282 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 6, 1882. 
“W. M.’s” failure I should attribute to the cuttings having 
been taken off at least a month too soon, and being placed in a 
position where the sun excited them into premature growth before 
any roots were properly developed to sustain that growth. The 
buds that started and looked so promising were without doubt 
supported by the sap stored in the cutting, and when exhausted 
failure would ensue. A few years ago I inserted a batch of 
cuttings on a south border in October. The weather proved fine 
and the sun shone brightly for a month or so afterwards, and I ob¬ 
served at the time that the leaves withered and the bark shrivelled 
a little. That made me doubtful whether they would take root 
or not, and such proved to be the case, for only about a quarter of 
them lived. The winter that followed was a mild winter. Since 
that time I have always chosen a north or east aspect with success. 
An essential rule is to insert the cuttings firmly, about half in 
the ground and half out, as soon as possible after separation from 
the parent plant, and, if the ground is not naturally moist, to 
sprinkle it with water daily to keep the foliage fresh ; but after 
November Nature furnishes moisture enough for them till the 
spring. The blooms from Roses in a north aspect prove very 
serviceable in late summer after others in a more favoured position 
have done flowering. Although shade is recommended for Rose 
cuttings it is not a good plan to insert them under the shade or 
drip of trees.—A. Harding. 
Your correspondent “W. M.” complains of his Rose cuttings 
failing. If be had followed the instructions you gave last summer 
he would have been as successful as I have. Last August I filled 
a large frame with Tea and H.P. cuttings, and they are now 
splendid. So vigorous is the growth of some, such as La France 
and A. Rigotard, that I do not quite know what to do with them. 
They are too crowded, nearly the whole of the cuttings having 
taken root. Will you tell me what I ought to do with them 1 — 
F. Page Roberts. 
[Probably the best plan would be to place them in small pots 
at once and keep them rather close, moist, and shaded for a time 
in a frame, ventilating cautiously at first, then freely, until they 
will enjoy full exposure and be subsequently planted out. An 
alternative plan is to remove the frame as soon as it is safe to do 
so, and let the plants grow until the autumn, and then rely on the 
principle of the “ survival of the fittest.” This is the easiest 
method ; and the other would only prove the best if the potting 
were carefully done, and the plants well attended to afterwards.] 
TWO GOOD APPLES. 
I have noticed in no late selection either of the two fruits to 
which I venture to call the attention of your readers. True both 
are very old varieties, but this should be no reason for their being 
discarded if they prove, as they really are, superior to many kinds 
lately brought under the notice of fruit-growers. One is, perhaps, 
the earliest, if not one of the best-flavoured Apples grown—viz., 
the Eve. The tree is a vigorous but not a coarse grower, a 
great bearer, and very hardy. The fruit is fully ripe in July, and 
sometimes even in June. In shape it somewhat resembles the 
Tankard, with a rich bloom on the side exposed to the sun. 
The colour is a delicate pink, not unlike the Northern Spy ; the 
other portions of the fruit are of a light yellow colour, and it is 
altogether in appearance and quality a first-rate early market 
Apple. 
The other is with me one of the latest and longest keeping 
Apples. The tree is of excellent habit, and in heavy soils one of 
the best bearers I know. This is the Hambledon Deux Ans. A 
better bearer of good-sized handsome fruit or a longer-keeping 
variety I think does not exist, Four trees in an orchard of six acres 
here, and in which upwards of forty different sorts are grown, are 
found more productive and profitable than any twelve trees of 
other kinds, I need scarcely point out to practical cultivators 
who grow for market the importance of early and late crops in 
the considerations of profits. Early Apples bring good prices 
before the market is glutted with the general supply, and the 
late fruits generally command a ready sale. Hence the importance 
of good selections for early and late crops.—P. J. Kane, Meath. 
THE ORIGIN OF THE DOUBLE PINK. 
It is not easy now to determine where and when the first 
double or laced Pink originated. Undoubtedly Dianthus deltoides, 
D. plumarius, and other varieties, were grown as border flowers 
from a very early date, but the laced varieties are unquestionably 
of more recent introduction, and I think it is not very probable 
would originate simultaneously in England and Scotland. For 
the following reasons I am inclined to think Scotland may justly 
claim the honour of introducing the Pink in its improved form, 
and raising it to the position it now holds as a florist’s flower. 
John Abercrombie, in the second volume of the “Gardener’s 
Pocket Dictionary,” published in 1786, gives a list of Pinks, but 
there is no mention of a double laced Pink. If such had been 
known in England then he would not have failed to have men¬ 
tioned it, and at this very time I believe the Paisley florists were 
competing with the laced Pink at their shows. 
In Sweet’s “Florist’s Guide and Cultivator’s Directory” for 
November, 1827, part 45, page 17, a Pink, Style’s Hero, is men¬ 
tioned. The following extract from the “ Gardener, Florist, and 
Agriculturist,” published in London in 1848, vol. ii., page 319, 
from an article headed “ History of Florist Flowers”—“ The great 
improvements made in the Pink are of very recent date, and 
hitherto chiefly if not wholly confined to this kingdom [meaning, 
I presume, England]. In short, we may venture to assert that a 
Pink called Major’s Lady Stavordale, raised from seed in the 
southern part of England by the person whose name it bears, was 
the first that deserved to be classed amongst such as are now held 
in esteem by florists. It was raised from seed about forty years 
ago, and was the first Pink possessed of that singular and beau¬ 
tiful ornament called a lacing, which is a continuation of the 
colour of the eye round the white or broad part of the petal, 
which gives it a most elegant appearance.” 
In the Gardener's Chronicle for October 6th, 1845, page 632, 
I find, in reply to a correspondent, a Scotch Pink Hector recom¬ 
mended as one of the best twelve varieties grown, but Scotch 
Pinks had found their way to England long before this time. 
Assuming the Hacket or Hawkhead Monster to have been the 
first laced Pink grown in Scotland, or at least in this part of 
Scotland (Renfrewshire), it was in cultivation long previous to 
Major’s Lady Stavordale. If Mr. John Finlayson took his son 
James when a boy to see this Pink growing in a neighbour’s 
garden, this must have been upwards of ninety years since, or 
more probably a hundred years ago. Mr. James Finlayson (his 
father John was dead long before this time) was an aged man 
when I knew him first, now some fifty years ago, and I find that 
Mr. John Finlayson took first prize for a Pink, or Pinks, at the 
Paisley Show so far back as the 7th August, 1794. 
It is therefore evident from this that Pinks were cultivated as 
florist flowers at that time, and it is but reasonable to infer they 
had been introduced a considerable time previous. I know that 
a few years after this in 1803, 4, 5, 6, and 7, there were a number 
of keen Pink growers and competitors in Paisley. Old Mr. John 
Laird and Mr. A. Duncan were amongst the prizetakers at that time. 
In fact, to be particular, in 1804 and 1805 Mr, John Laird was 
first, and in 1803 Mr. William Rose was first, and coming down to 
1808, about the year Major’s Lady Stavordale was raised, I find 
Mr. A. Duncan first for Pinks at Paisley. 
There were Pink growers in other parts of Scotland at this 
time. I had an uncle, Mr. James Frame, gardener to the Duke of 
Hamilton, at The Wham, Chatelherault, Hamilton, seventy years 
ago. He had a large collection of laced Pinks, amongst which 
I distinctly remember the Hacket or Hawkhead Monster. He 
was the first I ever knew who grew them in pots, and he told me 
they made good plants in pots. I have found from experience 
such to be the case, and am only surprised they are not more ex¬ 
tensively grown as such. 
The system I adopted was as follows—The cuttings were in¬ 
serted. in small pots, and when rooted in February, sometimes 
March, but the earlier the better, I repotted them into 6 and 7-inch 
pots, employing soil from an old lea field, a little well-decayed cow 
manure, and a little leaf soil, pressed moderately firm. A good 
supply of water was given, and they were plunged in coal ashes. 
I was careful in giving good drainage, never allowing the soil to 
become dry. During the year I used to give them regular supplies 
of soot water prepared by placing some soot in a bag, and plung¬ 
ing this in a tub or barrel of water.— Gavin McGhie. 
PEDIGREE SEEDLING ROSES. 
I have always admired the calm silence in which Mr. Bennett 
endured the rather pelting storm of adverse criticism which has 
assailed his first set of pedigree seedlings. He is evidently one 
of those men who does not know what it is to fail, and therefore 
is certain in the end to succeed. At any rate, at last we have his 
answer in the shape of a fresh batch of equally interesting new 
Roses. Let us hope that the Hybrid Perpetual parentage in these 
may be more prominent. One of them which has been figured, 
and which I have before me, is a cross between Devoniensis and 
Victor Yerdier. It is most charmingly Victor Verdierish, but of a 
much lighter “ celestial rosy red,” almost too much like La France 
