JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 14, 1886. 
331 
the benefit of beginners, in which only half the first twelve of 
the analysis are found. The remarks on Duchesse de Val- 
lombrosa and Marie Baumann afford additional evidence of 
theffads of certain Roses in regard to locality. With me 
the former is one of the most reliable light Hybrid Per- 
petuals, a handsome plant with magnificent foliage, large 
flowers, fresh and constant. This variety and Violette 
Bouyer were the only two that furnished me with good boxes 
of twelve and eighteen blooms this year, and were continu¬ 
ously and uniformly good. It may be noted that our soil is 
not of the heaviest, and the rainfall below the average, still 
that is hardly sufficient to account for the difference of her 
Grace’s behaviour with “ Y. B. A. Z.” in a season like that 
just past. Etoile de Lyon again, has, during the last three 
years, been very beautiful, but its petals are thin and so 
numerous that a shower sticks them together. Nevertheless, 
for those who have glass it is a grand Rose. 
But now for Marie Baumann. I have grown it on clay, 
and I have grown it on sandy soil, on mixtures of all sorts, 
on peaty soil even, with much manure and with little manure ; 
I have tried it on its own roots, budded on standards, on 
seedling Briar, on Briar cuttings, on Manetti, on De la 
Grifferaie, on Polyantha. I have grown more plants of it 
than of any other variety except A. K. Williams, and yet I 
have never obtained but one bloom that gave me real satis¬ 
faction, and that a maiden on a standard. It is sometimes 
respectable, but from all these plants I have never been able 
to show a box of twelve blooms; it gets mildew with an 
eagerness that is most uncalled for, and in spite of every 
effort I can make in its favour the plants continue apparently 
quite lacking in vital energy. I tbink “ E. M.” is quite 
right to exclude pendulous flowers from a small selection, as 
unless the plant be a climber they are ineffective in the 
garden and difficult to manipulate in vases when cut. Thus 
Madame Lambard makes a far more decorative plant than 
Catherine Mermet, though I own to finding it far easier 
to get good blooms of the latter than of the former, 
another instance perhaps of the “ locality fad.” 
The suggestion mooted by “ D., Deal," of providing 
trophies for northern championships should commend itself 
to all rosarians throughout the country. The difficulties of 
Rose-growing in the north, and also in the midlands are 
immense in comparison with those experienced by growers in 
the southern counties, and it has long been felt the northern 
Show ought to provide the northern growers with a chance 
of honours equal to those bestowed upon the southerners in 
London. No time should be lost in getting the necessary 
funds and settling details, for the northern championships 
could not possibly be more appropriately inaugurated than at 
the Scottish capital, where the National Rose Society’s pro¬ 
vincial show is to be held next July. How would the follow¬ 
ing do for a division line between north and south ? Start 
from the Wash, follow the southern border of Lincolnshire, 
Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Flint¬ 
shire, Denbighshire, Carnarvonshire, finishing at Braich-y- 
Pwll; so that the above-named shires should be the southern¬ 
most of those eligible to compete for the northern champion¬ 
ship ? It would seem desirable to take county borders for a 
line, or it would be almost impossible to decide upon the local 
qualification of certain places. 
There should be no difficulty about means, for if each 
member of the National Rose Society were to subscribe six 
shillings the thing would be done; "and surely no member 
would be willing to miss an opportunity of so cheaply 
advancing the cause of their favourite flower. For no doubt 
many northern growers who would think it hopeless ever to 
be in time to compete successfully against their earlier 
brethren in the south, would readily compete later, and thus 
Rose-growing might receive an impetus in the north which 
might eventually result in making the provincial exhibition 
equal to that held in London. 
I hope “D Deal," will not think me hypercritical in 
pointing out that he assumes the role of prophet in placing 
Hereford among the counties to which the amateur cham¬ 
pionship trophy has gone. That he is no doubt a true 
prophet we readily grant, nor need the Apple county’s hope 
end yet awhile of seeing the prophecy quickly fulfilled; but 
in the meantime Sussex and Surrey may as well have the 
glory of what they have actually achieved. 
I have just one little bone to pick with “ Wild Rose ” 
for speaking of Oheshunt Hybrid and Reine Marie Henrietta 
as if they were the same colour. One of the chief merits of 
the latter is that its flowers are almost pure red with hardly a 
shade of blue in them, while those of the former have so much 
of the blue tint as almost to appear lilac, especially when 
fading. This dingy colour is to my mind the most fatal 
objection to all these red Hybrid Teas except Reine Marie 
Henriette, whose flowers remain bright and clear to the last; 
and it is an insult to the purity of the one that it should be 
confounded with the dull mixed shades of these very mixed 
Hybrids. There, having relieved my feelings, I will con¬ 
clude by saying that “ Wild Rose’s ” descriptions of the two 
new Roses under notice, American Beauty and the Bride, 
exactly answer to the flowers as they have bloomed with me, 
and that the latter appears likely to prove a most valuable 
acquisition as a large white Tea of first-rate quality.— 
T. W. G. 
ABOUT APPLES. 
There is no better time than the present for attending to 
Apple trees, old and young. The older trees are very much bene¬ 
fited by the removal of main branches when these become too 
thickly placed, and the ease and rapidity with which a large number 
of trees can be disbranched now would of itself render the operation 
one worth recommending to be undertaken at once. When it is 
considered that the amount of pruning required when the foliage 
is yet upon the trees can be gauged to a nicety quite unattainable 
during winter, then we have a stronger reason for the work being 
done immediately. Further, branches cut off now or even earlier 
are less likely to injure the trees than in the winter season. Another 
item in the successful management of old trees which can be 
undertaken with more certainty than later refers to thinning the 
spurs when these are too thickly placed. The strongest and best- 
ripened spurs can be selected and left, and those spurs with weakly 
buds cut clean out. These never do any good, for although fruit 
may be borne on such growths the quality is always poor, and in 
cases where the fruit is thinned it would have to be removed. 
Moreover, if left as leaf-producers only the benefit derived from 
them is very uncertain, as a few strong well-developed leaves are 
worth a multitude of weakly ones under any circumstances. Young 
trees, if not already pruned, should be seen to at once. Our rule is 
to examine the trees when the fruit is gathered, and do any little 
pruning that may be required, at the same time removing any 
shoots that may be misplaced. Growers who have not pruned 
early may consider this plan a wasteful one, but in reality pruning 
young trees which have been well attended to requires but little 
time. The advantages are that we see exactly where shoots are 
becoming too thickly placed, and the buds left are greatly benefited 
by receiving all the light and air possible, while there is no waste 
in food at this most critical period in the formation of the follow¬ 
ing year’s fruit buds. 
Where young trees are regularly lifted and replanted, the middle 
of the present month is quite late enough for such work. Well- 
managed trees form balls of roots which under ordinarily good 
conditions can be safely removed at this season. The consequences 
of a good shift are that the plants receive merely a slight check at 
the time, which though deterrent to growth is of advantage as a 
fruit stimulant, and the fruit of the following year is of much finer 
quality than that from unchecked trees : indeed, the only means of 
securing really fine fruits is by periodical removal of the trees. At 
the same time, when trees have not been regularly transplanted it 
is much better to let the work stand until the foliage is falling, as 
such trees if lifted when in full leafage are sure to flag, and as a 
rule they lose a season ; whereas, if transplanted later and the roots 
carefully looked to, the subsequent season’s growth is much better. 
In addition to the present time being best for pruning young trees, 
it is also best for supplying the roots with fresh material. Young 
trees which are not lifted, provided always they are bearing crops 
of fruit—and if the right varieties are grown that is reduced almost 
to a certainty—-must be well fed. The rudest method of attaining 
this end is to place a mulching of cow manure over the roots ; but 
efficient as the above may be under certain circumstances, much 
better fruit is produced when greater care is bestowed. A method 
