May 25. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
135 
i 
shade of being just as good as the above; but the 
judges told me that all the Rose exhibitors were agreed 
as to the decision. Mr. Francis’s Roses stood thus: 
Juno, a hybrid China, blush-rose; Coupe <le Hebe, bright 
pink; Adam, Tea and blush-buff, La Heine, Blairii, 
Pauline,Plantier, Tea and canary-yellow blooms; Cliene- 
dole, Paul Perms, Bougere Toa. the oldest and sweetest 
of that class of Teas, with bronzy-pinkish flowers. We 
have no names for the tints of this and similar Roses. 
Augustine Mouchelet, a hybrid perpetual, doing much 
better in pots than I ever saw it in borders. Baron 
Prevost, the largest plant in the show; and the Souvenir 
de la Midmaison, four feet high, and three feet across, 
with twenty-two full open blooms, and nearly twice the 
usual size they come to in the open air. Mr. Raul's 
group was nearly as good, of much the same kind; 
but he had the Geant des Batuilles in most glorious 
style. A mottled Damask Rose, called Sextus Popinius, 
whoever he was, and a Madame Camphlc de Islay, to 
show how the French can caricature one of our royal 
clanships from beyond Rob Roy’s “ native heath ;” with 
a now seedling hybrid perpetual, called Helen; but 
whether of Troy, or of the Mac Gregors, the tally did not 
say—the flower is after Baron Prevost, and the Baron is 
after and the nearest to the old Cabbage Rose, in shape, 
colour, size, and smell, of all hybrid perpetuals that I 
know auythiug of. Devoniensis,Madame Lajfray, Charles 
Duval, Solfaterre, and a few others, were in the collections 
of the private growers, and anybody who choses to 
make out a list of these names from my report will 
have the best and surest of all the Roses known to 
us at the present day for gentle forcing, for rooms, 
conservatories, and exhibitions. If to this we add, that'I 
the selection should be of plants on their own Roots, 
our present knowledge cannot extend far beyond. 
I must put off the bulk of my notes till next week, 
but must mention a collection of the new continental 
Tree Carnations, which I had often recommended, but 
which are yet very little known in country places; i 
there were eight kinds of them from the Messrs. Hen¬ 
derson, of fit. John’s Wood Nursery: La Californica, 
yellow, edged with red; Etoile de Vaise, cream, aud pink 
edges; Captivation, a fine rose-coloured self; Annette 
Rape, French-white; Penelope, very like a mottled old 
Riccotee, and an excellent tree Carnation, so to speak ; 
Le Grenadier, a large scarlet; Augustine, white, edged 
with purple; and Paon, a light mottled Riccotee. 
Many of this new class of tree Carnations are said to 
bloom all the winter with a little extra management; 
at all events, they ought to get into all hands to try 
them, as, for generations, we had only one kind of tret* 
Carnation. 
I must also report that Mr. Lano has succeeded 
at last to manage Cantua dependens, the most lovely- 
looking flower of all Mr. Veitch’s introduction ; a long j 
hanging tube, like some most extraordinary Fuchsia, and 
an open limb at the bottom nearly as wide as a shilling, 
aud all of the purest and most delicate rosy tints. Almost j 
everybody who passed mistook it for a now plant, worth 
a guinea at least; it has been offered, however, at less 
than nine-pence a-piece; but no one could do it right. 
At a hap hazard, I once suggested, in this Cottage 
Gardener, the very means by which Mr. Lane succeeded 
with it. Forcing a Peach tree is the nearest practice to 
which I could liken the management of this charming 
plant; force it gently in the spring, in a moist and very 
airy place, stop the young shoots, here and there, as you 
would a Reach, for it flowers on the last year's growth; 
oarly in the summer turn it into a cool dung framo, and 
keep it close to the front, so as to be out of the sun; 
never pot it or give it the least encouragement to growth 
after the end of July; the Red Spider takes to it beforo 
then, but keep him off as well as you can, and as long 
as possible; starve it all through the autumn, aud let it 
j cast its leaves; just save it from the frost, in a half-dry 
state, and in the spring up come the flowers; then water, 
and soon after repot, and you will soon be rewarded. 
D. Beaton. 
NORTHAMPTON SHOW.— May 4tii. 
1 he month of May is, to us, one of the most cheering 
and perplexing. It continually reminds us of the asso¬ 
ciations we used to attach to those fair ladies honoured 
by that sweet name; lively, buoyant, cheerful, kind; 
and yet, withal, possessing a spice of sly humour, sportive 
raillei'y, and gentle flirtation, quite enough to teaze, and 
1 yet insufficient greatly to wound or disturb. It is beyond 
our philosophy to discriminate how names frequently 
affect, and give marking and tone to character. That 
they do so more than is generally imagined, will require 
but a slight investigation, though there should be no 
agreement as to the cause, such as belonging to the 
mere derivation, or sound of a word, or the popular 
associations connected with it; there is much in a 
name ; and even our florists are now, like the Messrs. 
Lee, finding that they can give their novelties a better 
“ attraction,” than uncouth Latin jargon. 
Be this as it will, the words, “ sweet May,” have rung 
in our ears since childhood. Frosts and storms we 
knew were to be expected; but wbo would remember 
them, when bathing in May dew; bright sunshine, and 
warm, sparkling showers, were the sunny recollections. 
Then, a gardener might havo been as gay as one of our 
ribboned friends dancing round the May-pole. His 
main crops were in ; his flower-borders raked smooth, 
and dressy; his lawn like a carpet; he had a duplicate, 
or a triplicate of much-stored tender plants; and what 
was to hinder him from participating in the feel¬ 
ings of a holiday? The massing of flower-beds was 
never thought of then. The where to store aud grow 
hundreds and thousands of one thing, without extra 
means, and watch and ward over them until the day of 
safe planting-out has come, has made this sweet month 
one of the most perplexing of the season. From the 
first to the last day of the year there is now no time for 
ease. If the hands are not employed, the brain must be 
at work. The physical machine, just like any other, will 
soon be exhausted if always firmly wouud up. “ All 
work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” The body 
becomes wearied, the brain becomes languid, when 
effort and concentration are constantly directed to 
similar operations, and in one locality. From the dis¬ 
persion at the Tower of Babel, it has always been good 
for man to havo a little change. Gardeners arc no ex¬ 
ception;—quite the reverse. They live so much alone, 
mix so little with the world, get so interested in their 
own doings, that if there is not an absolute danger of 
getting metamorphosed into a vegetable, as well as a 
vegetarian, there is every likelihood that they will get 
stereotyped in their notions and ideas, and become dull, 
confused, or self-satisfied. The visiting of gardens, aud 
the inspecting of Horticultural and Floral Shows, when 
kept in proper moderation, are some of the best things 
for ministering to the advantage of employers and their 
gardeners; and since this subject has been broached in 
these pages, I have had frequent evidence that em¬ 
ployers are much more ready to reward the exertions of 
their gardeners in this particular direction. A man 
crammed with conceit will not long continuo to do 
great things; and one of the best means for driving this 
conceit out of us, as well as for stirring up a spirit of 
honourable emulation, is just to let us see that other 
people do as well, or rather much better, than we do. A 
great gardener thus accosted me at a London exhibition ; 
“Ah! man, I thought I could crow pretty loudly, but 1 
shall now go homo aud learn to cheep and chirp.” 
With a mixture of the feelings hinted at, I started at 
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