July 8, 18S6. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
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COMING EVENTS 
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Hereford and Maidstone Rose Shows. 
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3rd Sunday after Trinity. 
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Boval Horticultural Societv Commit'.ees at 11 A.M. Fruit Show. 
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Bedford, Hull, and Bristol Shows. 
THE DAY BEFORE THE NATIONAL ROSE SHOW 
NINETEEN YEARS AGO. 
EFORE these words are in print the “ Grand 
National” at South Kensington will be over, 
and your correspondent a disappointed exhibitor, 
at least unless the Jupiter Pluvius favours him 
within the next twenty-four hours. However, 
my object in sending to the Journal an epitome 
of the preparations considered in 1861 necessary 
for a successful venture at the National Show is 
that it may prove at any rate interesting, not to 
say amusing, to our 1880-86 Rose giants. I write not this in 
disparagement of the Rose exhibitors of I860, especially of 
the late Parson Radclyffe, then of Rushton, afterwards of 
Okeford-Fitzpaine (who in this article is my informant), as 
to the manners and customs rendered necessary by the con¬ 
ditions of the times, but simply to show the “ development ” 
in Roses, their culture, and the advantages of modern rail¬ 
way science. First, with regard to setting up Roses, what 
does our friend “ D., Deal's ” dear late friend say ? 
“ Moss, though it is the best thing to convey Roses upon, 
is nevertheless objectionable, as it enables persons to set off 
a worthless Rose, and to support a Rose that is in a state of 
flaccidity, and which, being out of condition, should not be 
shown. Roses that are good need not the aids and supports 
of foreign substances, and you may truly say of them, as of 
beauty, that * when unadorned they are adorned the most.’ 
My plan is to damp the moss, and press it flat with my hand, 
and if a Rose placed on it does not look well I replace it 
with another, but I never «prop.’ I saw the following plan 
adopted at a country show a few years back. The Roses 
were placed in two tiers, on a white-painted stand, in white 
glass bottles filled with water. I never saw Roses look 
better ; I could see the stems through the water. The Roses 
were as perfect as I ever saw show Roses, they were General 
Jacqueminot, Caroline de Sansal, Jule3 Margottin, Lamarque, 
Comte de Nanteuil, and Malmaison. They justly won the 
first prize.” 
Now compare this six with Alfred Colomb, La France, 
A. K. Williams, Louis Yan Houte, Marechal Niel, and any 
other in the National Society’s catalogue of exhibition 
Roses. 
As regards the late Mr. Radclyffe’s second point, “ Handi¬ 
capping,” I am quite with him, for those of us who are 
forced to cut twenty-four hours or more before our Roses 
come before the eyes of the judges cannot compete on equal 
terms with the forty-mile-radius-of-London rosarians. 
Certainly we have our “Provincial” National, but this very 
often, in fact more than often, is, as regards facilitv of access, 
not to speak of mileage, less convenient than London. Haw- 
ever, we do not grumble, we but admire the wonderful fresh¬ 
ness of the Roses that have been declared to be better than 
ours, and go home three pounds out of pocket, but satisfied 
that if only the show had been held anywhere within twenty 
miles of our domicile, Reigate, Havering-atte-Bower, &c., 
would (very likely) have played “second fiddle.” 
No. 315. —Vol, XIII., Third Series. 
Now, Mr. Radcljffe said, “It is ridiculous to suppose that 
persons living in Cornwall or Northumberland” (he didn’t 
anticipate the advent of Durham, ’Whitwells) “ can bring 
Roses to the exhibition in as good condition as persons living 
in the counties contiguous to London. Travelling is expen¬ 
sive, and any fair indulgence that would induce far-distant 
rosarians to compete would, ofcourse, greatly advance the Rose 
cause nationally. The grand obstacles are, I fear, the expenses, 
and the hopelessness of snatching a prize from the good people 
of Edmonton and Tooting. As / am only 107 miles distant 
from London, I ask no favour. My Roses are cut from 5 to 
6 o’clock p.m., the box lies open to catch what dew may fall 
till 9 o’clock, and, being travelled in the night, they have 
nothing to complain of. Indeed, they w ill be in better condi¬ 
tion for show than if they are cut in the morning, full of 
water with the night’s dew, which is always heavy in pro¬ 
portion to the excessive heat of the day.” 
Thus is my plea for a handicap “ settled,” for I am just 
120 miles from London, and we travel faster now; but I am 
rather doubtful as to the value of the worthy writer’s argu¬ 
ment. Though I can hardly call myself an exhibitor, I have 
neither the time nor the means for this. Perhaps in future 
years when the sharp eyes and nimble fingers of my four 
youngest children and the strong arms of my four eldest can 
the former be brought forward to attack grubs, aphis, mildew, 
and the latter to apply the necessary horticultural champagne 
—then, but not before, shall I stand a chance against many 
“ whose eyes I should like to wipe.” 
But let me give my fellow exhibitors a wrinkle dated 
twenty years ago. My advice is too late for South Kensing¬ 
ton, perhaps it may be in time for Birmingham. We are 
supposed to be living in the day before the National: — 
“ If the weather is hot and dry a dairy is a good place to 
keep the cut Roses in ; if hot but cloudy place them in 
bottles under a shady tree, with a sheet over their heads; if 
hot and misty (the elements of maturity and also of dissolu¬ 
tion) you will be much tried. The best place is a room with 
a fire in it, and the door and window left open to let the 
heated damp escape. The cover of your box should not be 
painted, as paint attracts heat. In all cases you should have 
a wet cloth over it.” [Our Hon. Sec., Mr. Mawley, I have 
noticed has practised this.] “Your expanded Roses should 
be put as near the engine or centre of the train as you can get 
them, and your unexpanded ones as near the tail of the train as 
you can , as the vibration and oscillation, which are greater there 
than elsewhere, will probably cause them to expand, and these will 
be your best Ros S.” 
The italics in the previous sentence are mine, and are 
meant [as a compliment to modern railway engineering 
science. 
I think your rosarian readers will perceive that we have 
advanced during the past twenty years, and that the Committee 
of the National Rose Society constitutes all the best and none 
of the bad elements of a caucus. For the advice and not 
the absolute commands of our good Society have brought 
the cultivation of Roses and the beauty of rosarian friend¬ 
ship as it exists among its members to its present high 
standard. At least such is the opinion of—J. A. W., 
Alderminster. 
SHADING AND WATERING. 
The weather at the time of writing is extremely ex¬ 
haustive to vegetation—parching days and nearly dewless 
nights being very trying to various plants and crops. It is 
scarcely possible to afford the requisite supply of water to 
meet the great demands of evaporation either in the case of 
plants outdoors or under glass, and the consequence is 
drooping of the foliage leading to scorching. Not a few 
cultivators have a strong and deep rooted objection to shading 
even Cucumbers and Melons, not to say Vines and Peach 
trees. Everything that can be done in the form of early 
and efficient ventilation and copious supplies of water should 
No. 1971.— Vol. LXXV., Old Series 
