JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
352 
[ October 20, 1881. 
small ones amongst them than was the case with the autumn- 
planted Potatoes ; they were well shaped, and when cooked were 
floury. The difference I attribute to late and shallow planting. 
They had no check, the tubers were just covered, and the sun 
ripened them.— Wimbledon. 
ROSES—ARE WE PROGRESSING? 
While all Rcse-growers must acknowledge with thanks our 
great indebtedness to Mr. Hinton for carrying out the wearisome 
task of tabulating his sixty-seven Rose returns, I fear that we 
must confess at the same time that we have no great cause for 
satisfaction at the result to which he has arrived, at least as far 
as the recent improvement of the exhibition Rose is concerned. 
We see that not very much has been done for it in the last ten 
years ; perhaps it would be fairer to say eight, as the Roses of the 
last three years can hardly be said to have come into cultivation 
so generally as to take, for good or evil, the place to which they 
are justly entitled, though four of them have, I see, found their 
way into the list. On examination of the election we find, dis¬ 
appointingly I think, that all the first ten Roses are more than 
ten years old ; that of the first fifty where dates are given, thirty- 
six are of similar date ; that of the eleven Teas and Noisettes 
mentioned, nine date from 1838 to 1869 ; and that besides in the 
best of the old Roses there is, so to speak, a much greater indi¬ 
viduality than in the new. It would be impossible to mistake 
the Baronne, Mardchal, or La France for any other Rose if we 
saw it across the room, and though cut blooms of the two first on 
the list are somewhat alike, the character of the plants is quite 
d stinct. Of how many of the new Roses can it be said that we 
know at once what they are ? 
It would seem, then, that improvement in the present class of 
exhibition Rose has come nearly to a standstill. Every now and 
then, certainly, we get a Rose like A. K. Williams, absolutely new 
and surpassingly beautiful; but of the great majority, even of 
good Roses of the present day, we may almost say that we could 
have done very well without them. 
Now, much as I admire our present exhibition Roses, I must 
confess that there is too much monotony of style and character 
about them. A dozen types are more thau are to be found among 
them all. One tray in a show is much like another, somewhat 
better or somewhat worse, much the same coloured, much the same 
shaped flowers. Their owners are practically compelled to show 
only Roses of such a class and such a shape as is authorised by 
the fashion, and by adhering too rigidly to an artificial standard 
of excellence we lose much of beauty and variety. We must show 
Hybrid Perpetuals and Teas, and so have no chance of setting up 
flowers of any shade of colour not to be found in these two classes. 
We have no white Rose, for Madame Lacharme is not white and 
usually worthless, but we must not put in Madame Plantier ; we 
have no brown crimson, but Boule de Nanteuil is excluded as a 
summer Rose, and too fiat besides ; we have no slate colour with 
fiery eye, but there is no place for Majolin ; no copper colour, but 
Austrian Briar would be a heresy ; and the result is that outsiders 
say “ when they have seen one tray they have seen all.” And 
those exhibitors who value their Roses, and not merely, so to 
speak, as tools for their trade, grumble at the narrow scope 
allowed them by fashion in which to exercise their fancy. 
Then, as we seem to have got nearly to the end of our present 
t ther, is it impossible to strike out some variety in one style ? It 
would be something if the National Rose Society would stir in 
this, giving prizes, say, for the twenty-four bunches of Roses best 
varied in colour and character irrespective of shape. Such a tray 
would contain a number of shades and tints never seen in shows 
now-a-days. 
Again, has no one the courage to try his hand at raising un¬ 
conventional seedlings, by hybridising or not as suits him ? We 
cannot expect this of nurserymen, for they can only raise what 
will pay ; but among amateurs. Yellow Perpetuals, or even 
Gallieas, striped, copper-colour, plenty wait to be raised. The 
drawback will be the difficulty of getting good seed ; indeed this 
is the third year I have no ripe heps, and my seedlings of former 
years are becoming few in number as one after another is pulled 
aud flung away ; but a cheap orchard house well filled with varied 
Roses, or unoccupied portions of wall might help. Only there 
must be some appreciation of the fact that we are at a standstill 
at present, and that having excellence simple, we want variety of 
excellence. —Duckwing. 
LIQUID MANURE FOR FERNS. 
As I do not remember seeing any mention of liquid manure 
being used for Ferns it tempted me some time ago to try its effects, 
as my plants are cut very much, and I could scarcely obtain 
sufficient fronds to supply the house. Since using the liquid 
manure the plants look quite different and produce abundance 
of strong fronds, and though they have not been potted for 
three years, they grow as well as those which have been so 
treated each year. The liquid manure is obtained from a tank 
which comes from the stable, and is very strong, but it is only 
used weak, and given to the plants once a week in winter, and in 
summer when they require more water it is given twice a week. 
I would recommend Fern-growers to try this, but not to use it 
too strong at first, and take notice of the results. I have been 
benefited by many hints in the Journal, and hope the one I send 
may help others.—J. Gilbert. 
SCRAPS ABOUT FRUIT. 
Apples—Bad and Good Bearers.— “A Country Surgeon” 
asks your readers to notice those Apples that have not answered 
their expectations. We have many sorts, and several of them 
bear ODly a few Apples, while others are always loaded with fruit. 
Early Harvest is a good Apple, but only bears a few every year— 
never a good crop. Bess Pool is no bearer with us, just producing 
a few fruits every year. Blenheim Orange is a very fine Apple 
and highly flavoured, but does not do very well; some of the trees 
bear a few fruits and others none. Emperor Alexander is very 
beautiful, of good flavour, but is a shy bearer, yet the tree does 
not grow luxuriantly. Court Pendu Plat is a first-rate dessert 
Apple but not a great bearer so far, but may improve as the tree 
gets older. I have kept fruit of it till the 1st of June. Northern 
Spy is a fine Apple and a good keeper, but seldom bears, yet the 
tree looks very healthy. The trees have all been root-pruned. 
There are only a few varieties that bear every year alike, and these 
we depend on for a supply. Kerry Pippin is one of the best 
dessert Apples we have ; the tree is loaded with fruit every year. 
Keswick Codlin, an excellent bearer, and a capital kitchen Apple. 
Lord Suffield, one of the best early kitchen Apples, bears beau¬ 
tiful crops every year. Warner’s King, very large, is covered 
with fruit every year, and is a first-rate kitchen Apple. Scarlet 
Pearmain, a good dessert Apple, bears a good crop every year. 
Pearmain is one of my favourites, the tree bearing heavily every 
year; I have kept the fruit till June. Newtown Pippin, a fine 
dessert Apple, as large as Warner’s King; has a fair crop every 
year ; is one of the best, also a good keeper.—F. Walker, Isle of 
Wight. _ 
Storing Fruit.—A very important matter in connection with 
hardy fruits is that of storage. We are just finishing the storage 
of ours. What I want to note is this, that an unlimited supply 
of cool air is good for the fruit for a week or two after being 
stored, after that ventilate according to weather. It used to be 
thought that fruit kept best when in darkness. I think it doubt¬ 
ful if it does, and accordingly do not use shutters to the windows 
now unless in case of frost. These past severe winters, frost was 
kept from the fruit by keeping paraffin lamps constantly burning, 
and by covering the fruit with several layers of newspapers. 
Manuring Fruit Trees.—V ery often fruit trees of all kinds 
are starved. How is it possible that fruit trees can produce crops 
year after year from practically exhausted ground ? At present 
we are surfacing the ground amongst hardy fruits with a few 
inches in depth of manure. The soil is dug just so deep as to 
afford a covering to the manure. 
Stocks for Apples.— Free-fruiting Apples like Stirling Castle 
and Lord Suffield have a tendency to make too little wood when 
worked on the Paradise stock, at least such is my experience. 
To get over this defect I bought a quantity of Crab stocks, and 
have budded them with the freest-bearing kinds. I now hope to 
have a strong healthy growth along with as heavy, or perhaps 
heavier, crops of fruit. It is a necessity, however, to transplant 
every two seasons for a few years in order to get the roots into a 
fibrous and stay-at-home condition. 
Dutch Mignonne.—I see this Apple is recommended as a free- 
bearing sort. So it is ; but with us it has an unfortunate tendency 
to crack, which spoils it. _ 
Jefferson and Victoria Plums. —I can endorse what is 
said in favour of Jefferson Plum. It is the heaviest cropping 
dessert variety we have. The kitchen Plum which approaches 
most nearly to it in that desirable quality is Victoria. In recom¬ 
mending fruits the test point should always be that of fruitful¬ 
ness.—R. P. B., East Lothian. 
