420 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 13, 1890. 
benefited by being turned into a cool conservatory when in flower, 
and supplied with a little stimulant ; it prolongs their flowering 
season, and also imparts a much finer waxy appearance to the 
flowers—moreover, they last much longer in a cut state when 
subjected to this treatment previous.—H. E. 
As a free flowering hardy Tea for buttonholes Madame Berard never 
fails with me. The buds are not large it is true, but they are good in 
shape and colour and nicely scented, while the bright bronzy foliage is 
all that can be wished to show up the deep yellow buds. I have been 
cutting at the third crop of blooms this season from a standard in the 
open (a mop head if you like) for nearly a month, and since the frost 
and snow last week I cut on one day three dozen blooms and buds, 
besides leaving about six dozen buds, which look promising with open 
weather. 
Catherine Mermet I cut at the same time in perfection, fit for any show 
in July. Souvenir de la Malmaison is too well known as a good autumn 
bloomer to need any praise. In summer the blooms are often spoiled in 
colour, and become a dirty whitish colour, from thrips being partial to 
them ; why I could never understand, unless it is its rather peculiar 
scent. My plan to save them is to take the buds in the left hand with 
the point outward between the thumb and forefinger, and gently squeeze 
them from the base upwards, when the thrips run up and out on to the 
hand, when they are killed. The buds are then tied up loosely in a 
piece of newspaper, and on developing the colour is most delicate and 
the shape kept closer than when allowed to throw themselves so wide 
open. This Rose never fails with me at the shows on this account, 
whereas others say they cannot grow it. Gloire de Dijon, everybody 
knows, needs only mention. General Jacqueminot has lately produced 
some of the best blooms of the season on the ends of the strong shoots 
from own root bushes. Annie Wood has produced some splendid buds, 
and is still in bloom.—J. HlAM, Astwood Bank, Worcestershire. 
“ Amateur ” Rose Growers. 
I READ with a great deal of interest the letter of “ An Exhibitor ” 
re above in your issue of October 16th, because I knew from experience 
the reception which would be accorded to his remarks. The Journal of 
October 23rd fully bears out my expectations, and yet, although your 
three correspondents of that date are on the Committee of the National 
Rose Society, and in the very front rank of exhibitors, I venture to think 
that they are considerably in the dark as to the real grievance, or diffi¬ 
culty, at issue. 
I think it lies perhaps rather in the question of aid in the work of 
cultivation than in the mere matter of numbers grown. There are scores 
of earnest, ardent cultivators of the Rose, who from lack of means are 
entirely unable to employ any help in the tending of their stock, and 
who, in addition, are themselves engaged in business, and so only able 
to bestow a limited amount of time upon their favourites, and for such 
men I maintain there is no provision specially made in the schedules of 
the National and other great shows. The importance of the difficulty 
again is not as to whether the help is that of a regular gardener or not 
(for I suppose no grower would entrust the main culture of his Roses 
to an p.ssistant), but the point is that when need arises one man is able 
to command help while another is not, and yet the two are placed 
together in the exhibition. Let me mention one or two cases in point. 
In his review of the Rose season, in the very number in which “ An 
Exhibitor’s ” letter appears, “ D., Beal,” speaks of one large grower 
being plagued with the aphis, and putting on half a dozen men to cope 
with it. Exactly ! But the poorer man could not possibly command 
such help, and so his Roses would suffer accordingly. Again, we all 
know the value of some slight protection, especially for Teas, in hard 
weather, and the equal importance of not applying that protection until 
the frost actually appears. Now the man of means can leave his plants 
till the last moment, as it were, and then, with the assistance which he 
can command, quickly make ail safe, while the other man, perhaps away 
at his business for a couple of days, when hard frost sets in, has no one 
to set at work, and his stock is left unprotected, Once more. Either 
of your three correspondents would laugh aloud at the idea of getting 
up early in the darkness of a December morning, and by the light of a 
candle planting a choice new Rose, before hurrying off to his daily work, 
and yet that is how I planted my first Earl of Dufferin. And so I might 
go on. Manuring is only half done, digging is sadly neglected all from 
the same cause, and such men as these, while eminently qualified for 
membership in the National .Rose Society, are kept outside its ranks, 
because (while no “ pot-hunters ”) they cannot rightly afford to pay the 
subscription without some reasonable chance of regaining it in the 
shape of prize money, and no provision is made for them to do this. 
One of your correspondents refers to the divisions of classes in 
the National schedule ; but I would point out that that only protects 
one division from another, and that there is nothing to prevent the 
strongest grower entering in the smallest classes if for any reason, sucb 
as a bad season, &c., he does not find his blooms up to their usual form. 
If I am told that good taste would forbid, I can only say that, having- 
attended every show since St. James’s Hall, I know that good taste does 
not always prevent, has not always prevented in the past ; and if I am 
asked for proof of this assertion I cannot do better than refer to Mr- 
D’Ombrain’s vigorous and well deserved remarks as to what he termed 
“ungenerous showing” in the “ Rosarian’s Year Book” of two years- 
ago. 
No, sir, the National Rose Society, instead of showing the way, is- 
behind the age in this matter. Many of the leading provincial shows 
provide classes for amateurs employing no gardener, and find them 
answer well. The National Chrysanthemum Society provides (I think 
it is) eight classes for such growers, and in reply to my inquiry, the- 
late esteemed Mr. Wm. Holmes assured me that they have no more 
difficulty, and no more complaints of unqualified growers making use 
of such classes, than with reference to any others. And I feel strongly 
that if the “National” Rose Society is to continue to be worthy of its 
title, it must make provision for such men ; and then in point of 
numbers, as well as in quality, it will be national indeed. For let me 
say that in my own district only I know of at least ten growers who 
would join the Society to-morrow if classes such as I and “ An- 
Exhibitor” have instanced were provided. 
Apologising for the length of this letter, and pleading the importance- 
of the subject as my excuse.—J. B. 
SLOPES AND TERRACES. 
The usual accompaniment of a terrace—viz., “ the slope,’ is- 
sometimes dispensed with when a wall is adopted, but it is common 
where there is a number of descents made to have the top one 
only as a wall with balustrade or parapet, and the others constitut¬ 
ing a series of slopes, which may either be of turf or shrubs as 
desired. As such works usually come under the management of 
the resident gardener, a few hints may be of service. Let us take 
a common case as an example. A residence occupies a rather ele¬ 
vated position, and the ground descends from the base of the 
building in the. direction in which it is proposed to form dressed' 
grounds. In such a case it is not unusual to cut the slope into a, 
series of terraces, and at the bottom to form a panel, which to the 
eye appears to be level, but which in reality is not so.; neverthe- 
theless, the whole work is of such a nature that without some 
judgment at the commencement, as well as in the process of the 
work, some great error may be run into which may render the 
ultimate completion of the work both difficult and needlessly 
costly. To obviate this, let us take a survey of the whole before a 
spade is put in. By the exercise of some of the rules of geometry, 
aided by what is still more serviceable—the judgment of the eye, a 
rough idea may be formed of what number of slopes and their 
elevation, as well as the number and widths of the terraces or 
landings, the ground may be conveniently formed into. The hard- 
and-fast lines of the architect in all cases that I have witnessed 
means a larger outlay than the prudent gardener would re¬ 
commend ; as when material has to be brought, or it may be taken 
away, in order that a precise width of terrace or height of panel to 
an ir,ch may be complied with ; whereas a little discretionary 
power given to the operator will usually save a large outlay, and 
the appearance be really the same. 
Taking into -consideration the ultimate effect that is looked for 
in a place carried out in slopes and levels, especially when viewed 
from the top, we may say that where the builder’s work does not 
dictate the forms the gardener has to work to, a certain amount of 
conformity to the existing grounds may be made with great advan¬ 
tage, and even mechanical works, as steps and landings, ought to be 
made to act in like manner. The advisability of this is not for 
mere appearance only, but for the more imperative object of utility. 
Many years ago we remodelled some slopes that form the garden 
front, and added a flighc of steps of about 15 feet wide and forty- 
seven in number, in a series of flights and landings, and each step 
inclined outwards about one-eighth of an inch, while the landings 
had likewise an inclination of about one in thirty or thereabouts, 
the groundwork partaking of the same character, while the slopes- 
which corresponded with the easy and comfortable flight of steps 
were formed on the gradient of about base to 1 in perpendicular, 
or about 20°—a slope for grass quite steep enough in a district like- 
this where the summer drought tells so seriously on glass slopes. 
A moist soil and north aspect may allow a steeper incline perhaps, 
but we would not advise a less incline than what mechanics call 
two to one in ordinary cases, as it is not easy to walk up a steeper 
one. Many other reasons might be put forth for not having a 
steeper incline than that, not the least being the frequency the turf 
gets broken and destroyed when it is too steep, and unless some 
important reason renders it necessary to be so, it had better have 
the easy and agreeable form which the gradient above gives it than 
it would have if it were more upright. I may here add that em- 
