December IS, 1888. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
501 
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Royal Society at 4.30 P.M. 
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Quekett Club at 8 P.M. 
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SUN 
3rd Sunday in Advent. 
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TU 
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Society of Arts at 8 P.M. 
A NEW ROSE GARDEN. 
PERFECTION IN EIGHT MONTHS. 
T perfection of the exhibition table type, but the 
equally laudable perfection of culture, whereby 
one or a hundred newly planted Roses may be 
grown into pyramids of beauty 2 feet in diameter 
at the base, and tapering upwards to a height of 
4 feet, clothed with large healthy foliage, and 
with some two dozen clusters of flowers just 
expanding by the end of August. This is what 
I want to explain now for the assistance of those 
who are planting Roses simply for the embellishment of their 
gardens, and who are therefore likely to welcome hints of 
culture calculated to accelerate the fulfilment of their wish 
for heaps of Roses. 
That the Rose is and always will be one of our most 
popular flowers goes without saying, nor are the reasons of 
its popularity far to seek, for, in addition to the beauty and 
fragrance of most of its flowers, it gives very little trouble 
when once established in good soil, and continues flowering 
for many years—just so long, in point of fact, as it makes 
healthy wood growth. With the exception of an annual 
pruning a Rose bush may therefore be said practically to 
take care of itself; and this is probably the reason why in 
most gardens its culture resolves itself into feeding with 
manure to promote strong growth, which is subsequently 
reduced by pruning to three or four buds with little or no 
regard for the formation of handsome bushes. I submit that 
it merits better treatment at our hands, and that we should 
not rest contented with an unsightly bush and a few flowers, 
however fine they may be, when by the exercise of care and 
labour we may do so much better. 
Rose culture has by no means reached its possible limit 
of excellence with us, and this is probably owing to the rage 
for exhibition turning attention so generally solely to the 
production of flowers up to the standard of prizewinners, and 
which are destined to be severed from the bush before they 
are fully expanded, the flower being all that is cared for, the 
bush only being valued as the necessary means for its pro¬ 
duction. “ I must have a smell,” said a well-known veteran 
exhibitor of Roses who stood gloating over a stand containing 
a superb specimen of Marechal Niel; but the attempt to 
gratify this very natural wish ended in disgust, for it led to 
the discovery that the much-admired flower was an artificial 
one of wax so admirably finished as to deceive even such 
experienced eyes. If the disappointment induced a greater 
liking for uncut flowers it certainly did no harm. 
The Soil.— Turning now to our details of culture, first 
of all comes the soil, which must be well drained so as to 
have no stagnant water near it. It must be 2 feet deep, and 
thoroughly enriched with stable or farmyard manure well 
mixed with the whole of it. Few gardens contain good j oil 
of this depth, and in most cases the soil will have to l e laid 
aside, the subsoil excavated to the required depth taken away 
and good soil supplied. Let there be no hesitation about 
doing this thoroughly, for upon it success or failure very 
much depends. See too that the soil has sufficient stones 
or gritty matter to prevent it settling down into a compact 
hard mass as the manure becomes exhausted ; for although 
our immediate aim is a fine late summer display of Roses, 
yet it is well to have an eye to the future and do all we 
can for the subsequent wants of our bushes. Everybody has 
a certain quantity of coal ashes at hand for this purpose, 
and I know no better medium for the thorough mechanical 
division of the soil. 
The Plants.— Dwarf Roses on the Manetti stock are the 
best which nurserymen offer for our purpose. Select vigorous 
plants, prune all the shoots to three buds except one, which 
should have five or six buds and be fastened to a stake to 
form a stem, the stakes to be put in at the time of planting. 
Plant carefully, and at once cover the soil with a mulching 
of half-decayed farmyard manure : pig, cow, or horse dung 
answer equally well for this purpose. Do not crowd the 
plants, but give them ample space for full development into 
sightly specimens. Six feet apart may be given as the best 
distance, and 5 feet as the next best, only to be resorted to 
where space is very limited ; and even then it is questionable 
whether a few plants thoroughly well managed will not afford 
more real pleasure than many, with a perceptible tendency 
to crowding, and a lack of vigour in the growth of branch, 
foliage, and blossom. 
Feeding — Thus far we have made due provision for a 
good start in spring, and when branch and root are growing 
freely we must be ready to assist them with a thorough 
drenching of liquid manure twice weekly. Plouse sewage 
answers for this purpose very well, but my favourite manure 
is two ordinary garden trowels full of three-star crown manure 
well stirred into an old paraffin cask full of water. Failing 
this, recourse may be had to a plan which I once had to 
resort to—a hole excavated in the soil, its sides and bottom 
puddled so as to hold water enriched with sheep’s dung 
collected from an adjoining pasture. 
Training.— The leading shoots of the stem and branches 
must have the tips repeatedly nipped off at the second or 
third bud, as appears necessary, to induce more lateral 
growth ; the stem being taken up the stake to the required 
height, and the branches tied slightly downwards and apart. 
Lateral growth will come freely with our liberal diet, and 
early in August stopping the growth may cease, for the pyra¬ 
mids will be fully formed and the shoots may be left to pro¬ 
duce flowers. The stronger growers will attain the size 1 
have indicated, others will not reach more than two-thirds 
of that size, but all will have such a profusion of fine flowers 
as will well reward us for our care and patience.— Edward 
Luckhurst. 
NOTES FROM THE NORTH. 
THE INFLUENCE OF STOCKS ON GRAPES—DUKE OF 
BUCCLEUCH AND GROS MAROC. 
The Winter King.—I feel constrained to ask if those 
whom this Grape concerns are warranted in offering it ta 
the public, as it is inferred they intend to do, as a new 
Grape that will under ordinary circumstances maintain the- 
altered character from Gros Colman that it has assumed on 
the stock which has so strikingly affected it. Having con¬ 
siderable experience of this Grape under different circum¬ 
stances, I quite accept the evidence that has appeared 
regarding the change in colour, &e., that has been wrought 
on it by being grafted on the stock in question. At the same 
time it is very much to be doubted if, when propagated and 
grown on its own roots, it will retain its altered character¬ 
istics ; indeed, my experience leads me to say that it is 
almost certain it will not. Is it to be offered to the public 
grafted on the Raisin de Calabre stock ? Even under these 
conditions, will the stock be certain to maintain the change 
without also having a limb of the stock in active growth ? 
We all remember the “apparition” of Golden Champion 
at Culford, and what became of it when raised from eyes. 
Although, of course, the case is in some respects different, 
