August 8, 1 ( 81 . ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
100 
is always admired. The manner in which it unfolds its petals from 
the bud is pleasing. This variety generally carries ample foliage, deep 
green in colour, which very much enhances its appearance. Either in a 
cut state for exhibition or when growing on the plant, whether it be 
as a dwarf or cultivated in standard form, this Rose is capital this 
season. 
DWARF ROSES IN SHRUBBERIES. 
In no position do dwarf-growing Hybrid Perpetual Roses show to 
greater advantage than in the front parts of shrubbery borders, especi¬ 
ally so when the colours are bright—as for instance John Hopper, 
Charles Lefebvre, and others of that type. If a good background of 
greenery be available so much the better, as it tends to show the colours 
to greater advantage. To have them grow’n to suit various positions, 
such as narrow and wide borders, and to preserve a gradation to the 
front, the plants should be pruned rather differently from the orthodox 
two or three eyes from the base of last year’s pruning. If a greater 
length of last year’s wood be left uncut at pruning time a more abundant 
supply of blooms will be the result, creating of course a larger show. 
Take care to prevent the roots of surrounding trees or shrubs encroach¬ 
ing so far as to rob the Roses of support in the shape of manure in the 
soil and moisture in dry weather. If there is a suspicion of this cut off 
these roots during the winter by taking out a trench at a distance of 
18 inches around the Roses, and at sufficient depth to sever all gross 
roots.—M. 
NOTES ON THE NATIONAL SHOWS. 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE. 
It seemed pretty clear that northern and late growers would have a 
good time at the Crystal Palace in this exceptionally early season. I 
had ripe Tomatoes out of doors on a wooden fence on June 25th, and 
Alfred Colomb in a blaze on June 22nd on the same plants which were 
beginning to bloom last year on July 23rd. With me Roses of all kinds 
were certainly nearly a fortnight earlier than the average. In fore¬ 
casting the probable winners of the principal events, Messrs. Harkness 
naturally came into one’s mind as likely to regain the professional 
trophy. And among amateurs it seemed likely that Mr. T. B. Hall, the 
winner on both occasions of the Jubilee trophy, might have a chance of 
extending his triumphs. This gentleman, however, to the great regret of 
his many friends, has retired from the arena ; and, failing him, Messrs. 
Grant and Pemberton, who, by the help of goodly stores of freshly 
budded plants, are generally able to show well late in the season, 
seemed to be the most formidable competitors. This would have been 
a fairly accurate prophecy, Messrs. Harkness among nurserymen, and Grant 
and Pemberton among amateurs, having it pretty well their own way 
at the two shows, and sharing the spoils between them. But another 
Yorkshire firm of nurserymen, Messrs. Mack, are creeping up, have 
taken a decidedly high position this year, and must not be omitted in 
our future reckoning ; while the rival amateur champions have also a 
follower who has been rising gradually but surely every year, now 
treading closely on their heels, and I expect to see Mr. Lindsell enter 
the lists for the trophy next season. 
Exhibitors would generally agree, I think, that you can show 
pretty well in continued hot weather if your Roses are at their best, 
and in continued cool weather, though Teas will not be so good if you 
husband your blooms ; that a dull day after several hot ones makes the 
best possible preparation for cutting ; and that a hot day after several 
cool ones begets disappointment and disgust. This last was the fate of 
East Anglian growers in preparing for the Crystal Palace. We had four 
cool, cloudy days in succession, followed by Friday, July 5th, the day 
before the Show, which was blazing hot, and the result was that, in the 
afternoon there was not a bloom to be found in the proper condition. 
Some years ago Mr. Baker gave an account (in the “ Rosarian’s Year- 
Book,” I think) of his successful journey to the distant Norwich Rose 
Show in 1879. He commenced cutting, he said, at 5.30 (say, I forget 
the exact times), and finished staging at 7.10. This sounded so delight¬ 
fully business-like that I have always adopted it, and make a me.ntal 
note, at least, of the time occupied. But on this occasion a well-known 
East Anglian amateur who has often done well, told me as we journeyed 
up together, that he commenced cutting at 5.55, and finished staging 
at 6 p.M. ! He went up with six small Roses only, and, save for the 
want of a box to show them in, they might have gone in his pocket or 
his hat, I was almost saying his buttonhole. He is a past master in the 
art of staging, but I fear that he got no prize whatever, though he has 
often taken premier honours in Teas. The nakedness of our part of the 
land was thus shown pretty clearly. I fancy that other parts of 
England did not have those four cloudy days followed by that hot one ; 
and, indeed, East Anglia did not appear in her strength at the Palace. 
Personally, 1 was much longer in my preparations ; it was a terrible 
job. The whole rosery seemed a mass of colour, yet you might go down 
whole rows and not find a single bloom in just the right stage—Roses, 
Roses everywhere, and never a one to cut. Presently there was a cry of 
alarm from my assistant, waiting for blooms to stage, echoed by two oi 
three small helpers Casting away my scissors, I had suddenly sat down 
on the grass in the midst of the Roses, in shirt sleeves and despair, and 
refused to be comforted. I was lugged up by main force, and pushed 
all over the weary round again. Many a pendant past bloom was turned 
up and rejected three or four times over. It was a poor lot indeed, 
considering that it was the first time I had been “fully out” at the 
National. And no complacent consultation of the watch signalised the 
time of “ finished staging.” The night was cool in town, and the Roses 
bore the journey well. We must hold the Shah, or rather the Palace 
authorities who turned us into a tent, responsible for a little confusion 
and overcrowding of exhibits. And if Mr. Head did have a mauvais 
quart d'heure he certainly bore it very well. My trebles were “ skied ” 
fortunately, as I believe, it was impossible for any judge 8 feet high to 
have seen them. And I am happily convinced that a closer inspection 
would have been more likely to have placed them in a lower than a 
higher position. 
It was a capital show in a great many respects, but I am afraid a 
good many of us were not overwhelmed with delight at the visit of the 
Persian monarch, whose subjects, I am told, make jam, as well as attar, 
of Rose petals. We looked upon the being turned out of the Palace 
itself, the finest site in England for a Rose show, as rather a grievance. 
We had hoped our new Royal patroness would have had something 
better than a mere State view of our national Show, and that in a year, 
too, when Princess of Wales Tea has been, with me at Iea't, better than 
ever before. And, last but not least, the many-headed crowd of Shah- 
hunters, which soon swamped the tent, rendered a good view of the 
exhibits impossible. Indeed, when the big gokl-mtdal policeman (a fine 
specimen truly, but he did not look like “ a distinct sport,” or even “ a 
variety not yet in commerce ” opened the floodgates and let the torrent 
in I was glad to flee for some lunch, and any inspection afterwards was 
hopeless. And I have the greatest respect for the reporter of the 
Journal who managed, under the circumstances, to give such a good and 
full account. 
My notes of the actual exhibits, &c., must therefore be brief. It was 
pleasant to see Mr. Prince and his son fixing the gold medal card to the 
Rose which bears their name, though it was a pity that they again failed 
to show what really seems to be a worthy Ro e in anything like good 
form. On the other hand I was sorry not to be able to see a familiar 
picture of former years, the hero of many a tournament of Rises 
leisurely resuming his coat as the hour struck, while his portly foreman 
gave the last glances of satisfaction to the Alderney-butter-fed seventy- 
two. East Anglia was out of it, but lives to fight another day. Of 
individual blooms the first to catch the eye in Messrs. Hardness’ trophy 
stand was a bloom of Amazone (of all Roses in the world), not grand 
in shape, but remarkable for size, and very telling in colour. In my 
hurried tour of the tent I really thought Mr. Lindsell’s box of trebles as 
good a stand as any in the Show. Her Majesty was shown well, the 
twelves of Mr. G. Paul and Mr. Grant being very fine. It is essentially 
a Rose for nurserymen and “ big batallion ” amateurs. Exactly three- 
fourths of my own plants, cut-backs and maidens, have at present failed 
to show any sign of bloom whatever. 
In Tea Roses Comtesse de Nadaillac was very much to the fore, as it 
always will be when the earlier Souvenir d’Elise, the queen of show 
Roses, is over. Two others, Francisca Kruger and Madame Angele 
Jacquier, each ten years old, have taken a much higher position in the 
last two years, and must now be reckoned among the best. Nipheto3 
was very fine, and there was a neat and pretty treble shown of that old 
torment Monsieur Furtado. I only hope its exhibition will not tempt 
any confiding amateur to try and grow it.—W. R. Raillem. 
CLOVE CARNATION PAUL ENGLEHEART. 
I SEND you a bunch of the bedding Clove Carnation Paul Eagle- 
heart, which I have been distributing for the past two seasons. It is 
what it professes to be, a first-rate border plant, especially valuable for 
massing, and, as you will see, the stems are so sturdy that they are able 
to support the fine head of flowers without stakes. Those sent are cut 
from last season's layers, the plants being less than a year old ; but the 
second season we reckon to be the best for this particular variety, when 
the clumps are grand with some two hundred flowers open at once on 
each. Autumn planting seems to be absolutely necessary to its well¬ 
being, as layers kept in pots during the winter are not to be compared 
with those planted out in October, a fact which should be noted in its 
cultivation. I may add that this border Carnation is beginning to 
attract attention in the U.S.A. A favourable criticism has appeared in 
the American Garden and Forest, July 10th.— Gilbert Davidson. 
[The trusses and blooms of this crimson Clove Carnation are the 
finest we have seen. On one stem there are five expanded blooms, each 
3 inches in diameter, on footsta'lcs so strong that there is not the 
slightest tendency of the flowers to “ hang down their heads.” Some of 
the petals exceed 1J inch in diameter. This variety has been advertised 
in this journal, and wherever such examples are grown as those before 
us they would be an ornament to any garden, and, we think, bound to 
give satisfaction to admirers of hardy border flowers.] 
Manuring Fig Trees. — Occasionally trees are met with that 
would be benefited by an annual top-dressing of fresh loam, manure, 
chemical or solid, and chalk or lime rubbish, this serving to keep the roots 
active near the surface without causing an unfruitful growth. Prior 
to applying this top-dressing the surface soil should be forked away 
from the roots, and either returned on the top of the fresh compost or 
wheeled away altogether. A mulching of strawy manure ought also to 
be given in addition to the top-dressing, as it is very certain heavily 
cropped trees with their roots in a much impoverished border will not * 
