Juinary 24, 1896. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
75 
Tue Portsmouth Settlement. 
Mr. Charles J. Grahame writes to say he is sorry we think that 
the decision of the Committee of the National Rose Society in endorsing 
the action of the Honorary Secretaries relative to the show fixtures in 
1896 “settles the matter” in dispute. But it does settle it all the same, 
as no one expects the members of the N.R.S. are going to turn out 
the Committee forthwith and elect a new one to alter the present 
arrangements. As that seems to us the only way in which the decision 
arrived at can be altered, “ settled ” it must be, however much some 
persons may be disappointed. Mr. Grahame says he shall not write to 
the Journal of Horticulture any more. He has had a short term 
Melliar’s own heart, who shares with his helpers the work—the real 
and actual work—of budding and growing the plants, and staging the 
blooms. In one photo we see “ acres of Roses,” including 299 cut-backs 
of Mrs. J. Laing. Only a true amateur rosarian would be so exact in 
the counting. To this field is added a new strip, 170 yards long by 
11 yards wide, and other slices may be expected to follow, for there 
appears to be plenty of room, earnestness, and zeal. 
In another photo—a sort of snug corner of Roses—we see the work 
going on, for it is budding time; There stands the master “ taking 
out,” two men inserting, two tying, and the young “ Master Chambers,” 
head gardener of the future, looking on. Then follows the showing 
time, and at Gateford it seems to take five strong men to stage a box: 
of Teas. Here they are all in a row, life-like photos. On the left 
Mr. J. Grant, rosarian, cutting the blooms. Mr. T. Clifton, under 
gardener, receives them and hands them to Mr. F. E. Chambers, head 
gardener, who trims them, passing them to the head over all for 
“ boxing; ” Mr. C. Stubbings, the gamekeeper, appropriately acting as 
trapper—i.e., managing the lid as the box stands on the Rose barrow. 
The coachman, stud groom, and footman are not visible, but the 
assertion may be ventured that if they were wanted among the Roses 
Fig. 13,—MR. MACHIN’S ROSE GARDEN. 
and a lively one, and in allusion to what has transpired gives as a 
finale “ de gustihvs non est disputandum." Quite so, and there the 
matter may well rest at present. 
Mr. Machin’s Garden and Roses. 
Very much to the fore of late has been the name of the great 
amateur rosarian Mr. Henry V. Machin of Gateford Hill. Possibly this 
may have suggested the sending to us of a set of photographs by a 
gentleman into whose hands they fell some time ago. We have had the 
pleasure of seeing Mr. Machin’s Rose field, his drying-ground rosery, 
his nursery, and interesting old garden. The latter is quaintly 
icturesque with its trimmed shrubs and bowery-like character, relieved 
y stately trees and brightened with old-fashioned flowers, some of 
which seem to have been very much let alone for generations. There 
is a charm in such cld gardens as this, in which things appear to have 
established a right to be just where they are by long possession, and 
they are also living memorials of those who loved them in past years. 
The young squire of Gateford does not attempt to modernise this old 
garden and end, as many have done in dealing with similar examples, 
in spoiling instead of improvine. Mr. Machin does his modernising 
elsewhere. He takes to the fields, and displaces Turnips with Roses. 
That the owner of this much-cared-for and fertile Nottinghamshire 
estate is a very real and ardent rosarian, the photographs before us 
demonstrate. We should take him to be a man after Mr. Foster 
they would have to be there, or—no, we will not suggest an unpleasant 
alternative, for Mr. Machin is one of the kindest of masters, considerate 
to all, loved by all, and who therefore give him willing and faithful 
service. He is known as a “ thoroughbred who runs straight,” esteemed 
alike by his exalted associates on the magisterial bench, by his tenants, 
and his workers. He is in a word an English gentleman, and 
unquestionably a leading amateur in the Rose world. No doubt honours 
are in store for him, and he will deserve all he wins. We are obliged 
to the sender of these photos, and reproduce one as the most 
characteristic of Old Gateford. 
Me. Foster-Melliar’s Book. 
I HAVE just read with very great interest and profit Mr, Foster- 
Melliar's “ The Book of the Rose,” and have found therein many little 
side lights and observations on the Rose which I thought were known 
only to myself and a few particular friends, and which prove the author 
to be a close observer and a clever fellow ! Now I am not going to 
praise the book further just now—it can make its own way ; but I wish 
to point out one or two shortcomings. We, the rank and file of the 
nation, look to the Church, the Bar, and the Stage for the Queen s 
English. It is their privilege to uphold its purity, and to be looked on 
as its champions. - '' 
On what authority, may I ask, does Mr. Foster-Melliar use the phrase 
“different to?” Not Thackeray, for he withdrew it. Then, on pages 
