September 12 , 1389. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
227 
But to return to the Roses. I hear every year, especially by those 
whose Roses are not up to the mark, that it is a bad year for Roses, 
not nearly so good as last year, &c. Now, my own conviction is that 
Roses were never better, although they came “ uncommon awkard ” for 
shows. It was a season (which rarely happens) when light and dark 
Roses were good ; Charles Lefebvre, Camille de Rohan, and other dark 
Roses were not burnt up ; Monsieur Noman, Madame Lacharme, and 
•other light Roses not glued together, and hence when they were brought 
to the exhibition table they were all in good character. There was never 
a doubt as to what a Rose was, except when they were dressed (of 
which more anon), and it was a pleasure to go through box after box 
and to see how true to character they were. They may have been 
small or a little too far blown, but there was the Rose unmistakeably 
before you. 
It was, however, a season in which the northern growers had the 
pull, and the southerners showed under difficult circumstances. As a 
■consequence of this the two challenge trophies again went to Messrs. 
Harkness & Son, whose record this year has been a very remarkable one, 
while in the case of the amateurs no northern grower was able at the 
provincial show to wrest the victory from the Essex champion, the Rev. 
•J. H. Pemberton ; and at the Crystal Palace Mr. W. J. Grant secured 
the victory, no more southern growers being able to compete with him 
—in fact, there the competition was by no means keen. Mr. Pemberton 
all through the season has shown well, and is an instance of the truth 
that if anyone wishes to keep up the competition during the season he 
must grow maiden plants. Most amateurs depend on “ cut-backs,” and 
the consequence is that as they are generally early when they are over, 
so is the chance of anyone who relies on them of getting a prize ; but 
the maidens are late, and take up the place vacated by the former. The 
names of those who depend on them gradually fall out of the list, but 
the growers of maidens can keep on to the end. Mr. Pemberton or Mr. 
Grant can show at Bath during the first days of July, and even earlier, 
and they can put in an appearance in good form at Wirral or Tibshelf. 
There is one subject to which I have already alluded which will 
become, I am sure, a burning question, and concerning which some 
decision will have to be made. I have already alluded to it, but it 
it deserves very serious consideration, I mean that of dressing Roses. 
It was, we thought, one of the charms of the Rose that it needed no 
extraneous aid. A great outcry was made some years ago because 
exhibitor used gum in setting up his Roses, a practice which has 
long prevailed with regard to Pelargoniums, and it was decidedly con¬ 
demned on the ground that the Rose needed nothing of the kind, and 
that the only addition was to be a support, so that the bloom might 
be well seen. There were, indeed, occasionally to be noted exhibitors 
with a pair of ivory tweezers arranging a petal, but this was thought, I 
believe, to be a piece of over-carefulness, and might have been left 
alone ; but latterly there has been seen in some quarters a system of 
dressing which entirely alters the character of the. Rose and makes it 
almost unrecognisable. This is a consummation which was never con¬ 
templated, and for which no rules were framed, but I think the National 
must put its foot down, or the practice will become general; for when 
it is seen that those who resort to this practice come off victorious, 
•competitors will naturally lay it to the presence of these dressed flowers, 
although they have really made no appreciable value in winning the 
prize. Of course the difficulty will be in determining what is a dressed 
and what an undressed Rose ; still, it is one of those nettles which 
must be fairly grasped. One great charm of the Rose is that it has so 
many different types of form, and if efforts be made to reduce them all 
to one uniform style a great deal of their charm would be taken away. 
I may be a heretic, but I greatly prefer the form of Marie Baumann to 
that of A. K. Williams, which however, seems to be the ideal of those 
who go in for dressed flowers. 
One thing was, I think, very noticeable at exhibitions this year— 
viz., the manner in which some old Roses vindicated themselves, and 
were seen in great beaucy. How. lovely were Comte Raimbaud, 
Horace Vernet, Charles Lefebvre, and such Roses as Mons. Noman, 
Her Majesty (Simkins), Marie Finger, Captain Christy, and many 
-others ; indeed, there are some whose names had been well nigh for¬ 
gotten, who showed that they were still to be reckoned with, while of 
new Roses some gained and others lost in reputation. Thus we cannot 
too highly praise the lovely bloom of Victor Hugo shown by Mr. Pem¬ 
berton at Sheffield, or those of Sir Rowland Hill by Mr. Mack. 
Earl of DufEerin has established its reputation as a grand exhibition 
Rose, and Caroline d’Arden made an advance, while Grand Mogul has 
been regarded as indistinct. It appears to me to be Jean Soupert 
over again, colour, form, and foliage exactly similar to it. I think that 
the Rose which has most gained in favour is Rosieriste Jacobs. Every¬ 
where it has been shown well, in some cases has been regarded as the 
best H.P. in the show ; and thus a Rose which has been in commerce for 
nine years, for it was let out by the Widow Ducher in 1880, comes to 
the front; it was included in the supplement of the National Rose Society, 
and evidently deserves its place there. 
Tea Roses have again been well exhibited, and some good new 
varieties have been shown. I do not think that anyone who saw Mr. 
Geo. Paul’s bloom of L’ldeale will hesitate to say that in it we have a 
most charming buttonhole Rose, with tints which it is almost impossible to 
describe, but which will make the ladies call it “ a love.” Souvenir de 
Sarah A. Prince has been variously judged, but I believe that the 
general verdict is that it is a great acquisition in white Tea-scented 
Roses ; it is hardly fair to judge from a first season. The demand for it 
has been so great that Mr. Prince has been forced to work it as hard as 
he can, and as a result blooms have been cut from plants which had 
already done their duty in producing wood, but it has occasionally been 
so shown by Mr. Prince as to warrant one in saying that it is a great 
acquisition. It has not the pointed bud of Niphetos, but neither does it 
sprawl about as does that flower ; the white is very pure, and it is very 
fragrant. Madame Hoste has been well shown more than once. It is a 
fine, bold, upright flower, and should it have enough stuff in it will be a 
most valuable Rose both for the garden and exhibition ; it, too, may 
have suffered from over-propagation, and may be much improved in 
this respect when stronger plants are grown. Ernest Metz.—I have 
seen but one bloom of this flower kindly sent to me by my friend Mr. 
B. Cant. It has a grand stout footsalk, and the flowers are produced to 
all appearance singly. In colour the bloom I saw approached very 
closely to Catherine Mermet, but that is not the description which I 
have seen of it in Ketton’s catalogue, where it is described of a delicate 
carmine rose with deeper centre, and Mr. Burrell informs me that he 
has had a bloom of it which displays the coppery rose colour of Comtesse 
Eliza du Parc, and if so a Rose of that colour that does not quarter will be 
a very great gain. Pierre Guillot is another beautiful Rose of Guillot’s of 
the Madame de Watteville type. I have not seen it, but Mr. Burrell 
informs me that it is given to quartering. Lady Castlereagh, another 
of the Irish seedlings, promises to be a valuable addition. I have had a 
few blooms of it, and they were very charming in colour, of good shape, 
plenty of petals, and opening freely ; the colour a soft yellowish Rose, 
deeper on the margin of the petals. 
I think no member of the National Rose Society, in looking on the 
Shows of 1889, but will feel that the Society was the victim of un¬ 
fortunate circumstances. Can one ever forget the heat, the crush, the 
inconvenience of that tent at the Crystal Palace, all owing to the 
perverseness of that Eastern potentate, whom we at any rate would have 
wished had remained in his far off land ? Never were fair hopes so 
falsified. Our Royal Patroness had announced her intention of coming 
to the Show early in the day, when she would have a good opportunity of 
seeing the flowers in their beauty ; but the Shah would come, and would 
fix no other day, and so perforce the Crystal Palace Company had to 
submit, and at considerable expense put up the tent instead of having 
the Show in the Palace itself, and H.R.H. the Princess of Wales only 
looked upon faded and miserable flowers. I have heard from some 
loud condemnations of the Crystal Palace Company, but they are un¬ 
deserved ; it was a great loss to them, for as the Shah was bound to come 
there some day, it was rolling the attractions of two days into one. Mr. 
Head, the garden superintendent, had to work under great difficulties, 
and I do not think I ever saw anyone more thoroughly done for than he 
was that day. Well, the Shah does not often coma, and we of this 
generation shall never again be put out by His Oriental Majesty. 
Sheffield, too, was not what the Society would have wished to see, the 
unfavourable character of the weather preceding and on the day of 
Show militated greatly against its success. 
Again I have to express my thanks to so many kind friends with 
whom my annual duties have brought me into contact, and it is no slight 
matter of thankfulness that I have been able to fulfil all my engage¬ 
ments which the cooler weather made this year more pleasant than 
usual; no dusty and hot journeys, and save at the Palace no hot and 
stifling tents. I have said little about the home enjoyment of Rosas ; 
this I may touch upon at some future time.—D., Deal. 
GRAND MOGUL AND JEAN SOUPERT. 
I STILL think these Roses are practically identical. Having had a 
dozen plants of each growing close together for two years, I have been 
able to compare them constantly in all stages, and find them alike in 
every respect. The similarity is the more striking, because Jean Soupert 
the elder was so very distinct, when it came out, from other H.P.’s in 
every characteristic. The manner of growth, appearance of the wood, 
shape of the bud, the aggravating way in which, when the bud is formed, 
the plant seems to put all its strength into thickening the base of the 
shoot instead of swelling the bud, the colour and shape of the flower, 
were all unique till Grand Mogul appeared on the scene, and in no 
single particular can I detect any difference. It would, of course, be 
possible to select specimens of each which would be somewhat dissimilar, 
but there is hardly a variety in which some temporary variations might 
not be found, especially at this time of year. I think I could now cut 
a white Comtesse de Serenye and a pinkish Madame Lacharme ; while 
among Teas I noticed to-day one or two Catherine Mermets nearly as 
white as The Bride, and a Madame Lambara quite as yellow as red. 
Wood, leaves, and thorns are a surer test. I can on'y say that I cannot 
find the differences noted in last week’s Journal. It is true that a well- 
known exhibitor has written me that he finds one of the two a better 
bloom than the other, but with me there has been, as far as I can judge, 
the same average, both of quantity and quality, in each. If Grand 
Mogul be a seedling from A. K. Williams, a Rose of later date than 
Jean Soupert, it is certainly a wonderful thing that they should be so 
