292 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 21, 1892. 
and the flowers are very fragrant. It is impatient of wet, dying in 
the open border in wet winters. When planted on a rockery 
should be placed between two pieces of stone so as to keep it 
tolerably dry. 
Dianthus cruentus I have not grown, but hope to do so this 
season ; it is believed by some to be the parent of our garden 
Sweet Williams. 
Dianthus deltoides.—This, another native species, I have on 
the other hand grown rather too well. It is one of those plants 
which I have alluded to as becoming a nuisance on the rockery, 
springing up in all directions, and coming up where it is not 
wanted. In habit it is very pretty. The flowers are very freely 
produced, so freely, indeed, that although undoubtedly they are 
small, yet they produce a very pretty effect. They seem, however, 
to rejoice in the sunlight, and keep closed on a dull and sunless 
day, or shut up very early. The colour is a bright pink with 
dark rim round the eye. There is a white variety of it which 
I do not think is nearly so pretty, but it is desirable for its 
colour. 
Dianthus neglectus.—This is one of those plants on which the 
ingenuity of some purveyors of alpine plants has been extensively 
exercised. I have raised plants which flowered on stems 6 to 
8 inches high, and were not at all like what I know they ought 
to be. Its foliage differs considerably from that of alpinus, 
being more like short wiry grass, and the flowers rise only from 
1 to 3 inches high above the foliage ; indeed when in flower it 
bears a close resemblance to Dianthus alpinus, differing a little in 
the tint of colour. There are some other species which are grown 
by many cultivators of alpine plants, such as sylvestris, plumarius 
and others, but I only desire to give notes of those which I have 
myself tried, and succeeded or failed in growing. 
Daphne. —Of these delightfully sweet-scented dwarf shrubs, 
so dwarf that they may be considered fit subjects for the rock 
garden, there are two which have succeeded very well with me. 
One is 
Daphne Cneorum.—This grows from about G to 10 inches high, 
being somewhat trailing in its habit, but very compact. The flowers 
are abundantly produced, rosy-lilac in colour, and most deliciously 
fragrant. It thrives in peat soil, but I have seen it doing well in 
strong loam. 
Daphue Blagayana is another most charming and fragrant shrub. 
The colour of the flowers is white, and they are produced in dense 
terminal clusters. It seems to be indifferent as to whether it is 
grown in peat or loam. 
Dodecatheon Meadia.—This peculiar looking flower, called (why, 
I know not) the American Cowslip, is a quaint looking and pretty 
flower. The plants seem to rejoice in a moist peaty soil, at least that 
is where it has succeeded with me. My clump of it is some ten or 
twelve years old, and has never been moved ; the flower stems rise to 
about the height of 18 inches, and the pink flowers are produced in 
abundance. The petals turn back from the narrow pointed centre 
of the flower, much in the way of the Persian Cyclamen of our 
greenhouses ; but as it is much more pointed it gives it a singularly 
quaint appearance, and is always sure to strike anyone who sees it 
for the first time. 
Dryas octopetala (Mountain Avens) is another native plant 
occurring abundantly both in Scotland and the west of Ireland. Its 
foliage is particularly neai and dwarf, creeping along at will, and it 
has been used in some places as an edging to flower beds, where its 
neat foliage and snow white flowers make it very acceptable. A lady 
correspondent in the west of Ireland tells me it grows freely on 
the limestone intermingled with Gentiana verna, and if they both 
flower at the same time it is impossible to conceive a more charm¬ 
ing combination. It did very well with me for years, but perished 
as many things did in the dry Jubilee summer of 1887. I have, 
however, again procured it through the kindness of my correspon¬ 
dent from the west of Ireland, and hope to again grow it 
successfully. 
Delphinium nudicaule is the only one of this beautiful tribe, so 
many of which form such conspicuous objects in our gardens, that 
seems dwarf enough for the rockery. It has the distinction of 
differing from most of its genus in colour, which is a dull scarlet, 
the flower stems being about 18 inches high. I am not at all sure 
whether it has any claim to be more than a biennial, but at any 
rate it is easily raised from seed, and is worthy of a place in the 
garden or on the rockery. 
Erinus alpinus is one of the easiest grown of alpine plants, and 
has lilac flowers (there is also a white variety). The habit of the plant 
is very dwarf, and as it seeds freely it will soon assert itself on the 
rockery. I imagine the plant is short-lived, and that seedlings spring 
up round it every year ; at any rate it will not easily be dispossessed 
when once it has taken hold.—D., Deal. 
(To be continued.) 
My experience of this grand yellow Rose differs appreciably from 
that of “ Rosa.” When I grew these Roses in a cool house at Bedfont I 
could never get enough to satisfy the demand, and good blooms always 
secured not only a good price but a much better figure than did any 
white or coloured Teas. Probably why so many find the Mardchal not 
so very profitable is that they grow it in heat, hence have their flowers 
in when everybody else has. That is just where market growers make 
so considerable a mistake. There is always a much better demand for 
these Roses in the dinner party season—that is. May and June—than in 
March and April, when all forced flowers are ready. 
I always had not only good blooms produced on trees that carried 
strong wood, through being hard pruned early in the summer, but cut 
with their stems from 6 to 7 inches long. These were specially favoured 
because they kept so long in water. Mar^chal Niel grown in a cool 
roomy airy house without any heat blooms naturally about a month 
before Roses open on south walls outdoors, and at the very best season 
of the year. As soon as the bloom is over the flowering wood and 
branches should be cut back very hard ; indeed, this Rose wants to be 
treated as Vines sometimes are—on the long rod system, causing new 
stout shoots to be produced, which should make from C feet to 10 feet 
of growth during the season. Then noble flowers result. When, as 
is so often seen, the wood is hard .and spindly, no wonder the flowers 
are poor and of little value.—A. D. 
Rose Judging. 
I SHOULD like to draw from our leading rosarians some expression 
of opinion as to what degree of fadedness (if any) constitutes a bad 
Rose. The instructions of the N.R.S. to judges seem perfectly clean; 
but I find myself in some difficulty when I am told by a great Rose 
authority that a faded flower of good form is entitled to one or two 
points ; while another, whose opinion of Roses is, I presume, second to 
none, states (“ Rosarian’s Year Book,” 1889, page 10) that such a flower 
is a bad one, and should have one or two points taken from it. It is not 
a question of form v. colour, and I presume every real judge of Rosea 
would give precedence to form ; but I want to know whether judges are 
to mark a faded flower of still good form as a bad Rose, or reward it 
with one or two points as a good one.— Henry B. Biron. 
A Show at Moseley, Birmingham. 
A GREAT Rose Show is announeed to be held in the Moseley Botanical 
Gardens and College Grounds, Birmingham, on July 19th and 20th. The 
schedule to hand shows that some handsome prizes will be competed 
for. In the class for seventy-two cut blooms four of £10, £7, £6, and 
£3 are offered, while in those for forty-eight and thirty-six trebles the 
prizes are £6, £4, £3, and £2 respectively. For a group of plants £10, 
£8, £0, and £4 are offered. These should bring good competition, and 
they are supplemented by others, while amateurs are well catered for. 
The Committee have been fortunate in securing Mr. William Dean’s 
services as director. 
MULCHING NEWLY PLANTED APPLE TEEES. 
It is the accepted rule in all well managed gardens to apply some 
partly decayed manure to the surface soil directly the trees are planted, 
the sbjeet being twofold—protecting the roots from frost during winter, 
and maintaining the soil in a moist state during the summer months. 
This not only minimises the labour in applying water to the roots in the 
case of excess of drought, but keeps the soil in a better state than when 
artificial waterings are resorted to. For these two reasons mulching 
newly planted trees is undoubtedly a good practice ; but there is another 
aspect to the question which deserves a thought—viz., the evil which 
results through the prevention, by the mulching, of the sun acting 
on the soil to warm the roots near the surface. Many persons, I fear, 
do not think of this. The mulching is given to the trees to protect their 
roots in winter, and allowed to remain there until decay has taken place, 
but if it were removed the first week in May or earlier, according to the 
state of the weather, being simply drawn off to one side and there 
allowed to remain for at least three weeks, when it could be replaced 
provided hot and dry weather necessitated its employment for maintain¬ 
ing the soil in a moist state, it would be better. Trees that are planted 
high—as they should be in soil which is at'all heavy or wet—are much 
more likely to suffer from drought than those which have their roots 
deeper in the soil. 
The difference exhibited in the growth of trees the first year where 
attention is paid to such an apparently small matter as the temporary 
removal of the mulching to admit of the soil being warmed, and where 
this is neglected is surprising. The more I see of Apple culture, good 
and bad, the more I am convinced that the whole secret of success lies 
in attention to the surface roots, which really are the feeders of the trees 
