the} 7 make it 
possible for a circulation of air to take place otherwise 
than through the border. That some who have adopted 
this plan have been very successful I admit, but it was 
rather in spite of this arrangement than because of it. 
—Wm. Taylor. 
(To be continued.) 
BLUE ROSES. 
In last week’s Journal “ A. C.” asks my opinion as to the con¬ 
clusions arrived at by Mr. Grant Allen in the “Cornhill” for 
January. I have not seen the article, but my own views are not 
altogether in accord with those attributed to Mr. Allen ; for 
although I look upon a really blue Rose as very remote, the pre¬ 
mier 2>as has long since been accomplished, as those who recollect 
some of the old French and Bourbons with slaty tints, and the still 
more distinct H.P. Ardoisde de Lyon, will admit. This Rose I 
was wont to grow and show for a considerable time for the ex¬ 
cellent effect it produced in setting off by contrast the brilliant 
carmine scarlet of Senateur Vaisse and others of that type, but I 
need scarcely say it was always to my material disadvantage as 
an exhibitor, for neither the Rose nor its colour was popular with 
the judges. Still, I see no reason why through this variety, or the 
race from which it sprung, a slaty violet, and, perhaps with the 
intervention of one of the Pierre Nottingtype, a true violet should 
not be obtained, and that lighter violet tints should also follow ; 
and it will be only a question of time and money as to when a 
better blue in the Rose than we yet have in the Stock, Phlox 
Druramondi, and some other genera shall appear. 
Raisers have not as yet turned their attention in this direction, 
or have rather discontinued to do so, simply because it would not 
have paid, bright-coloured and white H.P.’s having only hitherto 
been popular, and to have sent out a “ washy ” or slaty blue Rose 
would have only been courting loss to the raiser and the propa¬ 
gators, certain condemnation by Rose critics, and a very frigid 
recognition by that most appreciative of all critics, public opinion, 
which has until recently preferred bright colours to dull in the 
proportion of something like 1000 to 1. Should, however, the 
present reign of aestheticism in colour be prolonged, perhaps Mr. 
Bennett, or a raiser with an object, may be induced to take a step 
beyond the premier pas in the direction of a blue Rose, although 
I regret to think that a “ true blue ” can only be a desideratum 
for the present generation of rosarians. A yellow Perpetual ought 
long since to have been evolved from Lyons or the sunny south. 
Now, however, that Rose-crossing in earnest is being taken up with 
skill, judgment, and the best appliances in this country and the 
United States, I shall be a dishonoured prophet if we do not secure 
during the next decade not only a yellow, but a violet and a 
white A. K. Williams.— T. Laxton, Bedford. 
Growing Potatoes in Pots. —As the time for starting early 
Potatoes has arrived, perhaps some of your numerous readers will be 
glad to learn others’ experience, especially as making hotbeds for 
forcing them are very often inconvenient. I would wish to give a 
hint as to my experience. I start them by placing the sets in boxes 
in a compost of three parts leaf soil to one part of yellow loam. They 
are then placed in the boiler house, leaving them there for about a 
fortnight, by which time they will have produced plenty of fibrous 
roots. They are then transferred singly into 12-inch pots, employing 
a compost of yellow loam and a third part of leaf soil. By placing 
them in a cold vinery or Peach house we can insure new Potatoes for 
table at Easter. Rivers’ Royal Ashleaf Kidney and Early May are 
the varieties grown.—A Potato Forcer. 
PRIZE SCHEDULES. 
This subject has often been alluded to by your able correspon¬ 
dent Mr. Moorman, and has also been the object of much care 
and concern with some of your “ north countrie ” friends. As the 
season is now at hand when local societies form their lists for the 
current year, it may not be without interest to say something on 
the general principles of the wording of prize lists apart from 
their bearing upon specialities, either Chrysanthemums or Pelar¬ 
goniums, or anything in particular. 
The primary object of all such societies is, or ought to be, the 
advancement of the science of horticulture, and the offer of prizes 
for the various productions of the exponents thereof is the means 
taken to secure the object of the society. It must be perfectly 
obvious that all competitors ought, so far as the actual compe¬ 
tition is concerned, to be placed upon an equality ; and the awards 
of the judges ought to be given in strict conformity with the con¬ 
ditions laid down for the competition by the society. How this 
is to be done in the face of some of the ambiguous expressions 
used in some, indeed in most lists, is not by any means so obvious. 
All such words as “ dish,” “ bunch ” (except, of course, as ap¬ 
plied to Grapes), “ collection,” “ group,” “ pot of,” “ basket of,” 
“ tray of,” &c., ought either to be left out of the list altogether, or 
there ought to be a definition of each term laid down in the regu¬ 
lations of the exhibition and strictly enforced, disqualification 
being the penalty for disobedience or disregard of the society’s 
rules. 
Perhaps no term in the list of prizes is the cause of so much 
contention with both judges and competitors alike as “ collection 
of,” as applied to fruits and vegetables. In flower-show phrase¬ 
ology so much money is offered for the “best collection of six 
(or more as the case may be) dishes of fruits or vegetables.” 
Anything more vague and indefinite would be difficult to imagine ; 
and anything more likely to give one exhibitor an undue ad¬ 
vantage over another one can scarcely conceive. What sorts of 
fruits are to take precedence, and how much, over others ? In 
what relation do the two “ collections,” which are exactly alike 
in every other respect save and except that one has a “ dish ” 
of Plums and the other a “dish” of Pears, both as near per¬ 
fection as may be ? And, again, in vegetables, each exhibitor has 
five of the required number of sorts equally good, the other two 
dishes being, one Tomatoes, and the other Mushrooms of equal 
quality. Which wins ? Are such distinctions as those, and they 
are of daily occurrence, to be left to the whim and caprice of the 
judges, or are they to be settled according to some generally or 
locally accepted rule ? 
The above are only solitary instances of the numerous ways in 
which vague and indistinct wording of prize lists give rise to so 
much cause for complaint from exhibitors, and so much annoy¬ 
ance to judges. One local society lays down a stipulation that 
exhibitors are to show their flowers to the best advantage, “but 
no artificial means are to be used.” This frightens some exhibitors 
from showing their cut flowers in paper collars, which some of 
the local judges deem indispensable on the show bench. What is 
meant by artificial means is not shown by any other clause in the 
regulations. Another society says that Grapes are to be “ shown 
on stands as at the London exhibitions,” but very few of the 
local exhibitors—who, by the way, always make or mar the show 
wherever it may be—have been at any exhibition in London, and 
have the most shadowy ideas imaginable about the shape, size, or 
form of the formidable London instrument. Referring again to the 
word “ dish,” what is a “dish ” of fruit? A prize is offered for a 
dish of Currants, one man staging a “ dish ” which we will say 
amounts to nearly two quarts. Another exhibitor, who has always 
been used to show one quart, stages that quantity, and although 
his fruit is as good as his compeer’s, he finds that he has only 
the second prize, for no other apparent reason than that of staging 
a smaller quantity. The same remark applies to “dishes” of 
Apples and Pears, and in fact to all sorts of fruits and vegetables ; 
everyone forms his own estimate of what constitutes a “ dish.” 
All of this might be avoided if some good rule was made by a 
competent authority, and accepted as the standard by which 
judges and competitors should be guided. It would be quite easy 
to lay down a law as to how many or how much of various sorts 
of fruits and vegetables constituted a “ dish,” but it would be far 
more to the purpose if societies would state the exact quantity of 
each particular exhibit required, and compel the exhibitor to obey 
their laws. And in the case of collections, much annoyance and 
many heart-burnings would be saved if the prize list showed 
