10 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Janairy 6,18.7. 
rubbing of the leaf can be easily and satisfactorily made, as the enclosed 
one will show. Some of those who may possess the plant may not 
have noticed, or even suspected, the interesting sight that awaits themq 
and which they can at any time witness for themselves by simply turning 
over a fresh leaf.” 
- The finest of all Japanese Botanical Books is the Honzo 
Dsufu. It is also from a scientific point of view the most valuable, inas¬ 
much as it contains excellent coloured figures of no less than 1500 species 
of Japanese plants, of many of which there are no other published repre¬ 
sentations. Franchet and Savatier, in their “ Enumeratio plantarum in 
J iponia sponte nascentium,” quote throughout the copy in their posses¬ 
sion, which was not, however, quite complete. It is in ninety-six 
volumes, or rather livraisons, and is rare even in Japan. It was prefaced 
in 1828, but only the first six livraisons have ever been printed, and the 
rest only exists in hand-made copies. It has long been desired to obtain 
a copy for the library of the Koyal Gardens, Kew, and this wish has at 
length been gratified by the kind liberality of Mr. Tokutaro Ito, grandson 
of the well-known Japanese botanist, Keisuke Ito. Mr. Ito is now study¬ 
ing botany at the University of Cambiidge, and lately communicated a 
revision of Japanese Berberidacem to the Linnean Society, of which he 
has recently been elected a Fellow. The Kew copy of the Honzo Dsufu 
is probably the finest to be obtained in Japan. It came from the library 
of Senator Tanaka (himself a distinguished botanist), who, with extraor¬ 
dinary generosity, placed it at the disposal of Mr. Ito for presentation to 
Kew.— {Nature.) 
ROSE-GEOWING FOR BEGINNERS. 
I will commence by saying that the following remarks on 
Rose culture are not intended to be funny, neither have I any wish 
to teach my grandmother, or snyone who knows more than I do 
myself. My sole aim and object is to give plain instructions to 
those who, having had no experience, know nothing, for after all, 
and in spite of everything that may be said to the contrary, experi¬ 
ence is the only safe guide to what may be possible on any given 
soil and in any given climate. For instance, on some dry warm 
soil in the northern or midland portions of the United Kingdom 
the Tea Rose might be successfully grown out of doors ; while in 
the far south or west, on a heavy wet cold clay, all attempts to do 
the same thing might end in dismal failure. It is here that ex¬ 
perience and a general knowledge of the habits and requirements 
of the Rose come in useful. 
I am of opinion that many promising Rose growers give up in 
consequence of beginning wrongly. They buy Roses, plant them 
wrongly, prune them wrongly—the result is, that disheartened by 
their want of success in their first attempt they abandon Rose-grow¬ 
ing altogether. Now if these faint-hearted ones only started in 
the right way, and went on in it, many of them would become in 
al] probability successful growers and prizetakers, to say nothing of 
adding considerably to their own health and happiness, besides 
gratifying their friends with rich harvests of lovely blooms. There 
is one other point I wish to mention. In the instructions I intend 
to give in these papers there will be nothing but what I have per¬ 
sonally proved to be possible. If I wander into theory, or quote 
opinions from standard authorities—I may do both as I go along— 
I shall be careful to give notice of the fact, and so prevent mis¬ 
takes. 
On the subject of Rose-growing the public seems to me to be 
divided into two great sections or classes. One section is com¬ 
posed of those who think that it is only necessary to buy Roses, 
plant them, and leave them to take care of themselves. The other 
section consists of those who think that Rose-growing is so difficult 
that they dare not attempt it. I need hardly say all these people 
are mistaken. There is one thing the Rose grower must never 
expect, no matter how successful he may be. He must never expect 
anybody to give him any credit, however bad the soil or impure the 
atmosphere. People will come and admire, will say “ How lovely, 
&c., and then they will coolly say, “ What splendid soil you must 
have here or ‘ I suppose your air must be very pure,” or “ What a 
c ever gardener you must keep,” and an extra knowing one may say, 
I suppose, after all, its only a question of money.” In Rose¬ 
growing, as in most other things, success, like virtue, is its own 
reward. 
noroyal road to perfection in Rose culture; it is not 
difficult to attain to respectable mediocrity, but to get anywhere 
near the top of the tree a man must be in earnest. Messrs. Cant, 
Paul Turner, Cranston, Pemberton, Hall, and a good many others 
aic all in earnest, and while these men are all struggling and strain¬ 
ing every nerve to be first at the goal, does any man think he can 
possibly have a chance of a place, while he, metaphorically speak¬ 
ing, stands with his back to the wall and his hands in his pockets ? 
Given fairly pure air and fairly good soil—-the latter is within 
the reach of all, for it can be procured from a distance—good 
Roses may be grown. Many persons have no wish to go beyond 
growing blooms for bouquets, and these people may be very easily 
satisfied. But there are others whose aspirations do not stop here ; 
they want to become exhibitors, to compete at the shows, to try 
their strength against all comers, and, if possible, to carry off the 
prizes. These have a harder task to face, and they must not ex¬ 
pect to sweep all before them at the beginning. It takes at least 
two or three years of careful observation and hard work for a man 
to educate himself up to a fair knowledge of Rose culture. Had I 
said nine or ten years I should perhaps have been nearer the mark, 
but much depends on the individual. Even the setting up of a box 
of blooms at a show, to make the most of them requires a lot of 
practice. Frequent attendance at the great London shows will 
give the beginner an idea of how well this may be done, while fre¬ 
quent visits to the little local shows held round about the suburbs 
of our large towns will give him an idea of how badly it can be 
done. 
Another thing I wish to impress on my readers is that I should 
not like for a moment to pretend that there are no other ways of 
arriving at perfection in Rose-growing except those that I indicate. 
The experience of any one individual must necessarily be very 
limited, and soils, climates, and other conditions vary so much that 
it would be impossible for me to frame instructions suitable for 
everybody. The beginner may be sure of one thing, and that is, 
that if he take a real interest in the study or cultivation of any¬ 
thing, be it a Rose or a Cabbage, that before long he will make 
many discoveries for himself, and improve upon written and printed 
advice in many ways. 
In arriving at the conclusion of these introductory remarks, I 
should like to say that while I shall endeavour to make each of the 
following sections as complete as possible in itself, I recommend 
the intending Rose grower to read the papers throughout, if he have 
the necessary patience, I on my part pledging myself to be as brief 
as possible ; but if I do repeat some statement now and again, I 
trust he will forgive me, as I prefer to say a good thing twice rather 
than run the risk of omitting it altogether.—D. Gilmour, Jun. 
To be continued.) 
POPULAR APPLES. 
(Continued from page 5 65.) 
Culinary Varieties.— We rarely meet with Carlisle Codlin, yet it 
is one of the best varieties for garden culture that can be named. We 
have two good sized bushes of it, and very rarely fail to secure good 
crops. It is fit for use early in Augu t, or when about half grown, and 
will keep good to the end of November. It is not nearly so vigorous as 
the Keswick Codlin, but in other respects, in my estimation, it is decidedly 
superior to it. The Keswick Codlin, however, is still a most reliable and 
generally good early sort, and seems to do well under almost any con¬ 
ditions. Lord Suffield may be described as an improved and much larger 
form of Keswick Codlin. It is wonderfully prolific on all kinds of trees, 
and apparently in all localities. I believe I may safeiy term it the most 
profitab'e early variety in cultivation. It usually wins all the prizes at 
the August shows, and it is equally popular with the cooks and fruiterers. 
Duchess of Oidcnburgh is another favourite of mine. On the Crab stock 
it forms a good bush or standard, and is more reliable than any other 
variety cultivated here. When ripening, or ripe, it is very attractive in 
appearance, but though also classed as a dessert variety, it possesses too 
much acidity to please most palates. It is at its best during the month of 
September, and I should say it will eventually become a profitable variety 
for the markets. Red Hawthornden or Greenup’s Pippin is quite distinct 
from the old Hawthornden, the latter fast becoming cankered out of 
existence. With us it is of free healthy growth, but our bush trees do not 
bear so well as I have seen rows of standards in the open Essex market 
gardens. It is a handsome saleable variety, possessing, too, the good 
qualities that always commend themselves to market salesmen—viz., the 
iruit is available for either dessert or culinary purposes. It is in season 
during November and December. Jolly Beggar is found a very profitable 
early market variety, and should be planted by all who wish for an early 
return for their outlay. It is singularly precocious, the fruit being of a 
medium size, and in season from August to October. A friend of mine 
has long rows of standard trees of this variety, but I have not seen it in 
any private garden. 
Stirling Castle should take the place of the old Hawthornden, which 
it somewhat resembles. It forms a good espalier, bush, or standard, and 
is therefore particularly well adapted for garden culture. It is a Bure 
bearer, and when circumstances are favourable, as at Rood Ashton, Wilts,, 
very fine fruit is obtained, Mr. Miller usually taking the first prize at the 
Bath September Show with it. It seldom keeps good later than Sep¬ 
tember. Emperor Alexander is another popular market variety, and is 
equally as profitable for home use. It forms a capital orchard tree and a 
