August 3i, 1882 . ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
second prize going to Mr. G. Tucker. Green Gages were not largely 
shown. Mr. Miller had the best, while with dessert Plums Mr. King 
occupied first position with clear examples of Golden Gage. Mr. 
Crossman had the best Cherries. Several good dishes of Peaches 
were shown : the best highly coloured Royal George were staged by 
Mr. G. Pymm, gardener to J. Goldsmith, Esq.; Mr. F. Rice, gardener 
to Mrs. Home, Weston, following. Mr. Pymm was also first with 
Nectarines, staging good Lord Napier ; J. H. Lovibond, Esq., follow¬ 
ing with Elruge in good condition. In this and the preceding class 
Mr. H. Clack was worthily awarded the third prize. Dessert Apples 
in two varieties were well shown. Mr. E. Hall, Bath, was first with 
Peach Apple and Devonshire Quarrenden, Mr. A. T. Hall following 
with the same varieties. Kitchen Apples were not largely shown, 
but several exhibitors had Lord Suffield large and good. Mr. Pymm 
took the first prize, while Mr. W. E. Hall was the most successful 
exhibitor of Pears, and Mr. H. Sheppard of Filberts. Vegetables 
were extensively and well shown by gardeners and cottagers, prizes 
being offered for single dishes of all kinds in season, as well as for 
collections. Mr. H. Scott, Bath, and Mr. W. G. Tyler, Bath, were 
respectively winners of the first and second prizes for collections, 
and others were highly commended. 
On the whole the Trowbridge Society must be termed a model 
institution, and fully deserves the support it receives, and we trust 
will long remain as popular as it is at present. 
STANDEN’S MANURE. 
In your Journal of 24th inst., under the head of “ The Best 
Manure,” the comments made by your correspondent are scarcely, 
we think, fair to us. We have purchased the proprietory right 
of “ Standen’s Manure” at a very high figure, and are not only 
prepared to produce the most practical and impartial evidence 
as to the present fertilising properties of Standen’s manure in 
comparison with others, but also to prove that the ingredients 
and manipulation of it are precisely the same as when introduced 
some twenty years ago.— Corey, Soper, Fowler & Co., IS, Fins- 
bury Street, London, F.C. 
ROSES ON THEIR OWN ROOTS. 
There is no season of the year when remarks on this subject 
are more seasonable than at the present time. For some years 
past Roses on their own roots have been ignored by the majority 
of Rose-growers, and worked plants advocated as capable of pro¬ 
ducing better and finer blooms. It is not my intention to 
condemn the use of stocks generally, for it is evident to all who 
study the Rose that certain strong-growing stocks are advantageous 
to those of poor weak growth. But stocks have been used for all, 
irrespective of variety or constitution, and all that has been urged 
again and again in their favour is not sufficiently conclusive to 
my mind why Roses should not be largely cultivated on their own 
roots. Those who use and recommend the use of the Manetti as 
a stock advise the union of the stock and scion to be buried that 
roots may form at the union, and the Rose finally to be upon its 
own roots independent of the stock. If the Manetti is left above 
the ground—as in the case of the Briar—and the variety worked 
upon it is of vigorous growth, how long will the Rose continue to 
thrive ? To my mind the Manetti is useless as a stock for strong 
growers when such Roses as Belle Lyonnaise, Lamarque, Reve d’Or, 
or Marshal Niel are capable of exhausting it after one season’s 
growth, and the stock is found dead. This is often the reason 
these strong growers do not flourish after the first season of their 
existence. One thing is gratifying to those who advocate Roses 
on their own roots, and that is—those who use the Manetti as a 
stock are evidently in favour of own-root Roses, or we should not 
be advised to plant those worked upon that stock deeply. This 
stock, 1 must admit, is easy to raise and work upon. But after all 
it takes a much longer time to raise plants by working than 
striking them by means of cuttings, and better plants can be 
produced in less time than by first striking the stock and budding 
them. This may be disputed, but it is, nevertheless, a fact, for 
plants can be seen here carrying at the present time as many as 
twenty flowers and buds, and it is only twelve months since the 
cuttings were inserted. This is the case more especially with 
La France, one of the easiest of all Roses to raise from cuttings, 
and undoubtedly the most floriferous Rose in cultivation. 
Rose cuttings may be rooted with much greater ease and 
certainty than many people suppose, and neither amateurs nor 
cottagers need fail if only suitable wood is selected and the 
operation carried out at the proper time. There can be no doubt 
where it can be conveniently carried out the system detailed by 
Mr. W. Taylor in these pages is an excellent one. The method 
I have always adopted with marked success at this season of the 
year is to have ordinary handlights near a north wall, in which 
is placed half an inch depth of red sand at the bottom, and 
then about an inch depth of light soil over it. Old potting soil 
is generally used and pressed moderately firm. The wood for 
the cuttings is then selected, and that of moderate strength being 
preferred, as I have always found a greater per-centage root than 
when strong pithy wood is employed. The cuttings are made 
without a heel, as they root equally well when cut "just below a 
joint, in fact in less time than when a portion of the old or harder 
wood is attached to them. As a rule the cuttings only possess 
two buds unless the wood is very short-join ted, and are inserted 
in the handlights with the leaves attached. They are placed 
thickly together, the soil well firmed about them, and then 
thoroughly soaked with water. The top portion of the light is 
placed on, and the cuttings need no further attention until they 
are rooted, which they will be in about a month. They will not 
require watering after the first application if the lights" are kept 
close. 
Another system I have practised with success, and will detail 
for the good of amateurs and cottagers that do not possess hand- 
lights and are anxious to strike Roses. The same preparation of 
sand and soil should be made, only of a greater depth, and placed 
in a similar position. The cuttings should be about 6 inches long, 
and inserted fully half their length in the soil, or, better still, if 
only one eye is left out of the ground. After insertion and a good 
watering the cuttings should be dewed overhead on the afternoons 
of fine days and watered as they require it. If the weather is hot 
and dry three or four good waterings will be required before they 
are rooted. It will be found that a great per-centage of the cut¬ 
tings will be well rooted in six weeks if treated as described. The 
principal secret in striking Roses is to insert the cuttings before 
the wood becomes too hard, for the firmer the wood the longer the 
cuttings are in rooting and the greater the number of deaths. 
Hundreds of Rose cuttings die through late insertion, and many 
people in consequence conclude they are difficult to propagate 
from cuttings. 
Under whichever system the cuttings are rooted the treatment 
afterwards should be similar where the protection of glass can be 
afforded them. I have found it an advantage to place the young 
plants at once into a moderately warm temperature after they are 
transferred to 4-inch pots, which induces them to form roots 
rapidly and abundantly and start into vigorous growth. It is 
necessary to shade from strong sun for a time after potting, and 
dew them overhead with the syringe two or three times daily. 
Roses do well after they are once rooted if only a cold frame or 
handlights can be given them for a time, but they make much 
greater progress in a temperature ranging from 60° to 65° at night 
until thoroughly established. The object in view when pushing 
them forward in the temperature named is to have them as large 
as possible before winter and in C-inch pots. By the time they 
are placed in the last size they are in a cool house or frame, where 
they remain until the approach of very sharp weather, when they 
are assigned any cool position where frost can be excluded. This 
keeps them slowly growing during the winter, although but little 
will be perceptible, but the pots will become well filled with roots 
ready for early spring. Early in the season they are again placed 
in cold frames, which are ventilated abundantly on all favourable 
