December 6, 1889. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
511 
supposed, and there seems to be no reason why it should not 
be tried in many places in which there is every prospect of its 
succeeding.—N. 
SOME REMINISCENSES OF THE SHOWS. 
All lovers of Roses receive with interest and welcome the annual 
review of the season as given by “ D., Deal,” and will join with me, I 
am sure, in hoping that it may be many years before his valuable 
presence will be missed from the principal Rose shows, or his great 
experience as a florist be lost to the pages of the Journal. 1 should 
like to add a few of my own reminiscenses of two or three of the larger 
exhibitions, which have been recalled by his article. 
Those who have never previously showed at the Crystal Palace must 
surely have thought, as so many have said before, that there really is no 
place like it for a Rose show, and except that it is not so accessible as a 
central London site, especially in getting away on a Saturday night, 
the N.R.S. are to be congratulated upon the situation of their metro¬ 
politan and principal Show. What pleasant greetings take place at 
these first meetings of the summer campaign ! for rosarians are so 
friendly and courteous, and if one of our number did tell two others, 
as they walked together up the hill to the Palace, that his dwarf (1) 
Charles Lefebvres were 10 feet high, I am sure the only point in their 
conduct that could have been deemed inconsistent with respectful 
admiration was that they both paid 10s. 6d. entrance fee the next day 
in order to go 150 miles to show against these “ giant dwarfs ” in their 
own home. 
The most noticeable feature of this, one of the National Exhibitions, 
was the cold, not only of the day itself, but also of the day and night 
before. I should think this was unprecedented. We have had wet 
Rose seasons before, but never in my recollection such a cold one, and 
the natural effect of such an inclement time was that the Teas made a 
very poor show indeed. It has been remarked that Mr. Baker, who 
regained the amateur trophy, had no Teas at all in his forty-eight, and 
it will be remembered that he was particularly strong in the year 1879, 
so that a cold wet season seems to suit him ; but it was certainly not in 
1881, when he was champion again. Roses were not out on the strong 
heavy soils, and those who relied much upon their Teas to help them in 
the big classes were naturally disappointed. These causes would 
account perhaps for Mr. B. Cant not taking quite his usual high position, 
but some of Mr. F. Cant’s Roses in a higher position were forwarder, 
and by protecting his Teas from the rain he succeeded in bringing back 
one of the champion trophies to the eastern counties. Some strong 
exhibitors—Mr. Pemberton for instance—were not in a position to show 
in force for quite a fortnight later. 
The weakness in Teas caused a noticeable absence of yellow. How 
is it that Mr Prince can always show Comtesse de Nadaiilac for twelve 
of any yellow Rose ? There was no doubt about his twelve blooms 
being yellow, but this Rose almost always has more pink and white in it 
than yellow with me, and yet I have won some medals with it. Souvenir 
d’Elise, the show Ro9e par excellence, was again conspicuous by its 
absence. Last year they were all over before the Show; this time, I 
suppose, they were decayed on their stems. Mine were. 
Manchester Show, to be interesting to exhibitors who are not quite 
in the first class, wants “ protection.” The schedule is very free trade 
indeed. There are only two divisions. Any nurseryman or amateur 
may show in every class in their own division, so that the giants have it 
all their own way. By this arrangement a better standard throughout 
is probably maintained, but the actual number of entries is lessened I 
should think. Messrs. Dickson of Newtownards showed some pluck in 
exhibiting from such a distance, and the stand of these enterprising and 
successful raisers of new Roses was very interesting. Their new H.P. 
Caroline D’Arden came in for much admiration and criticism , but I 
think I must leave an account of new and notable Roses as seen at the 
Show for another letter. _ 
The adventures undergone by an exhibitor in his journey to the 
Wirral Show, as ably related by him some time since in the Journal, 
made me congratulate myself that I shirked that undertaking—a very 
serious one from my abode—at the last moment. But there were trials 
and disappointments also at Darlington. In that one former holder of the 
amateur championship, as related by “ D., Deal” had a private thunder¬ 
storm of exceptional violence all to himself, and another, on the very 
spot, was prevented by the lateness of the season from exhibiting at all. 
My own adventures on the road to Darlington, though of no moment 
to the Show, were sufficiently trying. It was really not more than two 
minutes that I and another exhibitor left our boxes out of our sight at 
Doncaster, where we had to change ; but during that time a wretched 
porter had wheeled off both our charges, and bundled them into a van. 
We could find neither him nor them at first, but at last we discovered 
them, and counted the pile as best we could by the dim light of his 
lamp. The number was correct; they seemed all right, and we failed 
to notice that he had positively placed one of each of our boxes exactly 
upside down. No sixpence which I ever spent did I afterwards lament 
more than that which I left in his unworthy palm. Absolutely upside 
down did those two boxes travel all the way from Doncaster to 
Darlington. 1 need not tell those who believe in the general perverseness 
of things that mine was the box of my lot—a carefully selected twenty- 
four, with all my best blooms in it —on which all my hopes rested. But 
I was spared the actual sight revealed when the box was opened of sodden 
moss and dirty Roses hopelessly intermingled, for my very kind com¬ 
panion in misfortune, who took charge of my boxes for the night, had 
endeavoured with great good nature to re-arrange the contents of the 
box as far as possible by the time I arrived on the ground. 
I am very much indebted to my fellow passenger for his kindness, 
and I remember another example, some years ago, of the friendly feeling 
which happily prevails among rival rosarians. An exhibitor, who is par¬ 
ticularly noted for his skill in “ getting up,” was preparing his box at 
one of the national shows in an important class (to us), in which I had 
also entered. I thought that my blooms, “ in the rough,” so to.speak, 
were better than his were, but my skill in arrangement, &c., was as 
nought compared to his, and to my half-humorous suggestion that he 
should set up my blooms as well as his own he actually consented, and 
in a very short i time their appearance was immensely improved. For 
once in a way Dame Justice had both her eyes open : we got equal first. 
I do not know what I should have done if I had beaten him. I may also 
say that the fortunes of my capsized Darlington box after passing the 
ordeal of judgment were such as to make me less squeamish afterwards 
about a slight jerk or tilt to boxes in transit. 
The professional exhibits at Darlington seemed to be generally below 
par. though Messrs. Harkness appeared to hold a strong lead in H.P.’s. 
A number of stands were exhibited in the class for twelve Teas (nursery¬ 
men), but it goes without saying that they were poor in quality, and 
also that the blooms which won the.amateur Jubilee trophy were li tall ” 
indeed. 
I think that, on the whole, thin-petalled Roses did not do so well as 
might have been expected in such a cold wet season. It is true that 
Prince Camille de Rohan, which I had almost discarded, re-appeared in 
strong force, and was to be seen in nearly every stand at the Crystal 
Palace ; and that a Rose which I have long given up, and never thou.ht 
to see exhibited anywhere—viz., Duchess of Edinbugh was to be 
seen in the winning seventy-two. But still I was disappointed with 
many of those Roses which will not “ stand ” in hot weather, and might, 
therefore, be expected to be shown in better order this year. 
I happened to have a good many plants of Thomas Mills, H.P. 
Now, thought I, Master Thomas will really come to the fore, and with 
his glorious colour and perfect shape will be the Rose of such a season 
as this. Nothing of the sort. A considerable number of the plants did 
not bloom at all, and when I stopped the shoots at 5 (not 10) feet high, 
they did not bloom in the autumn, and such flowers as I did have were 
considerably inferior to those of hot seasons. Oh, Thomas Mills ! how 
grateful my friends will be for your strong plants. 
The Dukes of Edinburgh and Teck, which I should reckon among 
thinnish Roses, did certainly do a little better than usual, and so 
perhaps did Prince Arthur, but I failed to see any improvement in the 
way of lasting for exhibition purposes in General Jacqueminot, Mrs. 
Harry Turner, or Dupuy Jamain, for this last is a bad one to stand with 
me unless it be grown very strong. 
The National Rose Society’s catalogue gives Fisher Holmes as a thin 
Rose, but in my experience it always stands well. The H.P. s, which I 
found to do unusuallv well and really seemed to like the weather, were 
Duchesse de Moray especially, and Marie Finger and all her race. 
Thick petalled, hot-season H.P.’s, such as Comtesse de Serenye, Marie 
Rady, M. Noman, Pierre Notting, Reynolds Hole, and all the very light 
ones, certainly failed as conspicuously as might have been expected. 
The only exception I remember was a bloom of M. Noman, which got the 
shelter of a bell-glass. It turned out the best specimen I ever saw, and 
won me a medal. _ 
Of exhibition Teas I should reckon Anna Ollivier, Francisca Kruger, 
Madame Lambard, Marie van Houtte,and Rubens as comparatively thin- 
petalled. All of these did do better than other Teas, with the exception 
perhaps of the first, Marie van Houtte and (with me) Francisca Kruger 
being the best. _ . T 
Tliick-petalled and shy-opening Teas, like Comtesse Panisse, Jean 
Ducher, Etoile de Lyon, Marie Guillot, Madame Willermoz, and 
Souvenir d’Elise, were naturally scarce but Madame Willermoz, by the 
help of toilet arts, made a handsome appearance occasionally, and Etoile 
de Lyon, strange to say, opened better with me than it did last season. 
I have witnessed during the past week the lifting of some Roses on 
Manctti, which had been planted just three years and had grown and 
bloomed fairly well, though not as well to my mind as they would have 
done on the Briar. 
The Mauetti roots were alive, and 
that was all that could be said for 
