74 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 25, 1894. 
Queen’s Prize, Windsor Show. 
It is to be hoped that the decision of the Committee as to the 
allocation of this prize will be very carefully considered, as in order to 
give the members of the N.R.S. a fair chance all round a small class 
should be decided on. But if the executive decide on a small class and 
then make certain restrictions in regard to the method of exhibiting 
(such as an arrangement of alternating Tea and H.P. Roses, which I 
hear is possible) it will hamper small growers. The large grower has at 
all times odds in his favour, and therefore the smaller growers who are 
in the numerical majority of about twenty to one in our Society should 
be given every reasonable chance of winning this coveted prize.— 
Chas. J. Grahame. 
Reigate Rose Association. 
We are informed that nearly £200 will be offered in prizes at the 
forthcoming Show. Mr. R. E. West offers a challenge prize in silver, 
value £5, for a table decoration for eight persons, to be won twice by 
the same member, the second to receive £1 Is. from Hon. H. Cubitt. 
Mr. Frank Cant offers a piece of plate, value £5 6s. for twenty-four 
distinct single trusses, to be won twice by the same member. We have 
received expressions of regret that the Show has been fixed for the same 
day as the Croydon Show. We do not know whether this is so or not; 
but if it is, and the clashing was avoidable, it seems a pity to run the 
risk of impairing both exhibitions ; but local authorities ought to know 
what is best for their districts. 
Rose Mrs. W, J. Grant. 
Messrs. A. Dickson & Sons of Newtownards, advertise this Rose in 
the “ Rosarians’ Year Book ” under the name of “Belle Siebrecht, H.T.” 
They add that they disposed of their stock of this variety to Messrs. 
Siebrecht & Wadley of New York, who have considered it their 
privilege to change the name. Without going into the invidious 
question of which of the two names is best suited to British mouths and 
British pencils, permit me to say that, as a member of the N.R,S., which 
bestowed its gold medal upon the Rose Mrs. W. J. Grant before it was 
purchased by the American firm, I “ consider it my privilege ” to 
adhere to the original name, and I hope all rosarians in the British Isles 
will do the same. 
Canker on the Wild Briar. 
When canker attacks a standard Marechal Niel, the matter is often 
spoken of as if it was a malady belonging especially to that or other 
cultivated varieties. But, while getting standard stocks lately from the 
hedges, I have come across several cases of canker, not only in old, but 
in two year and even one year old stems. The appearance is exactly 
like the first symptoms of canker in an Apple shoot, and it does not seem 
in any case to have been caused by an external wound, nor from frost¬ 
bite, as the occurrences were in thoroughly sheltered positions. In the 
case of a strong shoot of the year, the attack had evidently taken place 
in the late summer, as fresh growth had occurred immediately below the 
affected spot. Is it possible that the exceptional season of 1893 has 
induced this by a similar series of causes to those which have made 
Apples keep so badly?— W. R. Raillem. 
Hybrid Tea Classification. 
I THINK “ J. B.’s ” criticism in the Journal (page 47) is founded on 
an erroneous reading of what has been written on this new class ; but 
possibly he has only in reading the recent correspondence become aware 
of, and as yet has not grasped the point that there had been cases of 
disqualification in 1893 by the showing of Hybrid Teas in H.P. classes. 
Such disqualifications took place at Earl’s Court. One case I remember 
well, of a beautiful box of Roses disqualified in July, as I was acting as 
a judge on the occasion. 
Mr. Pemberton is to be thanked for having called early attention to 
these Earl’s Court schedules in 1893, otherwise many rosarians might 
have taken up boxes of Grace Darling, Viscountess Folkestone, La 
France, and Caroline Testout, and found their trouble and labour to 
be so much wasted energy. From Mr. Pemberton’s warning I made 
inquiry, and was forearmed, and so saved such annoyance. So much for 
disqualification. 
I have not read, in a minor tone or otherwise, that the Hybrid Teas 
have been deposed from a position of honour ; but I certainly feel, with 
others, that to take Roses out of classes where they have been well 
known for periods ranging up to a quarter of a century, in order to 
humour what can only be considered a new-fangled idea in classifica¬ 
tion, is, to say the least of it, somewhat more closely approaching the 
ridiculous than the sublime, and certainly merits no encomium on its 
originator. 
By what I can only call a narrow squeak at the recent N.R.S. annual 
meeting, the Hybrid Teas escaped further disaster and effacement, as it 
was only by repeated correction, objection, and explanation on that 
occasion that many in the room understood the absurd pass to which 
the new Hybrid Tea classification had brought matters. However, 
Mr. Frank Cant may be said to have saved the situation, and now 
Hybrid Teas can be shown at our meetings when they might not 
otherwise have been eligible, although “ J. B.’’ seems to think they 
“ were ever ’’ so placed. Yes ! they loere until last year’s Rose Catalogue 
Committee brought in the present classification, and made the discussion 
a necessity. From a botanical point of view “ J. B.’’ may certainly be 
right in being desirous of minute classification in Rose culture, but after 
all how many really want it? Those to whom it might be useful are, I 
think, a small minority. What is really wanted in our Society’s 
publication is simplicity, and also clearness ; and these advantages are 
not to be obtained by piling class upon class, and dividing these again 
into smaller sub-classes, making matters to a novice “ confusion worse 
confounded,” “ J. B.” thinks the fact of there not having been a single 
box of Hybrid Teas shown in 1893 as one of no moment, because it was 
the first year of introduction ; but it was not the first year in which 
most of us had known many of these H.T. flowers, which certainly 
would have been shown by the large growers if they regarded the class 
with enthusiasm. But they do not so regard it, and the reason of the 
empty class is that few like or really care for it, and we must have some 
more convincing arguments in its favour than those given on page 47 if it 
is to be retained. Otherwise “ W. R. Raillem’s ” condemnation, supported 
by such a rosarian as Mr. Lindsell and a man of such great experience 
as “ D., Beal,” will bear fruit before the year 1894 passes away. —Charles 
J, Grahame. 
I ADMIT that “ D. Beal” (page 47) was right and I was wrong when 
I opposed his having the first Hybrid Tea turned out of the Tea classes. 
I even agree now that a red Tea is not an improvement to any box of 
Teas. But I also agree with “ J. B.” (p. 47) that no one is injured by 
Hybrid Teas having a class of their own, and that this is likely to 
promote their further development. Almost all large classes are for the 
“ any kind,” so that there is little fear of La France and her children 
not appearing.—A, C, _ 
It is satisfactory, as Mr. Grahame (page 46) says, to find such 
authorities as Mr, Lindsell And “ D., Beal” siding with those who do 
not approve of the new arrangement of Hybrid Teas in the N.R.S. 
catalogue. It seems to me that “ J. B.” does not quite catch the point. 
This is not, as I look upon it, that certain so-called H.T.’s will suffer 
much in qualification for exhibition, but rather as to whether La France 
and Captain Christy are H.T.’s, and if so why others are not classified 
as such with them. 
There is also a principle in question, whether classification now and 
in future shall consist of separation into many small classes or amalga¬ 
mation into a few broad ones. Upon this I am quite of the opinion of 
“ D., Beal” (whom few will accuse of being “ revolutionary ” in his 
suggestions) and Mr. Grahame, that what we want now, and shall want 
even more in future, is confederation into a few wide well-known classes 
rather than further partitioning off into minute sub-divisions. Mr. 
Wm. Paul, in his large work “ The Rose Garden,” divides cultivated 
Roses into forty-one groups, and in his paper read at the R.H.S, Con¬ 
ference in 1889, into forty-four groups arranged under sixteen sections. 
All this is most useful and interesting, and should by no means be lost 
sight of, in view of further hybridisation, and as a court of appeal in 
working out the origins of new varieties. But it is, and must be, 
“ caviare to the generalif a man must be “ up ” in all these groups 
and sections before he can become a rosarian, he will have to “ read 
first,” and perhaps to pass a stiff examination. For ordinary, and 
also for exhibition purposes, we must, I am sure, have a simpler and 
wider classification, ranking Bourbon Perpetuals and Hybrid Teas under 
Hybrid Perpetuals, and Teas and Noisettes under Teas.—W. R. Raillem. 
Satisfied, as no doubt many of us have been, with the onslaught of 
“ W. R. Raillem ” and C. J. Grahame on this class, I am delighted to see 
the old hand, “ D., Beal” (page 47), dealing blows still more weighty 
on the matter. If at general shows Hybrid Teas are to be excluded from 
the Hybrid Perpetual stands, what a fruitful source of trouble and 
worry is opened to those who undertake the not very enviable duty of 
judging. My own feeling is that in the whole subject of judging there 
is nothing more annoying to a junior, and possibly amateur judge, than 
that of disqualifying an exhibit. 
It is very easy to say that every exhibitor should make himself 
familiar with the rules and regulations. No doubt all this is right in 
theory, but this, alas 1 does not always agree with practice. The National 
Rose Society’s regulation as to Hybrid Teas and Teas was not a new 
thing when I, a mere pigmy comparatively in Rose knowledge, was 
obliged conscientiously to disqualify two such giants as Mr. Prince and 
Mr. Cooling for placing in their twenty-four Teas Grace Darling. A 
most unpleasant duty it was, the more so as the stand of the former 
exhibitor was exceptionally grand. How long will it be before the 
general body of lesser exhibitors realise the fact that if N.R.S.’s rules 
are to be carried out, and I hold they should be law on all matters 
affecting the exhibition of the Rose, how many annoyances of this kind 
must occur, because in almost every season La France has been, unlike 
Cheshunt Hybrid, a favourite, and deservedly so, exhibition flower. 
It would seem from “ J. B.’s ” note that follows “ D., Beal's” that 
there is a misunderstanding somewhere, the former stating that “ Hybrid 
Teas may now be shown in all classes, in which they were ever eligible,” 
whilst the latter, to us outsiders the great authority, says, “ And now 
see what the action of N.R.S. has done for it. It (La France) and its 
three sports—Augustine Guinoisseau, Duchess of Albany, and Denmark 
