Janaary 28, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
61 
Captain Christy as a good second, and an unexpected fourth in Louis 
Van Houtte. The excellent figures of the light Rosts all through, 
probably owing to the two hot seasons, are very noticeable ; thus 
Madame Lacharme, Madame Hippolyte Jamain, Princess Mary of 
Cambridge, Merveille de Lyon, Violette Bouyer, and Mons. Noman 
have all good records, the last-named variety especially making 
a wonderful success for a Rose generally considered shy as a 
cut-back. 
Naturally the bulk of the first forty-eight is identical with the 
selections of recent years ; but there are included several less gene¬ 
rally grown varieties, mostly dark Roses, which are worthy of notice. 
Of these Dingee Conard appears fourteenth in the list ; and though 
sent out ten years ago by E. Verdier, does not seem to have been 
widely cultivated. It is, however, a beautiful and well-finished Rose, 
between Charles Lefebvre and Madame Victor Verdier, of moderate 
size, while its rich colour stands well. No. 23 is another 
1875 variety (Cant’s Prince Arthur), a most useful all-round 
Rose, deservedly well placed, but one which is surprisingly seldom re¬ 
commended. It is commonly described as a dark General Jacque¬ 
minot, which it resembles in most respects except in colour, but it is 
a better flower ; and as a free dark Rose which is deep-petaled and 
does not burn it is very dependable. Duke of Connaught again 
(Paul 1876), which comes out twenty-eighth, has been exceedingly 
reliable in the late hot summers ; and though its raiser has 
emphasised the fact of its not being of great size, still it is large 
enough as a rule for practical purposes, and is a good traveller. 
No. 38 is Madame Ducher’s promising seedling of 1880 
(Rosieriste Jacobs), a free-blooming dark Rose of fair size and 
good shape, with good lasting qualities ; in colour, coming between 
Horace Vernet and Due de Wellington, the latter of which it closely 
resembles in habit of growth. The last of the dark Roses not in¬ 
cluded in former forty-eights is Lord Macaulay (W. Paul, 1863), 
forty-first in order, which is also probably often left out of fancy 
selections from being considered rather small ; but though beautiful 
in colour it is a somewhat stunted grower. 
In addition to Mabel Morrison (No. 44) above mentioned, 
which is still one of the prettiest white garden Roses, No. 45 
is Madame Sophie Fropot (Levet, 1876), a very vigorous 
and useful big-petaled pink Rose, which at one time was 
decried as too thin, but it has proved a very useful exhibition flower, 
and it does not fade lilac as so many pink Roses do. Laelia (or 
Louise Peyronny), a useful light rose-colour if it were a more 
vigorous grower, is placed forty-seventh. 
Of the first forty-eight, Marie Rady averages the worst, but is 
notoriously capricious ; as are Emilie Hausburg, Annie Wood, 
Comtesse de Serenye, and Star of Waltham. But the poor display 
afforded by several well-known names tends to strengthen the impres¬ 
sion made by M r . Whitwell’s 1884 list, that a good many varieties are 
living on their reputation, so to speak. Thus it appears necessary to 
grow Madame Victor Verdier at the rate of four plants for each 
flower, and to insure a bloom of Senateur Vaisse good enough to show 
in a winning stand even more trees seem requisite. Marechal 
Vaillant is not quite so expensive, but John Hopper, Duchesse de 
Caylus, and Due de Rohan are hardly any better ; while it takes six 
plants of Pierre Notting to furnish a solitary flower. That Thomas 
Mills should beat the record, and only supply three blooms from 
thirty-two plants, seems surprising in a Rose so commonly recom¬ 
mended for the north, and which ranks twenty-second in Mr. Whit- 
well’s 1884 list ; but presumably in spite of its splendid petal it is 
not full enough to stand a'journey anywhere in such a baking summer 
as that of 1885. The heat is also enough to account for the re¬ 
latively low positions of the dark Roses that are liable to burn, such 
as Prince Camille de Rohan, Abel Carriere, &c. ; while E. Y. Teas is 
not a strong grower, and probably would not succeed so far north so 
well as in the southern counties ; but on the other hand the excellent 
average of Xavier Olibo should be noted. 
The recent Ulrich Brunner, Alfred Dumesnil, and Comtesse d e 
Paris all give a good average, and are all first-rate Roses ; while ex¬ 
cellent evidence of Mr. Hall’s well-known skill as a cultivator is 
afforded by the number of blooms which he succeeded in staging of 
Lord Bacon, Lady Mary Fitzwilliam, and Violette Bouyer from 
newly planted trees. 
On page 52 of the “ Year Book ” Mr. A. Hill Gray mentions the 
pretty Tea-scented Comtesse de Caserta, sent out by Nabonnand in 
1877, which is one of the freest-flowering of Roses even in these un¬ 
fortunate islands. A useful mode of treating it to obtain late 
flowers in autumn is to put a few buds as soon as they can be got in 
June upon dwarf Briar stocks, upon which they start into growth 
immediately, and furnish abundance of bloom by September. The 
fact of the flowers not being very full is in favour of their opening 
well during damp autumnal weather ; and the petals being large they 
make capital long buds for cutting. 
Of the other Tea Roses here described by Mr. Gray as not gene¬ 
rally grown in England perhaps Olympe de Trecinay (Damaizin, 
1859) is only Madame Berard under another name, since in course of 
long periods things invariably get re-named, and there is good 
authority for stating that Madame Berard was first sent out 
A D. 1370 ; Marietta de Besobrasoff having been distributed (pre¬ 
sumably by an ancestor of the present prolific raiser of the same 
name—Nabonnand) nearly 200 years earlier.— {Gardener’s Magazine, 
vol. xxviii., pages 368, 384.) Monplaisir (Guillot, 1868) is not likely 
ever to be popular over here, as it so constantly comes quartered, and 
is almost always coarse and wanting in finish in this climate. 
It would be interesting to learn whether the lines which Mr. Gray 
gives about the sepals of the Rose were quoted to him in Spanish or 
in Latin. The celebrated botanist, Robert Brown (whom Humboldt 
styled “ Botanicorum facile princeps ”), cited, as showing how 
observant the old monks were, the following Latin lines which he 
had- come across in some old book in the British Museum, and which 
describe the peculiarity of the Rose calyx much as Mr. Gray gives it:— 
“ Quinque sumus fratres, sub eodem tempore nati ; 
Duo barbati, duo sine barba creati; 
Quintus barbatus, sed dimidiatus.” 
Which may be thus freely translated— 
“ Five brothers we, together born, 
Two bearded, two beards ne’er have worn ; 
The fifth a beard wears on one cheek, ’! 
The other being shav’n and sleek.” 
—T. W.G. 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS IN WINTER. 
In respect to the methods of preparing Strawberry plants for forcing 
and preserving them during the winter there does not appear to be 
(if we refer to the remarks made by “ A Kitchen Gardener” and 
“A Northerner," pages 534 and 584, last vol.), that unanimity of 
opinion which might reasonably be expected after years of experi¬ 
ment and practice in these simple operations. It would seem as 
though we had not yet discovered any really sound or safe principles 
on which to rely with confidence ; for while one correspondent 
advocates a somewhat dry treatment during the resting period, the 
other recommends that the plants should never be allowed to become 
dry, and for this reason he advocates the practice of plunging the 
plants out of doors in an upright position either in ashes or leaves. 
That the Strawberry plant is perfectly hardy in the usual acceptation 
of the term everyone will readily admit, but its worst enemy in 
winter is not cold but damp ; and if we keep this fact in mind I think 
we shall decide that the method recommended by “ A Kitchen Gar¬ 
dener,” of simply laying the plants on their sides, is on the whole less- 
objectionable than that of plunging them in an upright position, 
because the plants are by such means kept in a condition more nearly 
like that to which they are naturally accustomed. No doubt, when 
in spring, as the sun’s power increases, and especially when drying 
winds prevail, the drying process would soon became extreme and 
prove injurious unless the plants were occasionally watered, but 
through the winter months the plants so situated never become 
excessively dry, because they absorb sufficient moisture through the 
pots to keep them in a healthy condition. 
This practice is, however, open to two objections which, although 
not serious, are sometimes inconvenient and difficult to counteract. 
The first is that when the pots are thus laid down three-fourths of 
their surface, where the best roots are situated, are fully exposed to 
the weather, and although the Strawberry plant is perfectly hardy 
under natural conditions, yet when the soil in the pots is wet and 
severe frosts occur, the whole are liable to be frozen into complete 
balls of ice, and when a thaw takes place not only are many of the 
pots destroyed, but the plants must also suffer seriously from such 
unnatural treatment. Of course they may be protected by a cover¬ 
ing of dry straw, fern, or other litter, but here arises the incon¬ 
venience attending the method, and not only this, but sudden frosts 
cannot always be foreseen, and the necessary protection may not be 
given ; and, again, in long-continued frosts this very protection 
may, and sometimes does, prove a source of mischief by partially 
blanching and weakening the plants. The second objection is not so 
important, being simply a question of space, which in the winter 
season when comparatively few plants are exposed out of doors is 
not difficult to provide, and yet where from 3000 to 5000 plants are 
prepared it is not always convenient either to find a suitable position 
or to give that extra attention which they require when so arranged. 
On the other hand the practice advocated by “A Northerner" of 
plunging the plants in an upright position either in ashes or leaves, 
while it effectually overcomes the evil of undue exposure of the roots 
a'ready referred to, still it is open to a more serious objection. In 
very dry positions or in dry winters no harm may ensue, but in damp 
situations or in wet winters this practice often leads to most disastrous 
results, by the plants being kept in a constantly wet and soddened 
