July 13, 1882. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
25 
13th 
Tn 
Birmingham Bose Show. Two days. 
14 th 
F 
Manchester Bose Show. Two days. 
15th 
S 
Birkenhead Bose Show. 
16 th 
Sun 
6th Sunday after Trinity. 
17th 
M 
18 th 
TU 
Leek Bose Show. 
19 th 
W 
Luton Show. 
ONCE MORE AMONG THE ROSES. 
?^KlS^ F TER travelling all round the continent of 
> <t V /NTT< Africa, after visiting the lovely island of 
Malta, passing through Egypt, and staying a 
month in the most beautiful island in the 
world, Ceylon ; after visiting the Antipodes, 
and being very glad indeed to get away from 
them, I find myself in Old England just in time 
for the Palace Rose Show, amid my old favour- 
Oh ! what a lovely sight it was to see the well- 
known green boxes of Messrs. Cant, Cranston, and Paul, 
filled with the most glorious blooms, so fresh and so charming. 
The Show itself has been reported, but let me here express 
my sympathy with my old friend Mr. B. R. Cant for having 
his fine collection of seventy-two blooms disqualified. It was 
a hard case to have a duplicate of such an inferior Rose as 
Madame Nachury, one bloom of which would mar any box, and 
for this Rose, accidentally placed, to disqualify such a seventy- 
two was indeed a misfortune. His Teas were most lovely, his 
dark Roses superb. Prince Arthur, Louis Van Houtte, Xavier 
Olibo—all the old favourites, were well to the front. His 
Marie Van Houtte has only once been equalled (never excelled) 
by my friend Mr. Baker at Exeter. And this reminds me to 
say how much I regretted the absence of the two great amateurs, 
Mr. Baker and Mr. Jowitt. The former has lately suffered 
the most severe domestic loss, which all rosarians will, I feel 
sure, deeply deplore. Mrs. Baker was such a good judge of a 
Rose, such an invaluable friend at staging, that I do not know 
when my old friend will have the heart to show again. Mr. 
Jowitt has lately changed his residence, and now lives by the 
sad sea waves in remote Tenby. A Rose show without these 
two great rosarians must suffer, and there can be no question 
that so far as the amateurs were concerned there was a great 
falling off. Mr. Cranston, though he was placed second in 
seventy-two’s, yet showed the most even stand in the Show. 
It was a great pleasure to see him and Messrs. Paul and Cant 
having such a close fight. And now to the greater Show— 
the event of the season in the Rose world. 
I think it will be granted that the metropolitan Exhibition 
of the National Rose Society was one of the largest and most 
comprehensive ever seen. I do not think I can add the “ finest,” 
because I have been at shows where the Roses exhibited both 
by nurserymen and amateurs were superior to those at the 
Show in question ; but still there were points of interest which 
were novel and exceedingly gratifying to rosarians. 
I must say that the thanks and congratulations of all lovers 
of the Rose are due to the Committee of the National Rose 
Society. It seems to me that no class of Rose-growers has 
been omitted. We find both the lordly seventy-two, distinct, 
of the great nurserymen and the humble six of the suburban 
rosarian. Very good indeed were these last-named Roses, as 
were also the, what I may call, “compensation classes,” be¬ 
cause the Committee gave prizes in a class for those who had 
not previously won a prize, and judging by their exhibits I 
should imagine that the only reason why these amateurs have 
not won a prize before was because they had not previously 
shown Roses. 
The sight of the Show was undoubtedly Mr. Cant’s seventj T - 
two, and the grandest bloom of the Show, of the year, and I 
should say also of the century, was his bloom of Souvenir 
d’Elise Vardon (Tea), which occupied the place of honour in 
his seventy-two, and gained the proud position of being the 
premier Tea in the Show. Mr. Cant’s Roses were quite equal, 
and in Teas superior, to his beautiful stand at the Palace. 
I think, perhaps the great feature of this Show was the dis¬ 
play of my favourite Teas, and here I venture to think the 
amateurs bore off the palm. Miss Watson, the clever fore¬ 
woman of Mr. Prince, when gloating over her own lovely box 
of Teas, would not agree with me. But after judging the 
seventj'-two and forty-eight trebles I had nothing to do but 
examine the Roses, and I gave great attention to the Teas ; and 
granting that Mr. Prince and Mr. Cant had magnificent stands, 
I still think they were equalled by some of the amateurs, while 
the rest of these amateurs’ boxes were far superior in every 
way to the rank and file of the nurserymen’s Teas. It really 
was quite sad to see so many beautiful stands passed over, 
which in any ordinary show would have been sure of a good 
prize. 
In the amateurs’ class for twelve Teas Mr. Cuthell, who was 
placed second, was in my opinion, and that of a great grower 
and still greater judge, indubitably first. I feel sorry for Mr. 
Cuthell, and only hope that he will continue to show such Roses 
as he did on Tuesday for many years, for he gave me and many 
others very great delight. Plis Marie Van Houtte, Jean Ducher, 
and other yellow Roses were superb. In one box a lovely 
bloom of Amazone was to be seen, also charming examples of 
Anna Ollivier, Comtesse de Nadaillac, and Mons. Furtado. 
These weak growers are rarely seen in perfection. Madame 
Lambard was represented in many boxes, and I am glad to see 
what an excellent place this charming Tea is taking. The 
gain to our Teas is very great, as Comtesse de Nadaillac, which 
approaches it most nearly in colour, is so difficult to grow, and 
still more difficult to purchase, that the advent of a Rose of 
similar features is to be gratefully welcomed. 
The idea of giving a class to the ladies for an arrangement 
of Tea Roses was an excellent one, but how could they bear to 
cut all those lovely Teas for the bare chance of a prize ? Mrs. 
Hawtrey, who was not placed, had some exquisite blooms, in¬ 
cluding the only examples I saw of Celine Forestier. Some 
ladies showed forty or fifty Teas, which must have been greatly 
missed at home. Among Hybrid Perpetuals the Rose that has 
advanced most in popular favour since last I had the pleasure 
of writing on Roses is the lovely soft satin pink Madame 
Gabriel Luizet. The bloom in Mr. Cant’s seventy-two gained 
the prize for the premier Hybrid Perpetual of the Show. 
A. K. Williams was not shown quite so fine as last year. 
Those great amateurs, Mr. Robert Baker and Mr. Thomas 
Jowitt, were unrepresented at head quarters, and their boxes 
were much missed by their sorrowing friends, but in their 
No. 107,—Yon. V., Third series. 
No. 1763.—VOL. LXVII1., OLD SERIES. 
