456 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jane 9, 1887. 
ROSE-GROWING FOR BEGINNERS. 
(Continued from page 413 ) 
EXHIBITING. 
The growing of Roses for this purpose, if the amateur intends 
to be anywhere near the front at any of the larger shows, is a very 
different matter compared to the production of blooms for our own 
amusement or to gratify our friends. In the latter case, medium¬ 
sized blooms, and plenty of them, are what we require, and we 
must remember that our friends are sure to be indulgent, and to 
take a very lenient view of our shortcomings—unless they happen 
to be rival growers. But when we place our Roses on the show 
tables, and they come under the fierce light of public competition, 
if there be any weakness about them one may be sure it will be 
very quickly discovered. 
It will be some little time before a beginner will be able to tell 
a really perfect show Rose when he sees one ; the best way, and 
the quickest, for him to learn, is to attend some of the large shows 
in London or the provinces, and to study the blooms in the winning 
oxes there. He will learn more in a few hours at one of these 
shows than I could teach him if I wrote for a week. I may, 
however, just give the main points of a show Rose. It must be 
full—that is, with plenty of petals in it ; it must be perfect in 
shape, not ragged or mis-shapen ; it must not show the eye or 
yellow centre ; it must be the proper colour, not bleached if a light 
Rose, nor burnt if a dark one. The foliage must be good—it is 
not enough to have fine flowers, the leaves must be there also. The 
question of scent, I am afraid, is not often considered at Rose 
s .ows in the distiibution of awards. 
Now we will suppose the beginner intends to commence growing 
for exhibition. The best place for this purpose is a piece of land 
in the kitchen garden or other similar situation, where the plants 
may be grown in rows, much as we grow Cabbages and other crops. 
Wheeling barrowloads of manure, and the constant trampings 
backwards and forwards of master and man ; the conveying of the 
cans of liquids, &c., together with the quantity of loose litter 
.spread about for mulching the roots, are a series of reasons why 
growing for exhibition is as well carried on somewhere not exactly 
in front of the dining-room windows. Rose trees intended to 
produce show blooms will require to be treated in a very liberal 
spirit as regards manures and stimulants. We hear of amateurs 
trenching and digging their land 3 feet deep ; we hear of them 
sinking tubs all over the place and filling them with all sorts of 
concentrated preparations. They spare no pains to do justice to 
their Roses—it is a labour of love with them—and if we intend to 
compete against them with any hope of success we must be pre¬ 
pared to do the same. In a short chapter on the subject, which I 
intend to give later, these manures and stimulants will be described, 
so here I will content myself with mentioning other points of 
culture. 
The plants must be put in in the very richest soil that can be 
got ; good old farmyard manure should be thoroughly mixed in, 
and half-inch bones also placed near the roots, while a sprinkling 
of bone dust may be thrown into the holes as well. The pruning 
must be of the most severe description, and when the buds break, 
all but three or four should be rubbed off. As soon as the flower 
buds show, a free use of stimulants may be indulged in, but we 
should bear in mind that applications, weak and often, will be much 
better than such as are applied strong and more seldom. Liquid 
manure of any kind should never be applied when the ground is 
dry and the plant thirsty. In such cases a good dose of p ! ain water 
first i3 advisable, and then, when the ground is moist, the manure 
may follow. 
Manures, or I should prefer to say, stimulants, containing much 
ammonia, such as nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, guano, and 
even soot, are dangerous, and should be used with caution. With 
the first two it is a delightfully simple matter to remove every leaf 
from a plant in a marvellously short space of time—I have been 
successful in this respect more than once. These stimulants should 
be applied in very small quantities at a time, in wet weather, or 
watered in artificially after being strewed on the surface, and are 
best applied after sunset. In reference to soot, I once visited a 
nursery where I found in the Rose house this material strewed all 
over the pipes and floors. I was told it was to make the leaves green. 
I heard afterwards that it did that—and a little more; it first 
turned them gz - een, then brown, and then—shrivelled them alto 
gether. They do not use soot any more there. Had they been 
satisfied to place it on the floors, keeping it off the pipes, it would 
probably have answered the purpose intended very well. If among 
the Roses there are varieties which produce clusters of buds at the 
ends of the shoots, these must be watched for, and all but one bud 
removed from each shoot. 
Caterpillars and green fly must be looked for. The best way to 
get rid of the first named is to cut off the leaf in which the insect 
will be found rolled up. If the leaf is not removed it will be con¬ 
stantly catching our eye each time we go round, and a great wasto 
of time will result. The second may be removed by means of a 
soft bi’ush, laying the tip of the shoot in the palm of the hand and 
lightly brushing off the insects. The shoots may be syringed with 
a preparation of quassia, &c., of w'hich see remarks on pests and 
vermin. Mildew can only be dealt with by means of sulphur 
dusted on the leaves, but I notice that a solution of copper is used 
in the French vineyards, and is said to be a perfect antidote. It 
must be said that all these pests are not causes, they are effects. 
They arise from the plants not being in a vigorous healthy state. 
I never see green fly on my Roses, I rarely have any mildew, and 
caterpillars do not bother me. Why ? Simply because my plants, 
by the hard pruning they get and the liberal manuring, by their 
being open to all the winds of heaven and the pelting showers of 
rain, are kept vigorous and the foliage clean and healthy. If the 
amateur can keep his Roses equally so, he can afford to laugh at 
pests and similar nuisances. 
As the flower buds increase in 9ize each bloom should be securely 
staked and tied, or the wind mayknock it all to pieces. Just before 
a show the blooms should be shaded ; small circular wire frames 
covered with green painted canvas are used for the purpose, these 
being made to slide up and down on sticks to allow of being fixed 
at any desired height. Where these cannot be procured, a rough 
aiad ready way of shading is to bend the blooms over—this can only 
be done with weak-stemmed varieties—nearly upside down, and tie 
them to sticks in that position. If the beginner is a grower in a 
large way, he will not need to bother with any shading, as he will 
generally have enough freshly opened blooms to select from. 
“ But,” says some beginner, “ why should I have to go to all this 
trouble? Nurserymen do not do so ; they simply grow the Roses in 
the ordinary way, I suppose ? ” The answer to this is, that the 
nurseryman has thousands of plants to cut from, and whatever 
perfection futua’e age3 may bring Roses to, at present the fact 
remains that in a nursery or garden where one hundred thousand 
Roses are in bloom there will be one Rose better thaia all its fellows. 
The nurseryman with his thousands of plants can only cultivate 
them in the ordinary way and depend on the quantity he grows. 
The amateur with his smaller number of plants can devote moro 
attention to each, and no doubt by his care and extra cultivation 
gets a much higher average of show blooms from the same number 
of plants than a nurseryman does. To be in a position to show 
twelve Roses on a given day, a beginner should have not less than 
100 plants in about twenty-four varieties. 
To those who love Roses there are few pleasanter places than a 
Rose show. Here the finest specimeias of out favourite flower that 
it is possible to produce by all the care and attention that loving 
hands and hearts can bestow upon their cu’ture are to be seen, and 
though I pei-sonally much prefer to watader at will through some 
well-kept garden or nursery, and admire the beauties on their native 
stems at my leisure, still I always enjoy myself thoroughly at Rose 
shows. In the morning, if we are exhibiting, or can by any means 
gain access to the scene of war, how amusing it is to watch the dif¬ 
ferent exhibitors and the way they go to work. At this time all is 
confusion, to be quickly changed into order and iaeatnes3. In the 
afternoon the study of the public will be found very amusing, and 
if we happen to be winners we shall be pretty sure to hear many 
people say that they have much better Roses than ours at home and 
that they are so soi-ry they did not show. I never believed it, because 
people who talk like this at flower shows and other places—their 
name is legion—I generally think are best described as beiiag what 
the Yankees call “ gas bags.” 
Here is a good opportunity to warn the would-be exhibitor 
against timidity and being afraid to show because he thinks he will 
not have a chance. My own experience has been that I have lost 
as laaany pi-izes as I have won, simply by not rushing in on all 
occasions. 
“’Tis said, 
That f tola rush in where angels fear to tread.” 
But in Rose growing they are the fools who do iaot rush in. When 
our Roses are bad, other people's are probably no better. If we do 
not win our names do not appear, and if we have a dry season or a 
backward one, or have a plague of taaildew, maggots, or green fly, or 
suffer from any other disadvantage, surely we are no worse off than 
our neighbours. I remember just before one show—I had not 
entered, so disgusted was I with the appearance of my Roses —a 
gentleman asked me to show, because he wanted mo to “smash” 
a very dear friend of his, who was going about telling everybody 
that he could not be beaten. I did so, “ smashed ” the dear friend 
and carried off three first prizes ; all there were to take. 
A few words about dishonest exhibiting. I could unfold a talc, 
a long one, on this part of the subject, but do not think it necessary 
to do so. I regret to say, however, that in some parts of the 
