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THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 13, 1858. 
219 
I Dunmore, Dunmore Castle, near Falkirk. In appear¬ 
ance it is large and handsome, of a dark colour, very 
| much resembling the Galande; but it was only con¬ 
sidered of second-rate quality. The same decision re- 
: specting it was come to at the Pomological Society, 
last season. 
From the gardens of the Society were two varieties 
of Grapes, grown in pots: both were Muscats, and 
perfectly ripe. Muscat Ottonel has a loose bunch, like 
the Sweetwater. The berries are small, round, and of a 
1 white colour, having a, marked musky flavour; but the 
flesh is squashy, and the juice thin and watery. 
Muscat Noir has also a small, loose bunch, with small, 
black, thick-skinned berries, the flesh of which is firm, 
and the flavour deficient. 
The examination of the fruit having terminated, a 
conversation arose as to the future. It was the general 
feeling, that the next Meeting should take place at the 
Garden ; and it was also considered advisable, that re¬ 
ports of the Meeting should be forthwith printed, and 
circulated among the Members. But it was discovered 
that the Committee has no power to carry out these 
arrangements, without first submitting them to the 
Council for approval; and, therefore, the resolution 
must, for the present, remain in the character of a re¬ 
commendation, till the “ fountain of honour” has taken 
it into consideration. 
We very heartily wish this Pomological Committee 
every success, and we give great credit to those with 
whom the suggestion originated, for their wisdom in 
thus endeavouring to restore to the Society its former 
prestige ; but we cannot see how it is to be carried on. 
A body of any kind, it matters not what, to work well 
and effectually, must be untrammelled, or must, at least, 
have a certain amount of freedom of action. It you 
muzzle your dog, or manacle your slave, you do not 
prevent action or locomotion : but the one cannot hunt, 
and the other cannot work; what then is the use of 
either ? Red-tapism, dictation, arrogance, and conceit, 
have hitherto been the bane of the Society, practised 
as they have been by those who knew not how to use 
the power entrusted to them. But we earnestly hope 
that these belong now to another, and a bygone 
generation; and those to whom the Society has dele¬ 
gated the governing power will act with that prompti¬ 
tude, and liberality of feeling, which alone can insure 
success, regardless of ancient traditions, and spurning 
any remnant of the old leaven that may still be found 
among them. 
ROSE CULTURE. 
The most unaccountable thing about Roses, is the 
way they flower so well, and live such a length of time, 
as they do here about Kingston, and on both sides of 
I the Thames, for miles on each side of us, where the 
soil seems as light and poor, to the touch and sight, as 
to be hardly fit for Turnip husbandry. Mr. Bohn, the 
enterprising publisher, gives a Rose feast every year, 
at Twickenham, and Mr. Byam Martin, of Bank 
Grove, near Kingston, does the like pn the lightest 
kind of moorland, or black sandy soil, in the kingdom. 
The late Mr. Jenkins, brother to the great Lord 
Liverpool, and the first and most successful cross¬ 
breeder of Geraniums in Britain—the section of them 
| called JenJcinsonia, is named after him—was celebrated 
during many years for his splendid Roses, within a rifle¬ 
shot of the market-place of Kingston, where the soil is 
equally light. Hampton Court Gardens is like a sand 
j flat; but this vast Rose district is flat for miles and 
miles, and only a few inches above the level of the tide. 
Some of the Roses, which Sir John Broughton planted 
thirty years ago, are now as healthy as ever at Bank 
Grove. The "soil in the Experimental Garden is of 
the same light nature, so light, indeed, that the Straw¬ 
berries went out of course this hot summer ; yet all the 
Roses were never finer ; every one of them could stand 
the competition at St. James’s Hall ; but the florists 
did not give us the chance. After sending me a pot- 
luck invitation two days before the Show, I could not 
get hold of one of their schedules, or bill of fare, for 
love or money, and as to how the “ courses ” were 
served, I was all in the dark. That is the second “ most 
unaccountable thing,” and the only thing to account for 
my not finding out that Mr. Turner, of Slough, was 
the author and finisher of the handsomest Rose devices 
I had ever seen; but which I did not test with my 
chemicals, as I should have done, had I known the 
maker, because Mr. Turner is the only florist I know 
who has a lady’s eye for doing things floristical; and 
because I can never enjoy a thing done with flowers, 
unless a lady, or a lady’s eye, has presided over it. And 
I hold it to be impossible for any writer, even the 
Doctor himself, to write an interesting article upon 
a subject in which he can take no interest himself. 
The third “most unaccountable thing” is, that all 
the world do not grow their Roses from cuttings and 
layers, so as to have them all on their own roots, 
and to have no standards, but pillar Roses instead. 
Standard Roses, say what you will, are no better, in 
giving effect, than the Doctor’s “fly flappers.” I 
would have dwarf standards,—say with three feet 
clean stems of every plant and bush that could be so 
made,—and yet not a standard Rose, as at present cul¬ 
tivated, except the climbing Roses, and they are all 
worthy of being worked on the strongest stocks of the 
Dog Rose, from seven feet high and upwards, to mass 
and sweep down to the ground. All the very strong 
Roses I would have on standards from thirty inches 
to three feet in the stem,—not higher for all the world, 
—and I would treat them quite differently from the 
usual way of managing standard Roses; I would let 
them grow as tall as their strength allowed them, and 
keep them in the form of pyramids all the while,— 
pillar Roses, in fact, — which could not sucker from the 
bottom, and which would allow of spring flowers and 
bedding plants to be used under them and amongst 
them, if one so choosecl, or selections of the dwarf and 
moderate-growing Roses, which never do well on 
standards, and ought most certainly be on their own 
roots. The system is not a new idea ; the oldest 
Roses at Bank Grove have been so treated these five- 
and-twenty years back, and there is nothing in the 
kingdom like them. Some of the good kinds of Roses 
there, which have been thus managed, are all but lost 
in other parts, through sheer mismanagement, or, 
rather, through tight-lacing, in this wise. A lady, or 
a gentleman with a lady’s eye, has a clump, or bed, or 
an avenue of standard Roses, all worked on the Dog 
Rose, of course: from the different natures of the 
kinds they require very different degrees of pruning; 
but the “eye” must have them symmetrical — all to 
be near the same thing in shape and size of head. 
This is impossible for any length of time, because 
some of the kinds grow four times faster, and to 
greater bulk than others ; and, to make an impossibility 
seemingly possible for awhile, all these standards are 
pruned symmetrical, or all alike. After the while, the 
stocks which bear the weakest-growing Roses begin 
to languish, for lack of the necessary supply of food. 
The heads have not sufficient strength to answer the 
vigour of the roots, and “ hide-bound ” is usually the 
first symptom of derangement. From that day, and 
for ever, that Rose is ruined ; for all the management 
on earth will never cure a stock whose head lias reached 
the utmost limit of its strength, and yet lacks the 
strength which is needful to keep the stock healthy. 
Therefore it is tight-lacing a stock to work a moderate 
