NOVEMBER. 
337 
twenty-four trebles, varied in colour and character, and good in 
outline, substance, and condition, in the month of September. 
When I say that you must disbud, let me explain that I mean 
where no contrary rule exists. I did not disbud for either of the 
shows at Kensington, as it was forbidden ; but had no such rule 
existed, I think that I could have hastened some better roses. 
The bud rule is inconvenient to every person at times. Moreover, 
at a National Show judges have no time to take roses out of the 
cups to see if the rule has been obeyed. Were they to do this, 
they would cause “ disasterfor they would not put the rose 
back exactly in the same natty position, and down would go the 
petals of a loose rose, that has been ^^inadvertently'’ propped with 
moss, like the leaves of a table. I wish all H. P’s., at least, 
bloomed single roses like Maxime, a fine rose of good constitution. 
All, I think, that can be reasonably asked is, a good circular rose 
in good condition, with its foliage. I would by no means exclude 
buds, but tolerate and not command them ; they are useful, as well 
as leaves, to stufi* into the clefts of unsymmetrical roses, which, if 
they were removed, would look little better than an unilateral 
horse shoe. If the rule is not enforced (and enforced it is not), 
an honest man has no chance with an unconscientious person. The 
effect of the rule is to shut out the roses of honourable men. As 
long as the rule stands, I shall obey it, but I hope that it will be 
reconsidered, and, if unrepealed, that it will be enforced without 
fiivour or affection. There was barely time at the National in 
July to count the good, the bad, and the indifferent roses in each 
pan, and strike the difference. To continue a rule that every one 
finds inconvenient, and which is neither obeyed nor enforced, is, 
to use the pithy saying of Talleyrand, ‘‘ a blunder worse than a 
crime.” 
There is one more thing that I wish to call attention to with 
regard to trebles. They should not be separated. In a large sea 
of roses to be adjudicated, there is not time to trace them out, and 
it gives a dishonourable competitor the plausible excuse of “ inad¬ 
vertence.” 
Once more let me hope that the day of our National Exhibition 
will be fixed before any human being can see “ which way the cat 
jumps, or is likely to jump !” 
Rushton Rectory. W. F. Radclyffe. 
THINGS TO BE DONE. 
Those who have greenhouses or forcing-house, will find it to 
their advantage to purchase their fuel in the summer months, say 
August or September, or even at this time, if they have not already 
done so. Coke is much the same in quality at all seasons, but 
should be kept dry, as also should coal ; the latter, when fresh from 
the pit, is always damp, and is all the better for being kept in stock 
under cover for some months before using. Damp fuel is not 
VOL. XV., NO. CLXVII. Z 
