468 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r November 22, 18S8. 
is not grown more generally than it is. We have had a border here about 
100 feet long filled with mixed varieties. They stood the cold and wet 
weather wonderfully well, and were much admired. Some of the 
varieties are very sweet scented, which is a great recommendation. Good 
strong plants placed out at the end of May produce the best results, 
weak spindly plants are of little use.— George Cooke, 
-Referring to Rhododendrons N. G.” observes :—“ The 
dry weather during the spring prevented Rhododendrons making 
much growth, and the early varieties set abundance of flower buds, but 
unfortunately they burst into late growth. R. ponticum and the majority 
of the hybrids made, a strong second growth, so there is but little 
prospect of a good display of these flowers next season. Azalea pontica 
•and the Ghent varieties, on the other hand, have set well, and the wood 
was too ripe for them to burst again into growth.” 
- Pines at Paricfield, Hallow, near Worcester. —In 
these well managed gardens there is at the present time as good a house 
of Pines as could be found in any garden. There are about fifty 
fruiters, the fruits averaging from 8 up to 9 or 10 lbs., and in one case 
11 lbs. This latter weight has been exceeded in previous years. The 
variety is Smooth Cayenne. The house is a sunk span-roof, about 
14 feet in width inside measurement. The age of the plants is just 
oighteen months from the sucker. Mr. Brockington, the gardener in 
charge, deserves much praise for what is undoubtedly one of the 
greatest triumphs in Pine culture. 
- In the same garden may be seen one of the finest representa¬ 
tive displays of Chrysanthemums in the western Midlands. About 
700 plants are grown on the large-bloom system. The majority 
of new varieties, or those that are worthy, are added annually. Mr. 
Lea, the owner, does not care to exhibit, which is the reason they are 
not more widely known. The plants are arranged on each side of a 
large span-roofed house, with a raised platform through the house for 
inspecting the blooms. In this manner the blooms are just brought 
below the eye. The neighbourhood of Worcester is getting quite a 
centre for Chrysanthemum growing in the western iMidlands, Impney 
and Hindlip being in the near neighbourhood, with others cropping up. 
—A. Y. 
ROSE PLANTING. 
Although general directions are given in all works upon the culti¬ 
vation of Roses as to the various processes of cultivation, and each 
calendar of operations tells all whom it may concern that November is 
the best time for making, arranging, and altering beds, yet as our seasons 
vary so much of necessity, the time, and indeed the method, of these 
processes vary. The season may be very wet or it may be very dry ; or 
frost may interfere with operations, and so instructions suited to each 
year are not out of place. 
With regard to the time of planting, I at one time believed that it 
might with advantage be deferred until spring, and did so in one or 
two seasons, when I obtained my plants from the nurseryman, and 
planted them in the spring. I found that very little root action had taken 
place, and that when I planted and pruned them they seemed to ex¬ 
perience a check ; so I gave up the practice. I found that there were so 
many things to be done in the garden at the same time that Rose-planting 
was apt to be done hastily, and so I returned to the old orthodox time, 
and am now preparing for my work, and have indeed partly begun it in 
a Email way. 
The season has been a very peculiar one. We had on October 3rd a 
frost which was general with greater or less severity all through the 
country. This injured to a great extent the autumnal bloom, but did 
no harm to the plants, while the remainder of the month was so dry, at 
least in the southern parts of the kingdom, that planting was an im¬ 
possibility ; just as Wheat sowing was prevented in our neighbourhood, 
and now very heavy rain has come, so that care will have to be exercised 
as to the time of planting. Let it not be hurried, for planting may 
take place at any time during the next two months when the weather 
is favourable. 
There will be two kinds of planting carried on doubtless in most, 
gardens—the removal of plants in the garden itself, and the planting 
of those received from the nurseryman. With regard to the former the 
ball is in the amateur’s own hands. He can choose his day, take up his 
plants and replant them without let or hindrance. Not so, however, 
when he receives plants from the nurseryman ; they suit their convenience 
as to the time of sending them, and he must be prepared to receive 
them. Let nothing induce him to unpack his straw bundle in frosty 
weather. Roses are so well packed nowadays that they will keep for a 
long time in the package in which they are sent. Another point equally 
necessary is not to leave the roots exposed for even an hour. My own 
practice is to unpack the parcel, having a trench dug ready, and then 
lay the plants in it, covering the roots up well, and then taking them 
up one or two at a time and planting them where they are permanently 
to remain. 
In planting I never advise manure to be used, however well decayed. 
It is impossible to prevent it getting to the roots, and when it does it is 
apt to create fungus. When a hole is made have ready some good well 
decayed turfy loam, place some of this in the bottom of the hole, take the 
roots and spread them out carefully, do not injure the bark of the roots.' 
then shovel in some more loam and tread it down well, and place, if 
the shoots are at all long, a stake to steady them so as to prevent the 
wind from loosening thejplants in the ground and making a hole into 
which wet falls and injures the roots. TheSe directions refer to the 
classes of Hybrid Perpetuals and such summer Roses as an amateur may 
like to grow, and some of them are very beautiful. With regard to Teas 
practice will vary in different parts of the country. In the south there 
is but little need to make any difference between them and the Hybrids, 
but where this is done they are generally laid under a south wall where 
they can be covered in severe weather and not planted until April. 
This year I am enlarging my Tea beds and diminishing the number of 
Hybrid Perpetuals. The former do well with me, and as a rule they 
are really the Perpetuals, blooming earlier than any others, and continu¬ 
ing in flower later. This year they have not done so well as autumn 
bloomers ; the cold of October 3rd, and the thick foggy weather which 
followed it, prevented the expanding of their blooms, but as a rule I am 
able to cut blooms from them in good order far into November. 
One subject always exercises Rose-growers at this season, and that is 
whether it is worth while to get any new Roses, and if so, what are to 
be depended on ? Of course the answers depends much on whether the 
amateur is disposed to spend a little money or not. If he be the fol¬ 
lowing may well be added:—Earl of DufEerin, a grand high-coloured 
flower of good quality and vigorous habit, and very sweet in perfume ; 
Sir Rowland Hill, a remarkably coloured flower, quite distinct, of good 
habit, the colour a rich claret suffused with crimson ; Mrs. John Laing, 
a beautiful pink coloured flower of good substance and shape ; Lady 
Helen Stewart, a high coloured flower of good quality. I would not 
recommend Grand Mogul until it has been further tried, for from many 
quarters I hear it is hardly to be distinguished from Jean Soupert, a 
flower sent out some years ago. Gloire de Margottin, bright dazzling 
scarlet, and very free flowering; Miss Ethel Brownlow is a good Tea of 
novel colour ; Madame Hoste is also a fine yellow Tea ; and then there 
are the two little Polyantha Roses, Golden Fairy and Little Dot, the 
former bright fawn yellow with lighter margin, the latter white with a 
salmon centre ; they are delightful in every way, but when cultivated 
in pots they form most charming additions to greenhouse or con¬ 
servatory. 
From all appearances it will be some time before we can get on with 
planting. Here in Kent we have had recently nearly 2 inches of rain, 
and it seems more to follow. % Under these circumstances planting will 
be impossible.—D , Beal. 
NOTES ON EARLY ENGLISH HORTICULTURE. 
(Continued from jjage 286.) 
Tiie reign of Henry VHI., though certainly not a period of 
history in which, on the whole, Englishmen can exult, was dis¬ 
tinguished by this fact, that it saw the revival of English horti¬ 
culture, and the re-importation, or introduction, of a great number 
of foreign plants. These were chiefly fruits, vegetables, and useful 
or ornamental trees ; the garden flowers were few. And it is in¬ 
teresting to note how the botanists and gardeners about this time 
discovered, by comparison with newly arrived specimens, many 
plants which had been brought over by the early Crusaders, or still 
farther back, in the days of the Romans. There had, however, 
been indications of a coming improvement while Henry VII. 
reigned. A worcliy citizen and haberdasher had published, early in 
the sixteenth century, his “ Chronicle of London,” in which, 
amongst other matters, he discoursed upon the crafts of planting 
and grafting, the various employments of the seasons, and on a 
method of his own for growing “ perceley,” that is, it is supposed, 
not Parsley, but Cress, in the space of an hour, which seems some¬ 
what marvellous. Lord Cromwell brought into our island several 
kinds of the Plum about this period. One was the Pendragon, or 
Perdrigon, of two colours, and much esteemed. Holinshed says 
that the nobles had a fancy for tree planting, and surrounded their 
mansions with groves, composed, doubtless, chiefly of our common 
natives. 
The lack of flowers until a later period obliged gardeners to try 
various expedients to diversify the grounds and please their patrons. 
So they contrived mounds with spiral ascents, “ knots,” composed 
of earth or soils of different colours, mazes, wildernesses, and alleys, 
or paths set with lines of trees and hedges. By the order of 
Henry VIII. the Royal gardens of Nonsuch were laid out in a style 
which made them an object of admiration for centuries, and the 
