October 18, 1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
369 
tella on the newer varieties which have only been ont some three or four 
years. 
I confess I do not quite understand how the average is taken. I 
have fancied that the numbers noted in the several years are added 
together and divided by the number of years that it has been in evidence. 
Taken this way, I am exceedingly puzzled by the table. “ E. M.” has 
specially remarked on Margaret Dickson, and certainly it is extra¬ 
ordinary that a Rose that only came out four years ago should have 
reached the position No. 7 thus early. “ E. M.” then tells us that it 
was staged in 1893 only five times. Then, according to my ideas, 
twenty-five for this year and five are thirty ; and in order to arrive at 
twenty-five as its present position by average, in 1891 and 1892 together 
it must have been staged seventy times, which, added to thirty, give us 
100—divided by four, makes its average twenty-five. But is this 
possible ? I know I am somewhat thick in the clear, but I fail wholly 
to see how this average is reached, and of course if there be any error 
here it makes the whole table very misleading. 
It is well known that certain Roses come into bloom earlier than 
others. The date of the show and the character of the season combined 
must very materially influence the position of some of the candidates. 
With me, for instance, Gustave Piganeau and Victor Verdier are 
among the earliest to blossom, and if the same thing is found by other 
growers the position of a Rose, vastly superior possibly to many placed 
in the analysis higher than it, is very materially influenced. 
A. K. Williams again I have found precocious in this \\ay. I do not 
know the opinion of other growers ; but can it be possible that many, 
if asked which they considered the best Rose of these three—Madame 
G. Luizet, Ulrich Brunner, and A. K. Williams—would place the two 
former above the latter 1 
I think I have drawn attention once before to the numbering. For 
instance, there are two equal at No. 7—Her Majesty and Margaret 
Dickson—therefore, seeing that there are eight Roses already placed, 
Alfred Colomb (No. 8) should be No. 9. This mistake occurs frequently, 
and it makes the position of every Rose below No. 7 faulty. 
The past season has undoubtedly been a dropping time for Roses, 
and numberless blooms have been utterly spoiled, but it looks to me— 
at least, by the analysis—that some Roses which I have found so averse 
to wet have suffered less than usual. Her Majesty I should have placed 
as one of these, yet its position is actually third in 1894. Of the older 
Roses, Charles Lefebvre, Etienne Levet, and Comtesse d’Oxford appear 
to have made a lamentable exhibition. I should imagine the former [ 
has never been exhibited in such sparse numbers since the date of the 
first analysis. Amongst the Teas, Ernest Metz and Niphetos have failed 
most; the former has scarcely once been presentable amongst my few 
plants. Whites do not generally like wet, but Souvenir de S. A. Prince 
seems to me to withstand its influence better than any other white Tea, 
and I am inclined to say even better than its parent. Honourable 
B. Gifford surpasses it, but it can hardly be called white, whilst its 
form is so different, being a more open flower, and hence far less likely 
to be bottled up. 
In the name of everything rosey, what was our friend “ E. M.” 
about in giving a select list of varieties “ strongly recommended for 
general cultivation ” in omitting Catherine Mermet ? ” to my mind the 
queen of Teas, always floriferous and always beautiful 1 Surely this was 
an accident. I once heard a fellow judge say, “ Oh 1 you can’t give an 
extra honour to Catherine Mermet; only give it fair treatment, and 
there is no trouble in growing it well.”—Y. B. A. Z. 
Exhibition and Garden Roses. 
In my latest article upon this subject, contributed to the Journal of 
Horticulture, there occurs in one of its passages, relating to Mr. Paul 
of Waltham, a regretable mistake. The sentence in question (page 338), 
should have read as follows :—“ That he (Mr. Paul) undervalues the 
great merits of such remarkable Roses as Comtesse de Nadaillac, Horace 
Vernet, and A. K. Williams, which lare at the present moment among 
the fairest and brightest ornaments of my garden, I cannot helieve." 
As the article was somewhat rapidly written, owing to the pressure of 
other work, I had unconsciously omitted the words underlined. 
I am glad to learn from “ E. M.’s” very careful and most interest¬ 
ing analysis (page 333), which justly occupies in your last issue the 
premier place, that Mrs. John Laing, that superb production of the late 
Mr. Bennett, now heads the long list of Hybrid Perpetuals. I have 
no Rose that I find more worthy of confidence. It is extremely 
beautiful, exquisitely fragrant, free-flowering, and floriferous. 
I am somewhat surprised to find that Grace Darling does not appear 
in Mr. Mawley’s classified list, but perhaps, notwithstanding its beauty 
and fulness, it is not regarded by the National Rose Society as an 
“ exhibition ” Rose. I like it much better than Lady Mary Fitz- 
william ; it. Viscountess Folkestone, and Caroline Testout are Roses that 
should be in every garden. As autumnal bloomers they could not be 
surpassed. I am gratified by the opinion of Caroline Testout expressed 
in his analysis by the Secretary of the National Rose Society. It is 
undoubtedly superior in colour to La France, and not much inferior 
to its parent in other respects. 
When speaking of valuable garden Roses in my recent contributions, 
I ought to have specially mentioned the Crimson Rambler, which, 
however, I have in former articles very highly eulogised. It has, 
undoubtedly, proved itself a unique and splendid acquisition. 
A pure white sport from the beautiful Irish Tea Rose /Mrs. J. Wilson 
has originated in my garden. I recently forwarded a 'flower of it to 
Mr. Alexander Dickson, jun., of Newtownards, the raiser of the parent 
Rose, who says that if it remains perfectly fixed it will prove “ a decided 
gain to the section.” I have in the meantime named it Marguerite, to 
commemorate the heroines of Goethe, Gounod, and iMr. Matthew 
Arnold.— David R. Williamson. 
ARENARIA HUTERI. 
This attractive alpine rockery plant was discovered and described as 
late as 1872 by Kerner, who published it in the “Botanische Zeitschrift” 
for that year. As depicted in the illustration (fig. 57), it grows to only 
an inch in height, is of a close habit, the stems being thickly set, 
and furnished with opposite and decussate leaves of the simplest type. 
The flowers, of the purest white, are large for the minute size of the 
plant, and are terminal and axillary to the upper leaves. We are 
informed that it flowered for the first time at Kew this year in the 
herbaceous department. Nothing could be better as a clothing for 
the foreground portions of a rockery, and the close growth of the 
stems and the long succession of fiowers adapt it to such a purpose. 
Its very floriferousness is somewhat of a hindrance to its increase. 
Several other Sandworts are known to cultivators. A. balearica is 
FIG. 57.— ARENARIA HUTERI. 
almost as minute, A. ciliata and A. montana are larger plants, but all 
of them suitable for rockwork use. A. purpurascens, as its specific 
name indicates, departs from these in having purplish flowers. The 
spring Sandwort, A. verna, has awl-shaped leaves. 
A FRUIT DAY IN COLORADO. 
Just below where the Arkansas River emerges eastward from the 
Rocky Mountains, through the famous Royal gorge, on to the plains, is 
situated Canon City, a small town of 4000 inhabitants. Oa Tnursday, 
September 20th, Canon City had a “ Fruit Day.” and a spefial train on 
the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa F^ Railroad took thither from Denver 
the Mayor and City Council, and a number of representative business 
men and officials and their wiies, including my wife and myself. 
Excursion trains from Denver, Pueblo, Cripple Creek, and other places 
also took large crowds of people. In a large tent considerably over two 
tons of fruit was distributed gratis to all comers, while in the Opera 
House was a free exhibition of 1200 plates of fruit, including Apples, 
Pears, Plums, Peaches, Grapes, and small fruits. There were Flemish 
Beauty Pears weighing 21 ozs. each, Pewaukee Apples, four of which 
weighed 5^ lbs.. Peaches weighing 10ozs. each, and all of superior quality 
and^flavour. Although some years ago we were in Canon City for 
several days, the attractions of the place again proved too much for our 
return the same day, and, accepting the kindly hospitality of a prominent 
Englishman, we again prolonged our stay and spent the time in driving 
round the neighbourhood and visiting orchards. 
Canon City has an altitude of 5268 feet, is sheltered by nearly 
surrounding mountains ; the mean temperature is 52°, the average 
maximum being 68°, and the average minimum 36°. The average annual 
precipitation is about 12 inches, and the consequent deficiency of 
moisture for horticulture is remedied by artificial irrigation, by means 
of canals and smaller ditches from the Arkansas River. In and around 
the town there are over 1000 acres in orchards and small fruits, two-thirds 
of it in bearing, and by the close of the present season this area will 
have produced and shipped this year at least £20,000 worth of fruit and 
vegetables, including at least £10,000 worth of keeping Apples, the 
markets being Pueblo, Denver, Leadville, among other places. Mith the 
exception of a few larger orchards, the various holdings range from five 
to ten acres each, but every one is provided with a good house and out¬ 
buildings, usually of brick, and, best of all, paid for, a mortgage being 
