382 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
[ November 1, 1883. 
THE GREEN ROSE. 
“ S. J. W.” asks for particulars and a de¬ 
scription of the green-flowered Rose, and desires 
to know whether it is worth growing as a 
novelty. The particulars at our disposal are 
the following, and they may possibly be of 
interest to others besides our correspondent:— 
Mr. William Paul of Waltham Cross recorded 
in our columns in 1878 that this Green Rose 
(Rosa viridiflora) “ was first seen in France in 
the possession of M. Yerdier of Paris in 1855, 
who received it from an American nurseryman 
of Augustus, Georgia. I received it from M. 
Miellez of Lille as a new Rose in 1857.” Later 
in the same year Mr. Scargill wrote—“ Re¬ 
specting the origin of the Green Rose, the old 
man who collects the seed in the herbaceous 
ground at Kew tells me that the specimen there 
was brought by Sir H. Barkley from the West 
Indies (Demerara he thinks). He, however, 
added that it was taken to the West Indies by 
the French, and the specimen at Kew is 
labelled Rose Verte, which seems to indicate its 
French origin.” The appearance of the Rose 
is represented in the annexed figure of a 
specimen that was Bent to us by Mr. Smith of 
Romford. As to whether it is “ worth grow¬ 
ing as a novelty or not,” that is a question of 
individual taste. We have grown it for years, 
and have often cut flowers twice the size of 
that shown in the figure. They are not beau¬ 
tiful, but are certainly novel. 
Pig. 71.— Green rose. 
tendency to a large absorption of moisture, which he regarded as 
undesirable for the fruit. 
The very imperfect accounts we have of the oldest market gardens 
of London leave us in doubt where and when Cucumbers were first 
raised for sale in the metropolis. I suspect in the reign of William III., 
about Lambeth, Vauxhall, or Battersea being likely localities. Subse¬ 
quently Cucumbers were extensively grown in the open suburbs of 
London on the Middlesex side of the river, hundreds of thousands 
being cut yearly for immediate eating or for pickling. An early forcer 
of the plant was one Thomas Fowler of Stoke Newington, who was 
allowed to present a couple of Cucumbers to George I. on the 1st of 
January, 1721. Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire are two of the home 
counties that have produced quantities of Cucumbers in the open air, ] 
NOTES FROM A SCOTCH GARDEN. 
There are at this season few more useful 
flowers for filling vases than the Michaelmas 
Daisies. They may either be employed alone or for lightening heavier 
flowers. For the latter purpose Aster simplex, a pure white Daisy-like 
flower, is very lovely, and is only approached by the little Vittadenia 
triloba, a graceful plant with starry flowers which change from white 
to pink. Aster Amellus, purple ; A. versicolor, white ; Erigeron grandi- 
florum, light blue ; and Stenactis speciosa, of a darker shade of blue, 
are all of great value just now. Other good Asters not yet open are 
A. turbinellus, A. multiflorus, A. ericoides, A. novse-anglias, and A. 
novae-belgice. 
One of our best out-of-door flowers at this season is Alstroemeria 
peruviana. It begins to flower in summer, and continues throwing up 
fresh flowering stems until stopped by the cold of approaching winter. 
I do not remember having seen this species specially noticed before. It 
is certainly one of the best hardy flowers we have. Another lovely flower 
diseases. This was not, however, by its external use, lotions and 
calves containing Cucumber juice having obtained no fame then. 
Gerard recommends persons having “red pimples, coppery faces, and 
fiery noses,” and wishing reasonably enough to improve their aspect, 
to eat some Cucumber every meal, mixed with oatmeal pottage. A 
ridiculous notion prevailed in the seventeenth century that if the seeds 
of the Cucumber were soaked in milk before they were sown the 
resulting plants would not draw up “ the gross juices of the earth.” 
Lord Chancellor Bacon, who did so much in his age as a pioneer of 
modern science, studied the cultivation of plants, and advised that 
the pits in which Cucumbers were planted should have a layer of 
chaff or woody fibre under the mould, because that would check any 
and the fruit is now cheapened considerabty as compared with its 
price at the beginning of this century, but “ frame Cucumbers," like 
similar special articles, keep up their value. We think a great 
reduction has taken place in the quantity grown in the immediate 
neighbourhood of London, partly attributable to the disappearance of 
much of the garden ground, partly also to the circumstance that the 
crops have frequently yielded unsatisfactory results, which has arisen 
from various causes. 
The poet Cowper had amongst other occupations to wile away his 
melancholy that of raising Cucumbers, and in one of his poems he 
versifies the details of the process. In a letter to a friend he remarks 
that although he grew them he was afraid to eat them, and when 
forwarling one of them to a friend he asked 
him to explain how it was he had grown this 
specimen and yet had not reared it. His 
friend was perplexed, and Cowper solved the 
riddle thus—“ I raised the seed that produced 
the fruit that produced the seed that produced 
the fruit I sent you. The latter seed I gave 
to the gardener of Terningham, who brought 
me the Cucumber. So I virtually raised it by 
having raised its progenitor, and yet I did not 
raise it because the identical seed was sown at 
a distance.” There is no small minority of our 
population afraid, like Cowper, to venture upon 
Cucumber, and medical authorities are very 
divided about its wholesomeness.—J. R. S. C. 
