August 10, 1882. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
121 
correct, and if you will allow me I should like to place before your 
readers, in his own words, what this opinion is. They are taken 
from his report on the “ Composition and Agricultural Value of 
Earth-closet Manure,” published in vol. viii., ss., part 1, of the 
“Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England.” 
His first analysis is of a sample of earth “ which had been used 
four times in succession, and been dried each time after removal 
from the earth closet.” “ It contained about 1| per cent, of bone 
phosphate, but only 039 per cent, of nitrogen—equal to not quite 
half per cent, of ammonia, and consequently was not of great 
fertilising value.” 
As this sample had been dried with fire heat, which might have 
caused loss of ammonia, Dr. Voelcker analysed another sample 
which had been used five times, and had not been dried the last 
time by fire heat, but “ it scarcely contained more nitrogen than 
the preceding sample, and somewhat less phosphate of lime and 
potash.” As the results of the preceding analysis were disappoint¬ 
ing from the agricultural point of view, and “ as he was loth to 
arrive at too unfavourable a view ” in this respect, he “ thought 
it well to institute fuither inquiries before expressing a definite 
opinion.” 
He first analysed the dry earth used in the closets of the Wake¬ 
field Prison, and found it to be “of the composition of rich garden 
mould,” and then analysed the same earth after it had been used 
in the closets once, twice, and thrice. Used once the soil gained 
only 0 06 per cent, of nitrogen, and twice it gained O il per cent., 
and three times 0 20 per cent. ; and “ after the soil had been used 
three times over the total increase of nitrogen amounted to only 
two-thirds of the small quantity originally present in the soil.” 
The proportionate increase of phosphoric acid in the three samples 
of earth manure was, as might have been expected, rather larger 
than that of the nitrogen ; but, “ after all, the soil in a perfectly 
dry state, after having been used three times, contained only 
half per cent, of phosphoric acid.” “ Half a cwt. of bone dust would 
supply all the phosphoric acid which was contained in 1 ton of 
dry soil after it had passed ” (not once, as Mr. Taylor’s soil had 
been apparently, but) “three times through the closet.” 
Dr. Voelcker next refers to some trials by Dr. Gilbert, which 
fully confirmed his own results. “After using twice,” Dr. Gilbert 
observes, “ the soil was not richer than good garden mould.” “ If,” 
says Dr. Voelcker, “the agricultural value of earth-closet manure 
is really so low as stated by me, how does it happen, it may be 
asked naturally, that market gardeners and others who have made 
trials with this description of manure put a value upon it varying 
from £1 to £3 a ton? In reply to this very pertinent question, 
I would say that the high estimate of the value of earth-closet 
manure does not rest on any solid foundation.” 
It is true that Mr. Taylor further supplements his supposed 
efficacy of earth-closet manure (to which a little wood ashes and 
occasionally a few half-inch bones have been added), with half 
a pound of Standen’s manure to 10 square yards at the time of 
flowering, but I must be permitted to doubt whether, even with 
this help, a better system of manuring may not be employed for 
Vine borders. What does “ Single-handed ” say ? —Inquirer. 
NOTES ON ROSES. 
As the soil in the garden of “ Novice ” is a good clay, in all 
probability Roses would succeed better if budded on the seedling 
Briar, as this stock delights in a cool moist soil. The reason why 
Madame Comtesse de Serenye Rose has not opened a flower 
during the last three years in the garden of “ Novice ” is 
because his good clay soil has been well manured. All Roses 
that produce flowers very large and full of petals which are thin 
and flimsy, are forced by over-culture to put forth such large 
buds that the slightest moisture, even a heavy dew, will cause 
the outer petals to stick together so firmly that the buds cannot 
open. There are several Roses which have this bad habit— 
namely Comtesse de Serenye, Capitaine Christy, Duchesse de 
Vallombrosa, Madame Marie Finger, Princess Beatrice, Madame 
Lacharme, and Souvenir de la Malmaison. With the exception 
of Madame Lacharme all these Roses will open here during wet 
weather if they have not been manured with stable manure. My 
gardener knows their weaknesses far too well to give them any¬ 
thing that would injure their health. 
Three years ago Capitaine Christy manured scarcely opened 
a flower ; this year, after having been left unmanured for two 
years, this Rose opened well several grand flowers, two of which 
remained open a week and endured two days of continuous heavy 
rain with scarcely any injury. My gardener gives them a Po¬ 
tato manure prepared by a London Co-operative Society, and 
occasionally some weak liquid manure, and these are quite suffi¬ 
cient to preserve them in health. “ Novice ” is perhaps not 
aware that the very darkest Roses fade very soon, almost before 
they are fully expanded, and both sun and moisture seem to 
injure their blooms. The very best very dark Rose is, I think, an 
old Rose, which has been struck out of the catalogues of late 
years, but which was known by the name of Deuil de Dr. Jamain. 
I grow this Rose nearly opposite to Monsieur Boncenne, and I 
consider that, though this latter Rose gives a larger bloom, it is 
surpassed in every other point by the former. 
Prince Camille de Rohan and Pierre Notting are very dark 
Roses, but they are disappointing. I should prefer to grow, be¬ 
sides Marie Baumann and Alfred Colomb, A. K. Williams, Annie 
Wood, Charles Lefebvre, Countess of Rosebery, Fisher Holmes, Sir 
Garnet Wolseley, Harrison Weir, Franpois Lacharme, Mons. E. Y. 
Teas, Lord Macaulay, Mdlle. Marie Rady, Mons. Etienne Levet, 
Louis Van Houtte, and Senateur Vaisse ; and for light-coloured 
varieties—Capitaine Christy, Mabel Morrison, Mdlle. Bonnaire, 
Baronne de Rothschild, Madame Eugdnie Verdier, La France, 
Boule de Neige, Madame Gabriel Luizet, Princess Mary of Cam¬ 
bridge, and Louise Darzen, and not omitting that exquisite sum¬ 
mer Rose, Rose Celestial, and the Bourbon Emotion.—C. M. 
NEWPORT and COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
August 3rd. 
The eighth annual Exhibition of this popular and deserving 
Society was held in the King’s Hill Fields, and was in every way a 
decided success, the quality of the exhibits being superior to anything 
shown in previous years, while the weather was all that could be 
desired. Three large tents were set apart for the plants, fruits, and 
flowers staged in competition, and the whole of the arrangements 
were admirably carried out by the Committee and Messrs. Cox and 
Payne, the Honorary Secretaries. 
Stove and Greenhouse Plants in Flower .—In this class the competi¬ 
tion for first prize lay between the exhibits of Mr. R. Wattie, gardener 
to J. Cordes, Esq., Brynglas near Newport, and Mr. J. Cypher of 
Cheltenham, and notwithstanding that the latter has carried all 
before him both in London and the provinces, he was defeated by 
Mr. Wattie, who staged a grand collection of the following :—Alla- 
manda Schottii, covered with bloom ; Stephanotis floribunda, very 
fine ; Clerodendron Balfourianum, Statice profusa, Dipladenia Brear- 
leyana, magnificently bloomed ; a grand Kalosanthes coccinea, Alla- 
manda nobilis, and a superb Erica retorta major about 7 feet through, 
one mass of bloom. Mr. Cypher staged handsome plants, but smaller 
than Mr. Cordes’, and took second prize with Erica Irbyana, Ixora 
Williamsii finely bloomed, Allamanda Hendersonii, Erica Aitoniana, 
Clerodendron Balfourianum very good, Allamanda nobilis, Anthu- 
rium Schertzerianum, and Erica Candolleana. In the amateurs’ class 
Mr. Cordes was awarded first prize with fine specimens of Dipladenia 
amabilis very good, Eucharis amazonica, Statice imbricata, and a 
seedling Dipladenia named Wattiana. It is of a blush-white tint. 
Mr. J. Watts, gardener to E. J. Grice, Esq., was placed second. 
Fine-foliage Plants .—In this class there was a close contest for first 
honours, and so even were the plants from Mr. Cordes and Mr. Cypher 
that the Judges were a long time before they could make their 
award, and even then they could not do so without calling in a third. 
At last, however, they gave the preference to Mr. Cypher’s. He 
had fine examples of Cycas revoluta, Croton Sunset, Pritchardia 
pacifica, Croton Queen Victoria, Kentia Fosteriana, Cordyline indi visa. 
Mr. Cordes’ collection included Croton angustifolius, Hyophorbe 
Verschaffeltir, Gleichenia dicarpa, Cocos Weddelliana, Latania bor- 
bonica, and Croton Weismannii. 
Mr. Cordes secured the first prize for six exotic Ferns ; H. J. Davis, 
Esq., took the first prize for well-grown Lycopods. Fuchsias were 
well shown by Mr. B. Evans and Mr. H. J. Davis. There was a 
splendid show of Roses in the open class, J. Pulley, Esq., M.P., Here¬ 
ford, being first ; and Mr. W. Earle, Farmwood Nurseries, second. 
Fruit was also well shown by Sir G. Srnythe, J. A. Rolls, Esq., M.P., 
J. Cordes, Esq., and C. Bailey, Esq. 
SUCCESSFUL HYBRIDISING. 
Passing through the houses in the nursery at Messrs. Veitch 
and Sons at Chelsea, and observing that many plants were re¬ 
ferred to as “ Seden’s,” it occurred to me that if a list of all the 
plants raised by this hybridiser was obtained it would show an 
excellent record, and it has. Workers such as Mr. Seden should 
not always labour in obscurity, but should have, as they justly 
merit, some public recognition. Prizes are provided now-a-days 
most prodigally for cultivators, and there appear to be no honours 
at disposal for creators of plants ; but the raisers, it must be 
remembered, are cultivators too, or they could not guide their 
seedlings to maturity, and far greater skill and closer attention, 
with much greater and prolonged watchfulness, are necessary in 
growing, say Orchids, from the germination of the seeds to the 
flowering of the plants, than are requisite in producing fine speci¬ 
mens for exhibition after the plants have been established. Yet 
for the workers in horticulture first referred to—delicate mani- 
