30 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 0, liW, 
having now flowered. In about three years, if the plants are grown 
strongly, flowers are produced, but their best characters are not seen 
until they are five or six years old, and if in the meantime they bear a 
crop of seed it often weakens them to such an extent that the flowers 
are greatly deteriorated for a season or two. Out of a list of twenty-nine 
named varieties the following were the best in flower when the illus¬ 
tration was prepared, besides those already described. Orange Per¬ 
fection, rich clear orange, well formed flowers ; sulphurea, pale sulphur 
tint, compact truss, very distinct; Purity, orange red with a light centre ; 
delicatissima, a large flowered variety of a soft orange tint; salmonea, a 
pale but clear salmon coloured variety ; aurantiaca compacts, very free 
compact trusses, medium sized, good shaped, orange tinted flowers ; 
Brilliant and Glow, both of high colour and excellent habit. 
WANTED, A PUBLIC HALL FOE HOETICULTURE. 
On November 13th, 1888, a meeting of exhibitors and others inter¬ 
ested in the work of the Royal Horticultural Society was held in the 
Council Chamber at Victoria Street to consider the expediency of any 
further occupation by the Society of the Drill Hall in Westminster. The 
meeting was of a satisfactory character both as regards numbers and 
the character of the persons present, for all present were workers in the 
concern, and any decision arrived at by such a meeting was felt by all 
to be sufficient for the immediate purpose. Acting on a conviction that 
I believed was shared by many, I made a definite declaration to the 
effect that the Drill Hall had proved unsuitable for the Society’s purpose, 
and might with advantage be vacated at the close of the first year’s 
tenancy. Having moved a resolution to this effect, Mr. Harry Veitch 
sprang a mine beneath my feet by stating that the Society could not 
legally hold floral meetings in the offices in Victoria Street, because 
anything in the nature of an exhibition was forbidden by the terms of 
the tenancy. The show of hands placed myself and my seconder in a 
minority of six. I have had such a run of good luck in carrying pro¬ 
posals that it was an enlivening change to be so completely beaten, but, 
like the compliant one that Butler sets forth in a suppositious case, I 
was “ of the same opinion still,” and to this hour I sigh for a place of 
meeting in which the flowers can be seen, and to which the public will 
resort to admire them. 
Immediately after that meeting I proposed to friends interested in 
the affairs of the Society the desirability and possibility of obtaining a 
ball of our own for our meetings, and from that day to this I have occa¬ 
sionally discussed the matter, but quite rarely have I met with any 
encouragement, for the dread question always appears to block the way— 
How is the thing to be paid for ? The question of primary importance 
is as to the need for a place of meeting that will be under our own con¬ 
trol, and if not absolutely, at least in some part, the property of the 
Society, or of some corporation operating in harmony with it, and with 
a view to mutual interests for the public good. The thing having been 
talked about vaguely—as must happen in such a case—it appears to me 
in the nature of a duty to place before the horticultural public an out¬ 
line of the thing that appears to me to be wanted, and of the means 
that appear to me suitable to bring it into being. 
We want a hall for horticulture. It should be in a central position, 
convenient for access from leading roads and railways, and the construc¬ 
tion should adapt it for flower shows, dinners, and other festivals, com¬ 
mittee meetings, offices, and perhaps a general mart or exchange for 
miscellaneous business, as, for example, the display of plants for sale, 
the accommodation of trading firms for meeting customers, and for 
housing samples, models, drawings, and other materials required in 
business transactions in connection with agricultural and horticultural 
industries. There would be needful two or three (or more) well-lighted 
rooms adapted for public meetings, in addition to one spacious and noble 
hall, lighted in the way of a picture gallery, with orchestral platform 
and such other necessary features as would render it complete for the 
convenience of flower shows and festivals. Should the idea take shape 
it will grow as the plan is developed, and it should be comprehensive as 
a place of resort for horticulturists, who only need some such centre of 
operations to assemble in thousands where, as the case now stands, the 
habituds meet only in scores, and fresh faces are rarely seen. Country 
gentlemen, participating in the pleasures of the London season, would 
make a place in the list of things to be done of such an attraction as the 
hall would offer them, provided only the thing obtained success com¬ 
mensurate with the purpose in view. 
One of my friends who has heard of my proposals has made a public 
offer of a subscription towards the project. As a thing to be initiated 
by eleemosynary contributions it should have no help from me, and I 
cannot imagine that many of my friends, to whom from time to time I 
have spoken on the subject, would put their hands to anything of that 
kind. There is only one foundation proper for a horticultural hall, and 
that is the commercial foundation. It must pay its way, or prove itself 
a mockery, a delusion, and a snare. I have not attempted any estimate 
of the amount of capital that would be required, but not having in view 
a cheap shanty or a bad imitation of a railway terminus, a considerable 
sum would have to be invested, and business must be looked for to 
ensure reasonable returns. The £100 per annum now being paid by 
E.H.S. for occupation of the Drill Hall ought not to be taken into 
account in this connection. I may be outvoted any number of times, 
but 1 feel sure that were a door to open leading to something better 
and within the Society’s means, the exodus would be speedy and 
unanimous. The Society is growing, and should grow. If it can pay £ 100 
now for a year’s accommodation, the day should be near when it could 
as easily pay a thousand. It is now, what it has not been for fully 
thirty years, a horticultural society ; and the public are now taking a 
new interest in jts work, and are daily more and more disposed to assist 
it, as is ever the case with a good thing that inspires confidence. The 
activities of the horticulturists carry them to all the ends of the earth 
for places of festivity and business. There may be a good side to the 
discursive system that fixes an exhibition in this spot and a dinner in 
that, but a recognised and generally acceptable central home would be 
an incalculable advantage to horticulture at large in the metropolis, 
and many sources of income would arise for a central hall that could 
afford accommodation for exhibitions, dinners, public meetings, and 
official correspondence for various institutions, both of London and the 
provinces. 
This letter is not to be regarded either as a prospectus or a preliminary 
to any distinct business proposition. The subject has been lightly dis¬ 
cussed in an erratic way, and the time appears to have arrived when I 
should give something like definite expression to my views that I may 
obtain the sympathy and aid of practical men in formulising a plan 
should opinion tend favourably that way. For the present it is with an 
idea that I should be quite content to see carried out independent 
altogether of any interest, sentimental or commercial, I may be supposed 
to have in it. I am fully occupied and happy in my work, and in no 
haste to make a mountain for the pleasure of piling a cairn on its 
summit.— Shirley Hibbeed. 
FLOWER CULTURE FOR PROFIT. 
Te.\ Roses. 
After about eight years’ experience in marketing surplus pro¬ 
duce I have arrived at the conclusion that nothing pays so well as 
Tea and Noisette Roses, and were I in a position to do as I please 
at least three houses would be devoted to them ; as it is, they have 
largely to be grown in connection with various other plants, and not 
unfrequently the Roses are at a disadvantage accordingly. What 
they require and merit is plenty of room and light, with a moderate 
amount of heat, and if either of these conditions are withheld the 
growth is liable to become weak, mildewed, and insect-infested, the 
flowers as a consequence being few and poor in quality. Un¬ 
doubtedly Tea Roses on their own roots are by far the best, either 
for planting in beds or for pot culture, but as these cannot often be 
purchased the would-be successful grower must perforce raise his 
own stock of plants. Luckily this is by no means a difficult matter. 
The first proceeding should be to purchase at once not less than 
three strong plants in pots, each of the selected varieties ; these, 
when received, ought to be turned out of their pots and examined. 
Some perhaps will be found with few roots, drainage clogged, and 
the soil generally in a sour state, while a few—the minority I am 
afraid—maybe in a healthy semi-rootbound state. The former 
should have the old drainage, and about half of the soil carefully 
picked away from the roots, and be repotted, using much the same 
size pots they were previously in, these being clean and well drained, 
and a compost consisting of three parts of good turfy loam to one 
of leaf soil or old Mushroom bed manure, sharp sand being freely 
added. The root-bound plants ought to be given a moderate shift, 
using soil as just advised, and potting rather firmly. All should 
then be placed in a light forcing house, and will be all the better 
for being partially plunged in a fairly Irisk bottom heat. This 
should promote a free floriferous growth, and the more blooms 
there are the greater the stock of suitable cuttings. 
Soon after the blooms have been cut, with about half of the 
shoot attached, the lower half will be fit for making into cuttings, 
being firm, yet not too hard. Take each off with a “ heel,” or 
very thin portion of old wood attached, and either insert singly in 
2-inch pots, or else dibble a number into boxes just deep enough to 
admit of a square or squares of close-fitting glass being laid over 
without pressing upon the Rose foliage underneath. A loamy soil 
with plenty of sharp sand added is most suitable for cuttings, and 
these should be firmly fixed, taking care that they press against the 
bottom of the holes made with a blunt dibber. The cuttings 
should have the benefit of a fairly brisk bottom heat, and be kept 
closely covered with glass, sunshine being carefully excluded. 
Thus treated they strike root in a very short time, and the first 
important detail is mastered. In many instances cuttings may be 
obtained from various home-grown plants, but if a good stock of 
strong owm-rooted plants are desired the propagating should be 
persevered with as early in the year as possible. We are invariably 
more successful with cuttings in March and early in April than 
subsequently, or when the sun has gained greater power. 
Many succeed in striking Tea Roses only to spoil the plants 
later on. Once rooted they must be kept growing strongly, any 
check in the earlier stages of growth causing them to become 
stunted and useless. Instead, therefore, of leaving the cuttings 
