302 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, February 19, 1861. 
de Maroc will make a pillar Rose: we have never seen it but 
very delicate in habit. While giving his modicum of praise to 
Trouillard, of Angers, and his seedlings, we hardly think justice 
is done to that grand Rose Eugene Appert: nor do we think it 
to be, as he implies, inferior to its parent Geant. We have, 
moreover, heard of (and indeed seen the stock of), one from 
the same raiser called Gregoire Bordillon, which in size, shape, 
colour, and vigour of habit, is believed to be a decided beat on 
its papa. Of Gloire de Santenay he says it is one of the finest 
Roses known. He also speaks a good deal of one for autumn 
blooming in this colour called l’Etoile du Nord. (By-the-by, 
there are two mistakes in reference to pages, in pages 102 and 
103 : page 97 is referred to in both instances, whereas it ought 
to be 111 and 208.) In rose-coloured varieties, Yictor Yerdier 
(not Yerdm, as Mr. R. prints it), Madam Boll, Anna AlexiefF, 
Belle de Bourg la Reine, and Anna de Diesbach are com¬ 
mended, and we believe correctly. 
He commends in blush and flesh-coloured varieties, Queen of 
Denmark and Mademoiselle Eugenie Yerdier ; and in whites, Yir- 
ginal, Mademoiselle Bonnaire, and Princesse Imperiale Clotliilde : 
these are all Hybrid Perpetuals. Amongst Bourbons nothing 
new is noticed, though we believe that Yictor Emanuel, Baron 
Gonella, and George Peabody are likely to prove acquisitions. 
And amongst Teas he selects, amongst new * ones, Madame 
William, Souvenir d’Elise Yardon, Due de Magenta, President, 
and La Boule d’Or as worthy of praise. 
The subject of stocks is now occupying some attention. Mr. 
Rivers, as the introducer of the Manetti, is naturally anxious to 
say a word in its favour. For pot culture nothing, we believe, 
can exceed it; but there its merits stop. The Dog Rose he 
holds to be the best for standards, and Felicite Perpetuelle and 
Descartes to be good for dwarfs. The latter has proved very 
tender, and therefore of little use ; and the Celine is so given to 
throw up suckers as to be very troublesome. We have seen a 
new stock, which we believe will prove to be a very hardy and 
valuable one, but cannot pronounce till we have seen more of it; 
but it has stood perfectly this winter, and is the most abundant 
rooter of any we have ever seen. Reine des Yiolettes, one of 
the new R oses, perfectly smooth and of vigorous habit, is likely 
by-and-by to be useful as a stock. 
We have now a word to say to all Rose amateurs. If you 
have it not, this book is well worth your having : and to those 
who wish to try these new plans of growth to which we have 
adverted, we must refer for fuller particulars to the work itself. 
We think a few pages more might have been advantageously 
devoted to carrying out the notice on the title-page, giving full 
descriptions of leading varieties. Those, however, who wish for 
that will find it in Paul’s “ Rose Annual ” for 1860-61. 
SEA SLUGS AS A MANURE. 
I SHAMj feel much indebted to any correspondent to your 
valuable journal to give me some information about Sea Slugs 
(Holothuria ) used as a manvu’e. I should like to know by their 
experience how it acted, and whether it requires any fertiliser to 
be mixed with it before applying it to the ground, and what 
fertiliser would best go with it; and likewise in what propor¬ 
tions of each. In a distant country where guano is enormously 
dear, and often scarce, I imagined a cheap, rich manure might 
be made from 'these animals, where they abound in millions, 
and are in no wnf utilised. Would they with any combination 
of a cheaper nature than guano come up to this dear article for 
a Sugar crop ? I shall feel truly grateful for any suggestions 
from any of your correspondents who may have tried them, or 
for any suggestions on this subject.— An Old Subscriber. 
[There is no doubt entertainable upon this subject. Every 
kind of animal matter is a powerful manure. Sprats and every 
kind of fish are most effectual fertilisers ; and we have known 
the Five-fingers (TJraster rulens), of which a drawing is pub¬ 
lished in our last volume, page 388, used extensively as a manure 
by farmers near the coast of Essex. These come the nearest to 
Sea Slugs of any animal fertiliser with which we are acquainted, 
and the Five-fingers proved very potent in promoting the growth 
of Wheat. This, as well as the Sugar Cane, belongs to one and 
the same Natural Order of plants, and this even without other 
information would incline us to conclude that Sea Slugs would 
be very useful as a manure to Sugar plantations. The best 
mode of applying them, we think, would be to spread them on 
the surface of the ground, and dig them in whilst fresh. We 
had some experience of Sugar cultivation in the East Indies, 
and there a favourite manure with the natives at Dinajpoor 
was the mud from tanks full of the remains of vegetables 
and animals. The salt in the Sea Slug would undoubtedly be 
useful to the Sugar Cane. We know that salt was so employed 
at Antigua, and Humboldt remarks that the Sugar Cane is one 
of the very few- plants which endure equally well irrigation with 
fresh and salt -water. If any of our readers possess relative in¬ 
formation we shall be obliged by its being communicated to 
us.— Eds. C. G.] 
NICE, ITS CLIMATE AND PLANTS. 
Nice, February 6th. —As this part of the Continent, being 
the winter resort of so many English families both for health 
and recreation, must always be a source of interest to some of 
your readers, and, perhaps, now more generally so since its 
annexation to France, a brief account of its climate and pro¬ 
ductions may be acceptable. During the present season it has 
been fuller than has ever been known, notwithstanding the 
number of elegant new houses lately built and still in course of 
erection. Foreigners from all quarters seem to flock into it, and 
the number of English alone now in Nice must be upwards of a 
thousand. This is not to be wondered at when the superior 
character of its climate above that of England is considered ; for 
whilst the latter is subject to an almost continually damp and 
cold atmosphere during the winter months, Nice enjoys nearly 
always a dry, bracing air, with splendid blue sky arid warm sun¬ 
shine. The average external temperature in the shade for the 
month of November was 51°; December, 46°; January, 46i°. 
The greatest cold was experienced from the 18th to the 25th of 
December, which, in fact, constituted the only winter we have 
had. For three days there was a slight covering of snow on the 
ground, and frost in the valleys. The thermometer once de¬ 
scended 4° below the freezing-point. Since December 25th there 
has been hardly any rain, the roads are very dusty, and need 
the services of the water-cart daily. One remarkable difference 
between England and this place is, that whilst in the former our 
windows in the morning are mostly either covered with rime 
frost or running down with moisture, here even damp on the 
glass is hardly ever seen. In a bedroom to the south, inhabited 
by the writer, without fire the temperature has ranged from 
52° (the lowest point) to 64°. Fires in sitting-rooms are but 
occasionally used. In the sun the thermometer rises to about 
118°. 
As to Floriculture , generally speaking it is not good. Nature 
seems to do so much that man becomes careless, and the gardens 
are for the most part very untidily kept. The neatness of the 
English in this respect might be imitated with advantage. A 
good, well-kept greenhouse is hardly known. Frequently they 
have, like the Irishman’s hat, a great many holes in the upper 
part. Reed mats are mostly used for the protection (and only 
needed for a short time) of such tender things as Heliotropes* 
young Orange trees, &c. Verbenas, Scarlet Geraniums, Age- 
ratums, Mignonette, Stocks, &c., bloom throughout the winter. 
In a garden on the slope of a hill near the port, belonging to an 
Englishman, Mr. Stuart, there are about 5000 Pelargoniums in 
a most healthy shrubby condition, nearly all in the open air* 
with slight protection when the nights are cold. About 500 
older plants are already turned out into the border. This 
gentleman devotes great attention to the raising of Pelargoniums, 
and has a large number of seedlings which will bloom this 
season, and also of young Scarlet Geraniums. The principal 
plants in blossom in the open air during the winter, have been 
Habrothamnus elegans (often 6 feet high, with showy dark red 
flowers, something like a Fuchsia) ; Cassia tomentosa (about the 
same height, large yellow blossoms); Bignonia capensis (a 
showy climber with striking, upright, scarlet flowers) ; Hexa- 
centris coccinea (also a climber with drooping red flowers) ; 
Justicia adhatoda (a fine dark green shrub, with spikes of 
yellowish-white lipped blossoms) ; Sparmannia africana (a noble 
large-leaved plant often 10 feet high, with numerous white 
flowers, of which there are specimen plants in the Sydenham 
Crystal Palace). Various sorts of Salvias have been and still 
continue very gay in the gardens, including S. involucrata (very 
large pink blossoms) ; S. fulgens, S. splendens, S. tomentosa, 
and others. And I must not forget the Roses, which are here 
really perpetual and very fine, amongst which the Souvenir de 
Malmaison is conspicuous. There are long hedges of China 
