84 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Febmary 3, '687. 
stopped is the time to give them liquid manure water if the weather is 
at all dry. We often hear gardeners say there is no better Pea than the 
old Ne Plus Ultra, and I say it may have some to equal it, but not many 
to surpass it when we consider colour, flavour, and general produce. 
This is the class of Pea that pleases all ; large pods are only for show. 
Carter’s Stratagem is a fine Pea for colour and flavour, but I never 
can get it to crop well ; but they are always good. Telephone and 
Telegraph are two good ones and bear well. Culverwell’s Giant Marrow 
always does well ; but a very tall one, nearly 8 feet high, but a fine 
cropper, Sir W. Lawson ; and G. F. Wilson, a good flavoured Pea, and 
not too tall, from 3 to 4 feet. Pride of the Market, a first-class 
cropper, and about the same height. John Bull and Sharpe’s Triumph 
are two good full-podded Peas and about 3 to 4 feet high, good flavour 
and colour. Among the older ones that I have found to do well and are 
well worth growing for keeping a good supply are Reading Giant, Lax- 
ton’s Supreme, Conquering Marrow, Laxton’s Evolution, old Ne Plus 
Ultra, British Queen, old Champion of England, Progress for later on. 
Most of these require tall sticks, but are good croppers, and well repay 
for the little extra trouble bestowed upon them. —Geo. Clement, 
Hareley Manor, near 'Warwick. 
THE ROYAL JUBILEE AND THE ROYAL 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
On page 45 your correspondent, “F. R. H. S.,” appears extremely 
anxious to raise funds for providing a home for the Royal Horticultural 
Society in commemoration of the Royal Jubilee. Your correspondent 
Is perfectly right in saying “ that every gardener with the slightest 
loyalty for his Sovereign ” ought to subscribe to such a cause. But 
surely if £10,000 could be raised by gardeners’ subscription, might it not 
be put to a more charitable purpose than erecting a building for the 
Royal Horticultural Society ? 
Allow me through the medium of your paper, and as a young 
British gardener, to suggest that a Society be founded in commemoration 
of the Royal Jubilee to help gardeners when out of employment or when 
in the nurseries. While visiting some of the leading nurseries a week 
or so ago I was greatly struck by the large number of men waiting for 
places and by the condition of a great majority of them. During this 
last severe weather there have been hundreds of gardeners out of employ¬ 
ment, for as it is well known many of the nurserymen cannot find 
work for one-half of the men during frost and snow. One individual 
came to me for help, he was in a most pitiable condition; he said he 
had been “ frozen out ” for five weeks, and had not been able to earn a 
penny, and had a wife and child to keep, which, on making inquiries, 
I found to be perfectly true, and no doubt there are hundreds of such 
cases throughout the country. Therefore, if any loyal gardener wishes 
to commemorate the Jubilee could it not be possible to form a Royal 
Jubilee Friendly Society, to be kept up by small monthly subscriptions 
after the capital required is subscribed, and to be carried on after this 
principle—viz., That a small sum of money be allowed per week to each 
subscriber during the time he is out of employment provided he has 
at least one year’s good character from his last employer. If such a 
society could be formed I would readily do my utmost towards it, and it 
would, I am sure, have many supporters. 
Your correspondent seems to think there is too much whisky drunk 
by young gardeners, and there is no doubt but what he is right on that 
subject, but probably he forgets that more than half of the young 
gardeners are taught to get fond of their whisky through the comfort¬ 
less state of their abode. Many of the so-called bothies are quite 
destitute of comfort; therefore when such is the case, and the young 
gardener cannot find comfort at home after his day’s work is done, he 
has to seek it elsewhere, which, too often, is in the public house. 
Therefore, if head gardeners would pay more attention to the comfort 
of the young men under them, there would be less money spent on 
whisky, and more to spare for better causes. But if something was 
started in the way I have suggested I would, as I have said, do my utmost 
towards it, and readily subscribe my guinea, although I have tasted 
whisky since “F. R. H. S.,” and am as yet a young gardener.— 
C. Collins, Hawick, 
ROSE-GROWING FOR BEGINNERS. 
(Continued from page 64.) 
BUYING THE PLANTS. 
Do not buy rubbish. If you know of anyone in your neigh¬ 
bourhood who grows Roses well, when they are in bloom go and 
ask him to allow 7 you to inspect them. You need not fear a 
refusal. Rose growers are always glad to show their Roses and to 
give advice on the subject to anybody. I dare venture to go to any 
Hose grower and be sure of a welcome, and I am not gifted with 
more than the usual amount of cheek. Many people, beginners 
especially, would not like to do this ; then the next best w r ay is to 
go to the nearest nursery, note-book in hand, and take down the 
names of those varieties you ad.aire. If your soil is light and dry 
give preference to the white, pink, and lighter shades ; if heavy 
and binding, then you may have an equal number of the darker 
varieties as well. In selecting the sorts, choose only those which are 
good strong vigorous growers, avoiding little stumpy things about 
8 inches high, which rarely give satisfaction to beginners. About 
the middle of October send your list to some respectable nnrsery- 
man, describing the soil and situation, and the sort of plants you 
want, standards or dwarfs—if dwarfs, say if they are to be on the 
Briar or Manetti stock. My experience is that both give good 
results. I have had grand Roses on the Manetti, but its w r eak point 
is that it perishes so often in the winter. Where the soil is light 
and poor, and where the Briar fails, the Manetti is well worth a 
trial. My advice to those about to order standards is most em¬ 
phatically, “ Don’t, or you’ll regret it.’’ If you must have standards, 
let them be all G-loire de Dijon, for this grand old Rose seems to 
flourish and live grown so as no other Rose does. Standards are no 
good for show blooms, as you w 7 ill see before you are very long in 
the business, supposing you buy them, and further, they do not live 
very long. In mild warm climates on good soil and in sheltered 
situations, standards, no doubt, do well and live to a great age, but 
I am writing for the million, and I am sure of this, that wherever 
a standard does well a dwarf will do better. 
HOW TO PLANT ROSES. 
Having prepared your ground, get your plants from the nursery 
about November 1st, and let it be so arranged that the whole 
business, from the digging up of the plants in the nursery to their 
being safely planted in your own garden, shall be done as quickly 
as possible. Please note, that experience has taught me that quick 
transplanting and careful planting have much to do with the success 
or failure of the first year’s blooms, and also of the permanent well¬ 
being of the plants. Some people, not beginners either, but those 
who ought to know better, seem to think that so long as a plant or 
shrub is only half killed in the process of transplanting, that there 
is no harm done. These people, it is needless to say, will never be 
gardeners. Let there be no “ heeling in,” this being a process by 
which half the shrubs in the country are destroyed. It is generally 
carried out as follows —dig a hole in the ground, place the roots of 
the plants therein, throw a little loose soil over them, stamping it 
down slightly, and the thing is done, and I cannot help saying that 
the plants are very often “ done ” too. Now through very wet 
weather or other unavoidable circumstances it may be necessary to 
hold over your plants for some days before planting, and in that 
case, “ heeling in,” I prefer to say temporary planting, will have to 
be resorted to, but it must be done as carefully as planting. Let a 
trench be dug sufficiently wide and long to take in all the plants. 
These must on no account be placed in the ground in bundles, but 
divided and put in two or three at a time, strewing fine soil over 
the roots and making all as firm as possible. If on opening the 
bundle on arrival it is found that the roots are dry, these should be 
dipped into a bucket of water before being put into the ground. 
Laid in carefully like this, Roses will take no harm for a month ; 
but in wet weather fine soil in such a state that it will fall and fit 
closely round the roots as it should do is not easy to find. The 
only way is to get it from under trees or walls, or wherever it may 
be obtainable, but get it if possible. Again, what is to be done 
when the Roses arrive in frost or snow ? With a shovel if there is 
snow, or a pick or strong fork if the bare ground be hard frozen, 
remove the surface, and get down to the soft moist undersoil, when 
the ground will generally be found fit for laying in Roses or any 
other shrubs in the manner just described. 
Let us suppose that your Roses have arrived at the proper time, 
and that the weather is fine, the soil falling clean and finely divided 
from the spade, not binding together in wet lumps. Have your 
plants by you, and do not expose them to the sun or drying wind ; 
rather place them in shade and shelter while the holes are prepared to 
receive them. If at all dry plunge the roots into a bucket of water 
as before directed. These holes should be about 10 inches deep, 
and from 12 to 18 inches wide, according to the roots of the plants. 
They should have a layer of old manure in the bottom, on which 
should be strewed just enough soil to keep the roots from touching 
the manure, otherwise the roots may rot, and manure so applied 
will be rather a curse than a blessing—err on the safe side, put in 
too much soil rather than too little. A few half-inch bones will be 
a lasting benefit to the plants, and are very desirable if the planting 
is likely to be permanent. When roots are in a dormant state, as 
those of Roses are when planted and for some time after, it is 
better, in my opinion, that no manure, be it bones, or farmyard, or 
anything else, should be in direct contact with them ; it will be 
quite sufficient, and safer, if the manure be close to them but not 
touching. Before placing the plants in position examine the roots. 
“ Don’t prune the roots when planting,” says one authority. He 
might as well have said, “ do not prune them at all,” for it would 
be difficult to perform the operation at any other time. I count 
the plants I have put in by thousands, and most of them were 
benefited by having their roots pruned in my humble opinion. The 
aim of the Rose-grower should be to produce a lot of small hair or 
thread-like roots, and the best way to do this is to prune back all 
large fleshy roots, tap-roots they are generally called, making a clean 
