156 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. _ C August 19 , ibe6. 
Yellow. 
E. Salsbury. Thatcher . 26 4 
R. Whitehurst . Ringer . 2b i 
J. Salsbury. Leveller....... 24 o 
J. Knowles . Lady Haughton . 22 18 
E. Salsbury. Garibaldi . '22 U 
J. Threlfall. High Sheriff. 22 4 
J. Threlfall. Hit or Miss . 22 6 
J. Harvey. Wakeful. 22 2 
J. Bower ... Mount Ple&s&nt . ^ 
A. Tomkinsou. Drill . ™ 
J. Fisher . Favonious. 1J 
J. Harvey . Catherina. 12 - J 
Green. 
J. Threlfall. Stockwell . 22 0 
W. R’ley . Shiner . 21 12 
E. Sa'sbury. British Oak . 21 6 
E. Salsbury. Hospool. 21 22 
F. Cliff. Surprise. 21 5 
J. Boot. Italy . 20 15 
F. Cliff. Sir G. Brown . 19 9 
B. Bradley . Green London. 19 8 
J. Threlfall. Telegraph. 19 1 
B. Bradley . Seedling. 19 0 
J. Harvey. South Johnny. 17 17 
White. 
J. Salsbury. Hero of the Nile. 22 0 
J. Threlfall. Transparent. 20 13 
G. Beckett . Fascination . 20 8 
J. Salsbury. Faithful . 20 0 
W. Riley .. King of Trumps. 19 1 
J. Harvey. Postman . 18 21 
J. Threlfall. Succeed...... 18 20 
J. Bower . Peto . 17 8 
S. Burchenall. Miss Chesters . 17 G 
-Jakes Leicester, Secretary, Crompton Boad Nurseries, Macclesfield. 
the ground is devoted to double varieties of most diverse colours, and the 
blooms of excellent form, quite as good as many that a few years ago 
would have been regarded as great acquisitions and honoured with names 
and certificates. Scarlet, crimson, rose, yellow, and white are the principal 
colours, but there are many intermediate tints. Another portion of the 
nursery is occupied with the single varieties, of which a much greater 
number is grown, and as regards general effectiveness these are much the 
best for beds. There is a point of much importance, though, which requires 
attention, and that is in the planting, to so place the plants that they 
will flower in one direction. This can be readily determined by the 
growth, which turns more to one side than another, and the bed then 
presents an even appearance, the Bowers being seen much better than 
when the plants are put out indiscriminately. It has also been hitherto 
generally the practice to make mixed beds of Tuberous Begonias, and 
this is a mistake if it is wished to see the plants at their best. Masses of 
one colour are far preferable, especially those of the Prince of Wales, a 
rich dark scarlet that would have a grand effect edged with a Hgnter- 
coloured variety or some other plant. At Forest Hill the beds are chiefly 
devoted to seedlings of one colour, and it is surprising how true they are 
to their respective tints, proving that they are becoming fixed, there are 
now a dozen selected colours of which unnamed seedlings can be supplied, 
from pure white to the darkest scarlet and crimson. 
These plants were all raised from seed sown in January of the present 
year, the seedlings being grown in boxes under glass until June, when 
they were planted out iu the beds. The soil is naturally rather heavy, 
but the only preparation they receive is a top-dresBing of road grit, and 
the seedlings are placed in drill 0 . The beds are raised about 6 laches 
above the general level, and hitherto the alleys between have been left 
clear, but this season they have been filled up, as it was found the outside 
plants suffered in dry weather. The plants are not, however, very 
fastidious, and no one need fear undertaking their culture in ordinary 
garden soil. . , , 
In these notes the numerous handsome named varieties in the nouses 
have not been referred to, but a selection of them will be given on 
another occasion, when something may also be said about the large g en ® ral 
collections of Orchids, Caladiums, fiue-foliage and other plants included 
in this nurserv.— VlSITOB. 
CUTTING ASPARAGUS. 
Mr. Abbey has undoubtedly been successful. I thank him for giving 
the results. Results to me mean quite as much as to Mr. Abbey with 
his larger quantities, and I am fully convinced I am on the way to success 
with my system. 
Comparing my Asparagus with that of a large grower whom I 
supplied with plants from my own bed there is a great difference. Last 
year I cut mine both closer through the season and later than my friend ; 
this year, while he has cut as usual, I have varied the cuttings as I have 
described, ana if strength of growth now is any criterion I must be right. 
Having full faith in my cutting I have asked several to give it a trial. 
The loss of, say, two or three fine heads, even if they are the first, will 
he amply repaid before the season is over. 
Being curious, I have looked into my day book, and find that in 1885 
from my beds, the size of which was given in Journal, I cut and sold 
sixty-two bundles of long hundreds, 120 heads. I had no idea it was so 
much, not counting the sprue, which I broke off all through the sumrntr. 
My present plan is more the result of accident than design, owing to tho 
late f cost of 1885 killing most of my first heads down to the ground. I 
noted that wherever a fine head or two had escaped the frost, by leaving 
these growing much better cuttings of finer “ grass ” was had all through 
the season.— Stephen Castle. 
TUBEROUS BEGONIAS AT FOREST HILL. 
Dueing a period of several years Messrs. J. Laing & Co., Forest Hill, 
have made a speciality of Tuberous Begonias ; and successful as this firm 
has been with other plants, nothing has done so much to render it widely 
known as the superb varieties of these Begonias that have been raised and 
sent out. A few years’ close work and careful crossing produced a Btrain 
much in advance of what had been previously obtained, and cultivators 
gradually became aware of the decorative value of Tuberous Begonias in 
greenhouses and conservatories. Varieties of erect bushy habit were 
secured exactly adapted for pot culture, and which could be grown into 
specimens as handsome as those plants which take their place in the 
“ stove and greenhouse ” classes at exhibitions. Another type of droop¬ 
ing habit with gracefully pendent flowers was formed, which were seen to 
ths best advantige in baskets, constituting grand ornaments in any house 
suspended from the roof. Then, turning attention in another direction, a 
race of “ bedding Begonias ’’ was developed that has become a most 
important addition to the plants employed for such a purpose. For some 
time it was thought very doubtful if such seemingly delicate plants would 
he suited for outdoor beds, but they have been thoroughly tested now in 
all parts of the kingdom from the extreme south to far north in Scotland, 
and they have invariably given satisfaction. Both in dry and wetseasons 
they seem equally happy, and for a late summer display they are un¬ 
surpassed. 
Au excellent idea can be gained of the utility of Tuberous Begonias a 3 
bedding plants by an inspection of those out of doors at Forest Hill now, 
and those who have not seen these plants together in large numbers can 
imagine the brilliancy of the effect produoed. About 100,000 seedlings 
are grown, and nearly the whole of these have been planted out in beds 
4 feet wide and of various lengths up to 100 feet or more. One portion of 
SMALL ROSE GROWERS. 
“ Ip you want a thing done well, do it yourself.’' As an amateur 
Rose grower and exhibitor for the past ten years, I am convinced that if 
you want first prizes do not trust to gardeners, but do it yourself. 1 
always feel more at ease when fighting the gardener of my opponent than 
I do when fighting the master himself. 
Can anyone exhibit in the forty-eights and thirty-sixes without 
employing a regular man to look after the Roses ? Yes ; I have exhibited 
in these classes for the last two or three years at most of the chief Rose 
shows, but allow no gardener to attend to my Rose plants. I employ a 
man for a few days in the year, as I suppose most Rose growers do, how¬ 
ever small, to trench the ground and to help me plant and mulch. In the 
summer I get a boy for about a fortnight to weed and assist me in the 
watering. But all the budding, pruning, thinning, disbudding, shading, 
cutting, stuffing Rose boxes, and staging, warring against caterpillars, 
green fly, and mildew, 1 do myself together with my two sisters, and good 
hard work it is for ihe ladies. _ 
No, Mr. Editor, the secret of success lies not in the number of 
gardeners a man keeps, but in the constant and careful attention given 
to the plants all the year round, loving them at Christmas as well as at 
midsummer, in the cold east winds of spring as well as in June and July ; 
not only when the sun shines, but when it sleets and freezes. 
Aspirants for fame, seek for pluck, not protection.— Hoeace \ ebnet. 
I DO not see at present that the grievance put forward by “ A Small 
Rose-Grower” and others is a legitimate one. What is a small Rose- 
grower ? The two writers in last week’s number seem to think he may 
be defined as an amateur not employing a regular gardener, but doing all, 
or nearly all, needful to his Rosts himself. Would they be surprised to 
hear that some amateurs, nearly, if not quite, at the top of the tree, might 
come under this definition ? I know two or three of this description, who, 
with no help perhaps but that of a “ groom and gardener ” (who would 
as soon think of touching Master’s Roses without a special order as he 
would of borrowing his Sunday hat), are not afraid of the biggest noble¬ 
man’s gardener with ten or twenty men under him, but will show cheer¬ 
fully against him, and beat him too. How is it done ? Why, simply by 
the real amateurs beiDg specialists. The big gardener has hundreds of 
things he is expected to grow to perfection ; the amateur rosarian has but 
one, and the whole year round his R ses are his one and special care. 
But it happens that the amateurs I am thinking of are clergymen, and 
“ A Lady Rosarian ” seems to think it as much a grievance when she finds 
a prize ticket on “ Rev. So-and-So’s ” box as she does when she sees it 
on that of “ Mr. Blank, gardener to &c.” More strange still, she adds, 
“such men”— i.e., clergymen as well as gentlemen’s gardeners—“have 
the means if they so desire, to enlarge their beds almost ad infinitum, 
and are in a position to engage all the help necessary,” &c. How 
many a “poor parson” rosarian on reading that must have wished it 
was true ! No, Madam, the parson wins, not because of his gardener 
(the parson’s man, perhaps his parish clerk, is often his only help), or 
because of his means (that is not even a joke nowadays), but because he 
is a specialist, a rosarian ; his daily work, in which the best parson 
rosarians have earned deservedly good names, is generally not so much 
