February 16, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
181 
be drawn not more than 1^ inch deep, a little sharp sand placed on the 
bottom, and the tubers pressed firmly in. The best distance is about 
.5 inches, and the rows should be about 4 inches apart, and care should 
be taken to get rid of worms as far as possible, as they are very apt to 
displace the tubers. When I used to grow them under name this was a 
great annoyance, as the roots used to be drawn up, and one could not 
tell where they belonged to ; indeed this was my chief reason for giving 
up the practice of keeping them distinct. I may be asked where are 
they to be obtained. In former times Carey Tyso of Wallingford and 
Geo. Lightbody of Falkirk used to grow a grand lot of varieties they 
had raised from seed, and in their catalogues roots figured at half a 
guinea, and even a guinea each, but these good florists have passed 
away, and I really do not know of any English grower for sale. Collec¬ 
tions may be obtained from some of the Dutch growers, but it will be 
necessary to weed them out very carefully when they bloom (many 
semi-double, &c., show the eye very soon); and by thus selecting 
the best, by degrees, a good collection may be obtained. There is also a 
class called French ; they are showy in a border, but will not satisfy the 
ideas of those who have been accustomed to the refined and beautifully 
formed Dutch varieties.—D , Deal. 
NATiOifAL Eose Society’s Fixtures. 
I WAS very much astonished to read in a letter signed “J. B.” 
(page 109) that the reason, or the chief reason, for the retirement of 
Messrs. Hall and Whitwell from exhibiting was the early date of the 
Metropolitan Shows of the Society. I was perfectly sure, as they were 
intimate friends, that it was not so ; but to make assurance doubly sure 
I wrote to both of them, and have received a reply to say that there is 
no foundation whatever for the statement. In both cases it was the 
excessive fatigue and anxiety that led to their retirement, and the date 
of the Metropolitan Shows had nothing to say to it.—D., Deal. 
Eoses at the Woodbridge Show. 
Eoses are always a special feature at the Exhibition of the Wood- 
bridge Horticultural Society, and the 25-guiQea challenge cup with the 
National Eose Society’s silver-gilt medal, offered for twenty-four distinct 
blooms, ought to bring forth a good competition at the Show on 
July 13th. Last year this coveted prize was won by Mr. Frank Cant. 
The Eose Derby. 
Ip I have made an incorrect statement as to the date in which my 
friend Mr. Grahame’s name first appears as a member of the National 
Eose Society I hasten to express my regret for so doing and at once 
apologise. I have before me the N.E.S. reports for the years 1885 to 
1892 (the previous years I have mislaid), and on looking through the list 
of members given in these last eight years’ reports I observe that 
Mr. Grahame’s name appears for the first time in these lists in the 
report for 1889. Hence my statement. I gather from Mr. Grahame’s 
remarks that he has been a member of the N.E S. since 1878, and 
therefore conclude that the list of members published in the N.E.S. 
annual reports is in some years incomplete. I am, moreover, exceed¬ 
ingly sorry to have vexed him in any way by my criticism, but to 
correctly estimate the strength of northern Eose culture, and the date of 
the northern season, one should be in a position to do so from lengthened 
experience and personal observation.— Joseph H. Pemberton. 
Teas in Mixed Classes. 
“ J. B.” (with whom I am very glad to be more in accord than 
used to be the case) finds a grievance (page 109) in the fact that boxes 
containing only Teas were allowed to win in classes for “ Eoses ” at 
the Metropolitan Show. But surely this does not prove that “ especial 
favour ” was shown to them. If the Judges considered them better as 
“ Eoses ” than the other boxes, why should they not win ? It seems to 
me that, to be equitable in his contention, “ J. B.” should also consider 
that a winning box of H.P.’s only, in the mixed classes, would be a mark 
of “ especial favour ” to H.P.’s. 
It is not many years since the amateur champion trophy was won 
by a forty-eight which had not a single Tea in it; yet none of the “ Tea 
men ” dreamed of complaining. Would “J. B.” like a rule that there 
must be a certain number of Teas in exhibits in the mixed classes ? for 
that seems the fairest form of his suggestion, unless he would have a 
separate department for H.P.’s only. 
Many thanks to “ Y. B. A. Z.” (page 109) for his notes on moss ; but 
there should not be much difficulty in the moist Fern-growing counties 
of the West of which he speaks. 
In my last letter (page 108) an accidental omission (in my MS., no 
doubt) makes it seem as if I had wilfully misunderstood “ D., Deal's," 
assertion that it is “ a very idle matter to compare the arrangements of 
a great show at the Crystal Palace to any provincial one, however good,” 
He adds, “ In the latter you are confined to one tent, and you can get to 
any part of it in a couple of minutes, not eo at the C. P., as many 
know to their cost.” Quite so, but we have twice at least had to show 
in a tent at the Crystal Palace, and I appeal to exhibitors on those 
occasions as to whether there was any improvement in the arrangements 
and general convenience.— W. E. Eaillem. 
Eose Shows. 
It is quite refreshing to read the little duel in words which has 
been going on in “our Journal" concerning Eose Shows, the date there¬ 
of, and proxy voting. Now, instead of all this bantering is it not time 
we turned our attention to something a little more artistic, and at the 
same time natural in our exhibitions ? We are too formal. What is 
more hideous than the long line of boxes, some of them evidently in need 
of a good scrubbing, untidy dingy-looking moss, the names of the Eoses 
on wide pieces of cardboard very much en evidence ? Then again, the 
stiff arrangement ; scarcely a bud to be seen, nothing but the huge 
show blooms. Why cannot we break through this formality ? Why not 
offer prizes, good substantial American prizes, for the best naturally 
arranged group to comprise some of all the different sections of the 
“ national flower.” Let us have masses of bloom. What can be more 
lovely than large bunches on long stems of such varieties as L’Ideal, 
Gloire de Margottin, and Laurette de Messing placed in a large vessel of 
water so that they are worth looking at by the time the public are 
admitted, instead of drooping as is now too often the case. Plenty of 
space should be allowed for thes3 groups. Overcrowding is the crime of 
the present day, both socially and horticulturally. 
I maintain that the National Eose Society should be the first mover 
in this innovation. Let us have a show worthy of our country. Why 
need we be dependent on the Crystal Palace Company ? Could it not 
be arranged with the Eoyal Botanic Society to hold the show in their 
splendid gardens ? There is no better place near London for holding an 
exhibition. I have often been surprised that the E.H.S. has never 
endeavoured to amalgamate with the E.B.S. and thus have a place of 
meeting worthy the name instead of the miserable Drill Hall. 
Then, again, there is the question of the medal Eoses. Could not a 
prominent place be set apart for these, so that when selected they could 
be brought together and thus their beauty seen to the best advantage ? 
—W. E. 
Attar of Eoses. 
It is well known that the great centre of the production of Attar, or 
Otto, of Eoses occupies the northern portion of the old Turkish province 
of Eastern Eoumelia. The cultivation of Eoses for this purpose is, 
however, limited to the southern slopes of the Great Balkans, as the 
flowers are nowhere produced successfully on the north. The distillation 
of the petals is carried on in a very primitive manner with a copper 
still of the simplest construction. The first runnings are returned to 
the still, and the second are received in glass flasks, where they are kept 
for a day or two at a cool temperature to allow the oil to rise to the 
surface. From the latter it is skimmed by a small tin pipette or funnel, 
with a long slender handle attached to the top, and a very small 
aperture at the lower pointed end. This funnel is not more than three- 
quarters of an inch diameter at the widest part, so that it is easily 
inserted into the flask, and plunged below between the oily layer and 
the water. It is then at once brought up, and it brings with it a 
portion of the oily stratum with a small quantity of water. The water 
escapes through the aperture at the bottom, while the oil or otto is. 
emptied into the collecting flasks. For exportation the commercial 
attar is transferred to flat circular zinc receptacles known as “ coppers,’*^ 
which are carefully sewn up in white felt and sealed with the exporter’s 
stamp, the brand being also stencilled on the felt outside. Two of 
these “ coppers,” one covered with the felt, and the other without, are 
contained in the Museums of Economic Botany at Kew, and to these 
Messrs. Piesse & Lubin have now courteously added a specimen of the 
pipette or funnel for the purpose of makinsr the collection more com¬ 
plete. As regards the identification of the plants cultivated for attar 
of Eoses, it may be useful to mention that in 1874 the late Mr. Daniel 
Hanbury, F.E.S., presented to the Kew Herbarium specimens of “ Eoses 
cultivated on the slopes of the Balkans for the production of attar of 
Eoses, received from Mr. Vice-Consul Dupuis of Adrianople. These 
contained'specimens of two species, a red Eose (R. damascena, Millar), 
and a white Eose (R. alba, L ). Neither of these is known in a wild 
state, and there can be little doubt that both are hybrids between 
E. gallica and E. canina. The subject is more fully discussed iq 
“ Pharmacographia ” (1879), page 262.—(Aeic Bulletin ) 
CANKER IN FRUIT TREES. 
{Continued from page 116.) 
Mr. Kruse (page 664 last vol.) mentions subsoil without defining it, 
but I assume that is the cause of the mischief, and where the iron exists 
in much greater percentage than is shown by the analysis. That being 
so, the soil, a deep friable loam, incumbent on an aluminous, calcareous, 
ferruginous, and silicious subsoil, more or less agglomerated, naturally 
or artificially under-drained. We may consider Mr. Kruse’s prop sitions. 
1, Iron in the soil or subsoil. An excess of iron is more likely to 
obtain in the subsoil and produce mischief in the trees after the roots 
reach it than a deficiency of available iron in the soil. Neither, how¬ 
ever, are other than harmful. It is easy to supply iron, and in doing so 
still further charge the subsoil with oxide of iron, and though a tern- 
