JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
316 
[ October 6, 1881. 
with the gradual extension of his operations, he will become a 
horrible incubus to other nations which in their desperation they 
will at all hazards throw off. 
In a previous communication I made reference to the gardens 
of Hong Kong, and sent a view showing their attractiveness in 
connection with the surrounding scenery. As representing the 
diversified character of those gardens I now send a view of the 
Broad Walk, which with its terraces, trees, and magnificent back¬ 
ground is extremely imposing, and shows that when Art and 
Nature are appropriately blended how satisfactory are the effects 
produced. These gardens are a credit to those who designed them, 
and they are a pleasant adjunct of the busy town. I enclose also 
an account of the botany of Hong Kong, which will form a future 
article.—A Wanderer. 
(To be continued.) 
CURRANTS. 
Few fruits are more useful or more generally cultivated than 
the Currant. It is scarcely possible to find a garden of any 
moderate size without a few Currant bushes. In many instances 
they are looked upon as capable of growing anywhere, and cer¬ 
tainly they are so hardy and vigorous that it is difficult to prevent 
them producing fruit. We frequently see them planted under 
the spreading branches of trees, and, even in that position they 
produce fruit. In these days, however, most of us endeavour to 
produce large fine fruit, and to accomplish that end we must go 
the proper way to work. Currants flourish in a good rich loam, 
with plenty of room to allow a proper circulation of air about 
them and sun to ripen their fruit. Red Currants should not be 
pruned too hard. Some of my bushes suffered from excessive 
pruning two years in succession, and did not produce above half 
the quantity of fruit of others more tenderly cut. We gathered 
splendid Red Currants as late as the 21st September, the bushes 
having been protected by tiffany as soon as the fruit became red. 
Black Currant bushes grow very vigorously here, and annually 
throw up strong young shoots from the roots. In September we 
cut out all the old wood, and leave the young wood only for the 
next year. When I first requested my man to do this he looked 
astonished, and told me I should have no fruit the following year. 
He has, however, quite altered his opinion, and only last week I 
saw him very busy clearing out the old wood. My Currants never 
fail to produce a large crop of fine fruit. They have a dressing of 
leaf soil every spring.—W. G., Elm dale, Surrey. 
NOTES ON ROSES. 
A worse autumnal bloom I do not remember, and yet the past 
few fine days have brought from their hiding places dear friends 
in all their old fulness, freshness, and brightness. To-day, the 
last of September, I have gathered really grand blooms of Marie 
Baumann, Alfred Colomb, Ferdinand de Lesseps, Louis Dore, La 
France, &c., and, strange to say, the only really good and typical 
representative I have seen of H.P. Jules Finger. I have been 
sorely disappointed up to now with this Rose, but three blooms 
cut this morning from one maiden standard have quite satisfied 
me. Let me recommend as very good autumnals Olga Marix and 
Acidalie. Both are most useful as to colour, and most accommo¬ 
dating as to freedom of blooming. Ferdinand de Lesseps is 
usually bracketed with Exposition de Brie and Maurice Bernardin, 
but with me is more satisfactory in every respect than the two 
latter. It is one of the most useful dark Roses we have, and 
thrives well on the Manetti. Is Madame Hippolyte Jamain a 
H.P. ? I may be unfortunate, but have never yet seen on my few 
plants of this variety a second bloom. How different is her Tea 
sister in this respect! 
Writing of Teas, I find Madame Lambard and Innocente Pirola 
both excellent in quality and quantity of bloom at this season of 
the year. Madame Angele Jacquier I have not sufficiently tried 
to speak positively as to her merits apart from her prettiness and 
distinctness. 
How many of your readers are able to induce Reine du Portugal 
to open ? I can see in my mind’s eye now the glorious treble of 
this Tea Rose as shown by Messrs. Robert Mack & Son at the 
Sutton Coldfield Rose Show this year. I forgot to ask this firm’s 
representative whether the blooms were shown under glass of in 
the open. Certainly their box of eight trebles at this Show was 
the finest stand of Teas exhibited during the present season. 
Going back to H.P.’s, will your correspondents give me their 
ideas as to Paul Jamain ? With me it is another Charles 
Lefebvre ; perhaps a trifle “rounder” in shape, but not suffi¬ 
ciently distinct for me to keep. 
Duchess of Bedford is, I think, the best novelty since A. K. 
Williams. It is a grand Rose, too, for pots when grown in cold 
frame. I am glad to find that sport of our old friend Madame C. 
Joigneaux keeps to its first character. I refer to William Warden. 
The colour is quite charming, and as it makes less wood than 
“ Madame ” so it gives many more flowers ; at least, this I find to 
be the case at Yardley Wood.—J. A. W. 
GRAPES AT THE EDINBURGH FRUIT SHOW. 
Your reporter, in his account of the Edinburgh Show in Sep¬ 
tember, states, in regard to an exhibit of Grapes sent by me, that 
“apart from being badly packed and considerably rubbed they 
were not in good condition.” In this description your correspon¬ 
dent has not given you a faithful account of what he saw. It is 
not true that the fruit was not in good condition. In view of what 
has been written lately the fruit was sent as examples that had 
set in a low temperature, all particulars of which were given on 
the card attached, besides particulars that were furnished to the 
Secretary and those who set them up for me, fully explaining that 
though mostly well coloured they were not quite ripe, that not 
being considered essential, the object beiDg to show that the 
berries had set and swelled well. Had the reporter understood 
his duty and wished to perform it in a fair and impartial manner 
he could have given his opinion on the merits of the case, and 
stated whether the berries were set imperfectly or otherwise, &c.; 
but he only indulges in vague insinuations as to the quality of 
the fruit, without having the courage to say what was amiss with 
it. I was too unwell at the time either to pack the Grapes myself 
or go with them, and they were packed and sent to the Secretary 
in the ordinary way. That they were rubbed in the bloom I am 
aware, but not in a way to interfere with the purpose of the 
exhibit, which I trusted was sufficiently understood by gardeners, 
although I was well aware at the time that I was sending them 
“into the camp of the Philistines.” 
I have not been able to write you on the subject till now ; and 
just to show how far your reporter’s estimate of the Grapes I sent 
to the Show is just and true, I beg herewith to send you samples 
of the several kinds from the same Vines, and I am content to let 
you pronounce a verdict upon them as to the way the berries have 
set and their condition generally. They are not our largest 
bunches, nor are they so fine as those sent to the Show, but they 
are fair examples of crops in more than 200 feet of vineries here. 
They are, of course, a little riper than those at Edinburgh, but 
not better coloured, and are not yet perhaps quite ripe in all cases 
as regards flavour. As to gardeners not being “impressed with 
the economy of the system,” I have only to state that if the letters 
which I have received from both gentlemen and their gardeners 
desirous of adopting the said system through “ having seen ” 
our Grapes at the Show be any evidence of the impression pro¬ 
duced, I would be well justified in saying your reporter had failed 
to catch the drift of opinion regarding them. I enclose privately 
an example of the communications I have had in the shape of a 
letter from a gentleman in Scotland who, although his Vines 
“ have borne very good Grapes ” hitherto, is induced to adopt 
my practice through “having seen my exhibit of Grapes grown 
in cool night temperatures,” and asks for instructions how to 
proceed. 
It is a curious commentary on the reporter’s verdict that a man 
who already grows good Grapes should be induced to adopt another 
plan which, according to your reporter, produces Grapes that are 
“ not in good condition.” Another letter, from a Scotch gentle¬ 
man at a certain castle (whose name I give you), states that he 
planted his Vines and treated them according to the advice of one 
of the Judges at the late Edinburgh Show, giving his Muscats a 
night temperature of 75° min. when in flower, with the result that 
he has never had a satisfactory crop, the fruit neither setting well 
nor finishing satisfactorily, while the foliage after the setting 
period has been always severely injured by red spider, adding that 
neither he nor his gardener can account for their failure unless 
it be the high temperature, as nothing else they can discover 
appears to be amiss with the Vines, which generally start well 
and do well till the high-temperature stage is reached. This 
passage describes so accurately the results of the excessively 
high temperature system that I am induced to reproduce it here. 
—J. Simpson, Wortley, Sheffield. 
P.S.—In addition to what is stated above I may mention that 
two bunches of Alnwick Seedling were awarded the first prize for 
black Grapes at the Handsworth (Sheffield) Show a few days 
before the Edinburgh Exhibition, and they were from the same 
Vine.—J. S. 
[As “ examples of setting ” the hunches sent are highly satisfac¬ 
tory ; indeed they are quite full, and all the berries are good, some 
being very fine, especially those of Gros Guillaume and Alnwick 
