JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
333 
<r- . i —- 
COMING EVENTS 
14 
Th 
15 
F 
16 
s 
17 
SUN 
17TU Sunday after Trinity. 
18 
M 
19 
TU 
20 
W 
Sale of Bulbs at Mr. Stevens’ Rooms, Cov.nt Garden. 
NOTES ON HOSES. 
HE analyses of Roses and Dahlias contributed 
to the Journal by “ E. M.” are always of great 
interest, and are especially valuable as records, 
owing to the great care and accuracy with which 
they are compiled. Of course, the Rose analysis 
on page 294, having reference only to some 1500 
blooms shown at a single exhibition, cannot be 
regarded as fixing the actual value of any variety 
with anything like the accuracy of the analysis 
of 1884, which was compiled from the many thousands of 
winning blooms exhibited during a period of eight years. But 
while the latter may be considered as the standard, giving 
the average position of established varieties, an annual 
analysis is most useful, particularly when considered in con¬ 
nection with the weather report, as indicating the behaviour 
of certain varieties in special seasons, and as showing the 
novelties that are coming to the front. The good places ob¬ 
tained by Mons. Noman, Marie Cointet, Jean Ducher, and 
especially Boieldieu and La Boule d’Or, all very solid Roses, 
impatient of wet, and requiring all the sunshine they can get, 
give a pretty good clue to the weather that prevailed at the 
time. The daily baking under un loaded sun, however, suited 
some of the more recent Roses admirably. Lady Mary Fitz- 
william was magnificent, especially at the Crystal Palace on 
the 3rd July, where the two leading boxes of eighteen trusses 
were almost faultless ; and it also furnished the best twelve 
of any Rose at South Kensington. It is objected that this 
Rose does not make wood ; but it makes flowers, which is of 
more use to exhibitors. It is true that sometimes one notices 
a fine flower, and having cut it, finds it necessary to insert a 
stick to indicate where the plant is ; but then another shoot 
will come up bearing another grand bloom. Practically 
every flower is fit for exhibition, and if the proportion of wood 
to the number of available blooms be considered, it will pro¬ 
bably not be found far below the average. Of whatever is 
made, certainly nothing is wasted, for who has ever seen a 
flowerless growth on her ladyship ? Merveille de Lyon is 
white enough, but too often has the centre of the flower 
exposed to be quite satisfactory; probably it will be better in 
a cooler season. 
Yiolette Bouyer is a lovely Rose, the only fault of which lies 
in its liability to mildew ; but even that does not prevent its 
flowering freely in the autumn. Occasionally in July and 
frequently in September one gets a pure white bloom, but as 
a rule the outer part of the petals are suffused with a tender 
rosy flush like the blush on a fair maid’s cheek. And she is 
faithful too. Early to come and lingering to the last, she is 
constant as she is fair. If I were ever reduced to growing 
only two Hybrid Perpetuals, assuming that nothing better 
were produced in the meantime, my choice, after having 
grown nearly all the varieties in cultivation, would be A. K. 
Williams and Violette Bouyer. 
Ulrich Brunner is another valuable Rose that merits all 
the praise that Mr. Cant bestows upon it, and is another case 
in support of the desirability of sowing the contents of all the 
No. 329 .—Vol. XIII., Third Series. 
heps that ripen irrespective of their source. Who would 
have expected Paul Neyron, the sluggish-growing, coarse- 
flowered, rough, dingy-coloured, fit-only-for-pickling kind of 
Rose, to produce a seedling refined in form and colour, a 
model of freedom and vigour, and an autumnal bloomer not 
liable to mildew ? Ormonde from a dray-horse would not 
have seemed more improbable. Moral, 0 amateurs !—Even 
if you have not leisure to effect and keep a record of artificial 
crosses, at least sow the chance heps; for, as “D., Deal," 
says, though there are a good many blanks in the lottery of 
raising seedlings, still there will be some prizes. Heinrich 
Schultheis is a first-rate Rose, but has this year been difficult 
to show in good condition, as it is a Rose that developes very 
rapidly on a journey in hot weather. The same may be said 
of Pride of Waltham, which is certainly easier to get good 
than Marie Finger. I have grown the two side by side, and 
have frequently found that when the one is not available the 
other is ready to hand ; but I always use Marie Finger if 
possible on account of its greater purity of colour, Pride of 
Waltham having a slight lilac shade, derived from its parent 
Comtesse d’Oxford, which sometimes makes it look rather 
dull after a long journey. 
Rosieriste Jacobs has been very useful this year, its stiff 
petals resisting admirably the great heat. It is very free- 
flowering and thoroughly perpetual, and comes about half¬ 
way between Due de Wellington and Horace Yernet, 
although quite distinct from both. During the past month 
amongst an abundance of Roses it has been quite one of the 
best darks. Madame Isaac Poreire is generally rough, though 
now and then a fine example like Mr. Haywood’s triplet at 
Reigate this year tempts one to grow it on, and it always 
makes a grand plant, whether as standard, bush, or on a 
wall. In fact, it is on big freely grown plants that one gets 
the best chance of refined flowers, while it is a true Bourbon 
in bearing a profusion of bloom both in summer and autumn. 
Queen of Queens I have already discarded owing to its dingy 
colour, its disinclination to grow, and its intense affinity for 
mildew on my soil. 
Etoile de Lyon certainly requires a hot season, but both 
last year and this it has been very beautiful, and Madame Cusin 
is most effective when grown under glass. Of all the recent 
Tea-scented Roses, however, the Hon. Edith Giffard is by 
far the most generally valuable. Its sturdy habit and hand¬ 
some foliage make it a good garden plant, although it is 
one of the best exhibition Teas ; the flowers, which are large 
and pure white, with a creamy base in dull weather, aie 
especially decorative on the plant owing to their being held 
boldly up on stiff erect stems, whereby also the exhibitor is 
saved the trouble of wiring, and the variety, moreover, is 
rendered very desirable for massing, blooming profusely early 
and late. Princess of Wales does not seem to throw large 
maiden blooms, and the plants are generally small, but when 
transplanted they grow steadily on, and as cut-backs produce 
abundance of beautiful flowers. That Madame de Watteville 
is as good from the exhibitor’s point of view as she is beau¬ 
tiful, has been conclusively proved this season by Mr. 
Benjamin Cant, from whose winning collections this exquisite 
and very distinct Tea was hardly ever absent, while the same 
exhibitor’s first prize box of twelve blooms in the new Rose 
class both this and last year furnished one of the most dainty 
attractions at South Kensington. It has been objected by 
some growers that the flowers are too small and thin, but 
this has certainly not been my experience, and is probably 
an objection that will pass away as plants become stronger 
and better established. 
“ Y. B. A. Z.” seems to have written his note (on page 
322), without reading “E. M.’s ” preamble, where the main 
points of the analysis of the South Kensington Show are 
definitely stated; and it is further obvious that “ E. M.” 
did not consider the analysis of the Roses shown in a Bingle 
season (or at a single bIiow) to be a reliable guide to the 
selection of the best varieties, as he gives a special list, for 
No. 1985 —Yol. LXXV., Old Series'- 
