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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. c November 2 , ikm. 
(common Meadow Sweet), if left alone, become after two years 
so hopelessly clubbed as to produce nothing but mildewed 
stalks. 
No plant after being divided and replanted is worse for a 
top-dressing of leaf soil. Upon some the effect of it in pro¬ 
moting vigorous growth is surprising. A few years ago, when 
the Japanese Anemones were not so common as now, and I 
wished to increase them, I covered their crowns in autumn 
with 2 or 3 inches of leaf soil a year old. I soon had them 
to give away by the sackful. 
I have spoken of plants which are the easiest to divide, and 
which are divided more to protect them from overgrowth than 
to make new stock. Choice plants which it is desired to in¬ 
crease should generally be divided earlier in autumn. The 
worst time to divide a choice plant is when it is at rest, and 
the best time in most cases is before its leaves begin to show 
signs of turning. Anemone narcissiflora, Jeffersonia diphylla, 
and some of the choicer Geraniums, must be cut with a knife; 
but if green leaves and a piece of hard rootstock can be 
given to each division I find they will always grow without 
any recourse to flower pots, frames, or handlights. Cocoa- 
nut fibre and leaf soil mixed in the compost, shelter from sun, 
and regular watering, will generally ensure success. I repeat 
that different treatment suits different plants, and it must be 
found by experience what this treatment is. 
Few things in gardening are more important than knowing 
how to increase plants. When I get a new plant I am never 
satisfied till I have found out how I can make two of it, and I 
have seldom failed. Of course there are many biennials and 
some perennials which are more easily and conveniently raised 
from seed than in any other way, and nothing need be said 
about the propagation of plants of this kind.—C. W. Dod. 
SELECT PEAS. 
In making a few observations on varieties of Peas grown here 
during the past summer I will for simplicity arrange them in 
three classes—early, medium, and late. 
Day’s Early Sunrise, William I., American Wonder, Laxton’s 
Alpha, Maclean’s Little Gem, Dickson’s First and Best, and 
Suttons’ Emerald Gem were the early varieties selected for trial. 
The last-named variety has not been very satisfactory during 
a four-years trial. Alpha, First and Best, and Little Gem are 
tried varieties ; the latter is very good in flavour for an early 
Pea. William 1., though perhaps not so early by a day or two as 
some already named, is superior in flavour, and such an abundant 
cropper that it is entitled to rank amongst the best of early Peas. 
Day’s Early Sunrise sown and gathered on the same day as Alpha 
grew 5 feet high, and produced at least one-half more Peas of 
decidedly superior flavour to that variety. American Wonder 
was undoubtedly the earliest Pea grown here. It has large well- 
filled pods of excellent flavour ; it is, however, very dwarf, and is 
perhaps better adapted for pots. While it is difficult to say with 
certainty what is really the best, were 1 confined to one early Pea 
I should choose Day’s Early Sunrise. 
Having a desire to test which really were the best, a larger 
number of varieties of main-crop Peas than usual were grown, 
and in naming them I will simply notice what I have proved to 
be good. G. F. Wilson is a well-known Pea of excellent flavour ; 
Electric Light, an abundant cropper ; President Garfield, equal 
to the above as a cropper, superior in flavour, and likely to be¬ 
come a favourite ; Dr. Maclean, one of the best; Maclean’s Best 
of all is another very good Pea. 
Telephone and Telegraph were grown side by side. The dif¬ 
ference between them is not sufficiently great that they need both 
be grown in one garden. I prefer Telephone—it is in my opinion 
one of the very best if not the best Pea that has ever been sent 
out; Stratagem for quality and exhibiting is the best Pea I 
know, but it is not so bountiful a cropper as Telephone. The 
following were also grown :—Laxton’s Supreme, Edinburgh 
Beauty, Dean’s Dwarf Marrow, Kinver Marrow, and John Bull. 
The late Peas were Yeitch’s Perfection, a good old sort, rather 
subject to mildew here. Walker’s Perpetual Bearer is a new Pea 
of branching habit, a good cropper of great merit, and likely to 
be further heard of. Culveiwell's Autumn Giant Marrow was 
raised, as the name indicates, by Mr. Culverwell, at Thorpe 
Perrow-, and is, I believe, considered by him to be the best Pea 
he has raised. It grows here to a height of 8 feet, is a heavy 
cropper. Many pods on our plants this season had eleven and 
twelve large-sized peas. It is excellent in quality, but with us it 
requires longer time to fill than any Pea I have tried ; it does not 
commence bearing early. It was said to be a good exhibition 
Pea, but is not likely to win in the company of Stratagem or 
Telephone. Yorkshire Gem is a good late Pea, and so far has 
proved free from mildew. Omega is another excellent Pea, far 
too little grown ; this is one of the best flavoured Peas I know. 
Ne Plus Ultra only needs to be named, being perhaps the best of 
our late Peas. The Prince is the hardiest and latest Pea, but is 
not easily obtained true to name. 
While it is difficult to make a selection, as Peas do well on 
some soils and not on others, I would venture to submit six 
varieties that I feel sure would disappoint no one—Day’s Early 
Sunrise, Telephone, Stratagem, Omega, Yeitch’s Perfection, and 
Ne Plus Ultra.—J. S., Darlington. 
PLANTING EOSES IN AUTUMN. 
We have witnessed many revolutions in the culture of the Rose. 
We have, for instance, come to almost discard the standard (by 
this I mean those who really regard themselves as rosarians) for 
the dwarf. There will be always a number of persons who will 
grow standard Roses ; but Rose-growers have come to regard the 
standard as ugly, expensive, and liable to be injured by frost to a 
far greater extent than the dwarf. We have come again to regard 
the Tea Rose as not nearly so delicate as we used to think. We 
have also to a great extent come to think hard pruning to be the 
proper way to treat the Rose, and instead of trussing to obtain 
symmetrical bushes, to cut down to within a couple of eyes of 
the root, and to depend on the strong shoots that are thrown up 
instead of the shoots of last year pruned back ; and even in the 
case of Teas we have come to think that is the better plan. It 
used to be said, Merely shorten the tips ; but personally I can 
bear witness to the fact that of two beds, one of which was treated 
on the old plan and the other pruned hard, that the latter were 
more satisfactory than the former and gave a larger quantity of 
bloom and for a longer time. 
We now come to a matter which has, I think, to be ventilated, 
and that is whether the autumn is the best time for planting 
Roses ; and I am induced to set the ball a-going in the hope that 
some of our experienced, and I may add scientific, growers will 
take it up. The question has suggested itself to me for two reasons. 
A discussion has been going on in the columns of a contemporary, 
originated by Mr. D. T. Fish, as to “ Root-Disturbance in Autumn,” 
and the pros and cons have been very ably stated ; the one side 
maintaining that there is little root-action in autumn, that the 
ground is cold and wet and does not foster the growth of roots, 
and that consequently it is better not to disturb Roses then, and 
that they should be left alone ; the other defending the practice, 
the former I think having decidedly the best of it. If this state¬ 
ment be correct it must surely have a great effect upon the present 
practice of planting out Roses now. There seems to be a good 
deal of reason in it, especially after such a season as this, when 
so much rain has fallen. The ground is sodden, wet, and cold 
—(perhaps our friend Mr. Mawley would tell us what the ground 
temperature a foot below the surface is)—-and can be hardly con¬ 
ducive to the formation of roots. How would it, then, answer to 
get your Roses in from the nurserymen as usual and lay them in 
until February, get the beds all ready for planting, and then 
leave them until that time ? It would be far easier to cover the 
Roses and protect them from injury by frost; and let it be 
remembered, too, that in other plants a change as great as this 
has been made. We used to be told to transplant Laurels, Hollies, 
and all evergreen shrubs and trees in autumn ; but now the prac¬ 
tice is altogether changed, and we are told that August is the best 
time for transplanting them. This is one reason for my asking 
the question. Another is, that when I was admiring some of 
those boxes of lovely Teas exhibited by Mr. Prince, he said to me, 
“ Those are from plants that were only planted this spring;, and 
which were in truth the refuse of my sales.” Now if this is the 
result of spring planting of Teas, why not of Hybrid Perpetuals ? 
I can see no reason why it should not be so, and I am quite sure 
if the practice proved to be sound it would be a great boon to 
many of us. It is disheartening to plant a new bed and then 
to find that there are gaps in it which we are inclined to attribute 
to the frost, or perhaps to the original badness of the plant, when 
it may have been that the coldness and damp of the ground had 
checked all root-growth and made the plant more liable to injury. 
I perhaps need hardly add that I do not write as a botanist. 
My vegetable physiology may be all wrong ; but I am by no means 
discouraged by this, for I have ever found that on most scientific 
subjects there are two sides. We get the most elaborate and con¬ 
vincing arguments in the high ex cathedra style, and we are in 
our ignorance inclined to say this must surely be right ; but, lo ! 
