May 13, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
373 
utilising the roof of one or more plant houses with every prospect 
of pleasure and profit accruing therefrom. In every case ample 
provision should be made for the roots, as unless liberal treatment 
is afforded in this respect the plants will not long remain profitable. 
The border may be either inside or outside, and any width, or 
according to the position and circumstances. If I erected a new 
house principally for this Rose a small glazed pit, say about 4 feet 
wide, would be built against the side walls, and this would serve 
for both the roots of the Roses and for Marie Louise Violets during 
the winter. Should they be planted in an outside border in a 
manner similar to Grape Vines both the border and the stems 
should be protected during the winter, or otherwise they flag badly 
after cold frosty nights, the check to the flow of sap naturally 
retarding the development of the blooms, and a few days may make 
a very great difference in the prices realised. Inside borders, 
besides being sometimes inconvenient, are more liable to be neg¬ 
lected, and neglected borders mean a weakly insect-infested growth. 
The borders to be well drained, and from 2 to 3 feet in depth. 
A suitable compost would be three parts good turfy loam to one 
of good partially decayed manure, to which may well be added a 
sprinkling of half-inch bones and lime rubbish. Should the loam 
be heavy and fibreless, then we would use only two parts of this, 
substituting one part of either good leaf soil or light garden soil. 
Much the finest plants in the country are, I believe, on the 
Briar stock, but we have them very vigorous and floriferous on 
their own roots and fairly profitable on the Manetti. It is now 
too late to move them from the open ground, and consequently 
those who may contemplate planting at once must purchase pot 
plants, and these are generally on the Manetti stock. They can 
also be preparing other plants by budding a quantity of Briars, or, 
better still, they can insert buds into strong plants of Glofre de 
Dijon, on which the Marechal Niel thrives admirably, and is much 
less liable to strangulation. It is pretty generally known that the 
Marechal Niel is a most vigorous grower, the stems swelling more 
rapidly than do the Briar stocks, the inevitable consequence being 
an unhealthy swelling at the point of union, eventually resulting 
in a collapse of the plant. It is owing to this fact that there is 
still such a demand for both plants and blooms, as if all or the 
greater portion of those planted long continued healthy the prices 
would be much lower than they now are. This liability to break 
down at any time, not only from strangulation on the Briar, but 
also from canker when on the Manetti, being understood, it behoves 
cultivators to anticipate it as far as possible. Not only would we 
not rely entirely but one large plant, preferring rather to have 
three or four, but we would also have other younger plants ready 
to take their place directly they are needed. At the present time 
we have fresh healthy Briar stocks planted in an outside border and 
taken through into a house. These, budded where they are to 
remain, will grow away strongly and form long flowering shoots 
this season ; and by allowing a few growths to form on the stem 
below where budded to act as “ stem swellers,” these being stopped 
occasionally and annually pruned, I hope to prevent eventual stran¬ 
gulation, from which cause we have lost two large plants. In 
whatever position they may be growing they ought never to become 
dry at the roots, and when the borders are becoming exhausted 
frequent supplies of liquid manure should be given, as well as an 
early mulching of good short manure. 
With regard to training I shall not say much, as we have no 
formal plan. The plants are encouraged to grow vigorously and 
usually branch naturally, the growths being spread about thinly in 
all directions. Then when sufficient main branches are secured 
these may be treated somewhat similarly to Grape Vines—that is 
to say, all side branches to be spurred back directly after the flower¬ 
ing period or at the present time, and this results in the formation 
of fairly strong shoots, which if well ripened will produce blooms 
at nearly every joint. The free use of the knife usually insures 
an abundance of long flowering growths, sometimes 12 feet or more 
in length, whereas if the pruning is neglected little besides useless 
spray is formed. When a well-attended plant refuses to answer to 
the knife, producing a second crop of blooms rather than the desir¬ 
able strong growths, it is a sure sign of the tree's decay. Plants 
cut back at this time should be syringed daily, or when the house is 
closed, and the temperature of the house may well be kept rather 
above that given to greenhouse plants. In fact the Marechal Niel 
house is very convenient for finishing the growth of Azaleas and 
other foicid plmts. 
It is not advisable to force this Rose at all hard, but if early 
blooms are required, and these usually sell surprisingly well, 
recourse should be had to pot plants. I would also advise beginners 
to largely cultivate pot plants till such times as the permanent 
plants have furnished the roof. It is rather late for striking 
cuttings, but there is no reason why the attempt should not yet 
prove remunerative. At the same time I may state that quite 
young “ worked ” plants can be bought in quantity and cheaply 
from various nurserymen, and these, if grown as I shall describe 
below, would prove of good service for forcing. The best cuttings 
are those young shoots' that have recently perfected a bloom. 
The latter having been cut leaves the shoot about 3 inches or 
4 inches long, and this should be shaved off the main branches, 
using a sharp knife for the purpose, so as to have a small portion 
of the old wood or heel attached. Dibbled singly and firmly into 
2^-inch pots, plunged in a fairly brisk bottom heat, covered with a 
handlight and shaded from bright sunshine, they soon strike root, 
and may then be exposed to more light and air. They ought still 
to be kept growing in gentle heat, being first shifted in 5-inch or 
6-inch pots, and then finally into 10-inch pots. One or at the most 
two strong shoots should be allowed on each, these being properly 
supported with stakes as they advance. They will be improved by 
being stood out in a sheltered sunny position for a few weeks, but 
ought to be housed before cold and wet weather sets in. They may 
be either trained roughly round short stakes or be tied up the roof 
of a house, and if the temperature is maintained at about 45° to 50° 
by night, and 50° to 60° by day, good blooms should be cut early in 
February, when they would be worth from 4s. to 6s. per dozen, or 
according to the class of buyers. 
It would be a poor plant that perfected less than twelve blooms, 
and at 4s. each plant they pay well. I prefer to raise fresh plants 
each summer, the old ones being available for planting against 
sunny open walls, in which positions they are also profitable. The 
permanent plants with very little stimulation can be had in bloom 
early in March, and a second house should keep up the supply till 
the middle of May ; while in an unheated house they can be had 
still later. Only the very earliest and the finest should be sent to 
Covent Garden, where they may perhaps realise 4s. per dozen. 
Hereabouts the earliest with a frond of Maidenhair Fern are retailed 
at 6d. each, the growers getting 4s. per dozen. Later on the prices 
gradually drop till they can be bought for 2d. each, the grower 
getting Is. 6d. per dozen, the prices always varying, as a matter of 
course, according to the freshness and size of the blooms. All 
should be cut when about half opened, in hot weather before that 
even, and be at once placed in a cool room in pans of water till 
packed. A friend of mine has cut 2000 good blooms out of a small 
span-roofed house 30 feet by 18 feet, the average retail and whole¬ 
sale price being 3s. per dozen, or about £25 in all. This without 
much trouble or expense in the shape of fuel, and in addition to 
what grew in the house besides must be considered profitable 
gardening. I should add that the Marechal Neil Rose is subject to 
the same diseases and insect pests as all other Roses, and to these 
we may allude some other time.—I. M., Somerset. 
APPLES FROM THE ANTIPODES. 
By parcel post this day I am sending you a few Apples which were 
grown by Mr. James Ling, Harcourt, near Cistlemaine, Victoria, and 
sent by request of Mr. John Carson of Melbourne (late President of the 
Victoria Horticultural Society), to the care of Mr. G. F. Wilson, to be 
exhibited by the Royal Horticultural Society. 
The Apples, which have reached here in fine condition, were each of 
them packed in soft paper with cotton wool round, and a layer of cotton 
wool between each layer of Apples, aud were kept at a temperature oE 
40° all the way. The soil in which Mr. J. Lang grew them was decom¬ 
posed granite. 
Appended is a list of names of the Apples, and I hope the subject will 
be one of interest to your readers. 
Scarlet Nonpareil 
Dumelow’s Seedling 
Stone Pippin 
Reinette de Canada 
Gipsy Queen 
Perfection (Colonial and non¬ 
blighting) 
Worcester Pearmain 
—Edmund Bax, Assistant Secretary Royal Horticultural Society. 
[The specimens received are splendid—large, spotless, firm, and clear. 
If consignments equal to these samples can be placed in the markets of 
Great Britain during May, June, and July, and sold at about the ordinary 
market prices of English and American fruit, they could scarcely fail to 
command a ready sale.] 
Blue Pearmain 
Merritt’s Pearmain 
Cleopatra 
London Pippin 
Sturmer Pippin 
Newtown Pippin 
Munro’s Favourite (Colonial) 
Lecture on the Daffodil. —The notes on the Daffodil, read by me 
at a recent meeting of the Horticultural Club, were given the same 
evening to the Editor of the Journal of Horticulture to use as he pleased. 
I mention this because they were then in a very rough form, and the 
labour of reducing them to a shape in which they could appear in prin f , 
and which must have been considerable, was undertaken by the Editor of 
that Journal, to whom I think this acknowledgment is due, and I observe 
only one erratum, due, no doubt, to my carelessness in making one or two 
late additions to the notes. In speaking of the different forms of the 
mouth of the corona in Daffodils I appear to say that crispate refers to the 
same form as “ fringed ” or “ fimbriate.” This is not so, the fringed form 
