1878 .] 
ROSE CHARLES DARWIN.-VINES AND VINE-CULTURE—CHAP. XIV. 
1G1 
HOSE CHARLES DARWIN. 
[Plate 
OR the specimen of the fine new H.P. 
Rose named Charles Darwin, we are 
indebted to Messrs. Paul and Son, of 
the Old Nurseries, Cheshunt. It is remarkable 
at once for its rich deep maroon-shaded 
colour, and also for its free autumn-blooming 
properties, rendering it “ perpetual ” in some¬ 
thing more than the name. Mr. G-. Paul has 
very kindly sent us the following notes, to ac¬ 
company the figure :— 
“ This is a seedling of Mr. Laxton’s, which 
some three years ago he placed in our hands 
for trial. It has proved to be a very fine rose, 
with the merit of novelty of colour, having a 
brownish tint suffused over the crimson, and 
having a wonderfully decided habit of autumn 
flowering ; indeed, throughout all the quarters, 
no single variety at this date (September 17) is 
covered to an equal extent with well-developed 
flowers. This is evidently due to some Bourbon 
blood in its parentage, and is a most desirable 
quality. On its merits, we have decided to dis¬ 
tribute it next spring. 
“ Curiously enough, the English-raised Boses 
of the last two years seem to be the best of the 
new kinds. Taking those of 187G-7, Mr. 
Turner’s Oxonian and Mrs. Baker (187G), with 
our Duke of Connaught and Sultan of Zanzi¬ 
bar, and Mr. W. Paul’s Magna Charta, are the 
new kinds of the year worth growing. 
“Of 1877, nearly the same holds good. 
Emily Laxton and Marchioness of Exeter, and 
Mrs. Laxton (1878), raised by Mr. Laxton, sent 
478.] 
out by us ; Mr. Postans’ May Quennell, sent out 
by Messrs. William Paul and Son ; and Mr. 
Davis’s Penelope Mayo, sent out by Mr. Turner, 
are, with our own John Bright and Robert 
Marnock, the best of the year. 
“ Of the French kinds of 1877-8, taking first 
the hybrid perpetuals, we hold Alfred K. 
Williams, a new Horace Vernet-like flower, 
Garcon’s Boildieu, sent out by Margottin, a 
large, bold flower, and Eduard Dufour, of 
Leveque, are the best amongst the crimsons. 
Madame Jean Bowyer is in the way of Marie 
Finger, and is promising; Liabaud’s two, 
Madame Gabriel Luizet and Madame Laboulaye, 
an improved Duchess of Edinburgh, are pro¬ 
mising lights. Mr. Guillot’s Hybrid Tea 
Mdlle. Alexandre Bernaix, and Leveque’s Prin- 
cesse de Tremouille, are both free-blooming 
and La France-like roses. 
“ Of the Teas, we think highly, from flowers 
seen here, of Mr. Bennett’s Madame Welch, a 
seedling of Madame Duclier, at Lyons; and 
Lacharme’s Madame Lambard is a good vigorous 
free-flowering Tea, of soft rosy-peach colour, 
likely to be particularly useful. A new raiser, 
Nabonnand, sent out some ten or twelve new 
Teas, some of which, as Princess Vera, look 
pretty ; but to be useful now, a Tea Rose must 
have a bold vigorous habit and large perfect 
flowers, or we might as well revive some of the 
old varieties, like Caroline and Tea Jaune, 
which have been thrown out of the Catalogues. 
“ It is pleasant to find that Roses continue 
to progress, and pleasanter to find English- 
raised kinds heading the lists.— George Paul.” 
VINES AND VINE-CULTURE. 
Chapter XIV.—Vine Borders, their Formation; Soil, &c. 
HIE Grape Vine is a remarkably free- 
growing plant, and is found growing 
in great luxuriance under many very 
opposite conditions, and in soils of a widely 
different character. The consistency of the 
soil—its composition, so to speak—appears to 
be of far more importance than the actual in¬ 
gredients themselves of which it may be com¬ 
posed. For example, we know of Vines doing 
remarkably well on very calcareous soils, on 
deep alluvial loams, on very shallow soils, 
where the roots penetrate into the fissures of 
the rocks in search of food, yea, in heaps of 
stones almost, as well as in beds of the richest 
manure. The Vine, however, is never found 
to succeed in wet, clayey, tenacious soils. A 
certain amount of aeration and porosity of 
No. 11. IMPERIAL SERIES.—I. 
the soil seems to be an absolute necessity, with 
an abundance of water at certain seasons. 
From these general principles, therefore, it 
will be seen that it is not so very difficult to 
arrive at a knowledge of the kind of soil best 
suited for the cultivation of the vine, and that 
the formation of a vine border is a task 
requiring no very great skill to perform. 
Soils .—The soil best suited in itself for the 
growth of the vine is a fibry, calcareous, yellow 
or virgin loam. No analysis that can be given 
will convey much information as to the exact 
constituents of the soil that is meant, which 
is that termed “fibry yellow loam,” although 
by every vine-cultivator the designation is well 
understood. It is the top-soil or turf, cut 
from two to four inches thick, from an 
M 
