March 9, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
433 
with flowering and fine-foliaged plants by the market 
growers, of which the neighbourhood contains some of 
the most noted in the metropolitan area. The Hall 
was crowded, the entertainment first-class in every 
respect, and the organisation of Mr. H. B. May and 
his friends, everything that could be desired. We 
shall, no doubt, soon hear that the fund has consider¬ 
ably benefited by Mr. May’s good-natured act. 
Large-rooted Parsley Improved.—The subject of 
this note has been known on the Continent at least for 
a great many years. It is merely a variety of the 
common Parsley, with a large fleshy tapering root 
resembling that of the Altringham Carrot of fair 
average size. Seeds may be sown in the ordinary way 
in deep, rich, well-cultivated soil such as that from 
which a good crop of Carrots, Parsnips, or Beet would 
be expected. It has the same foliage and the same 
qualities as ordinary Parsley, and Mr. F. Burvenich, 
sen., says of it in the Bulletin d'Arboriculture, de 
Floriculture, <kc., that the leaves may be utilised during 
the course of summer without any sensible detriment to 
the proper development of the fleshy root which comes 
in valuable for use in winter. At that period, when 
there is a dearth of fresh Parsley, the fleshy roots may 
be lifted and planted in a bed of a forcing pit, in 
the same manner as other roots are treated. Successive 
cuttings of the leaves may be obtained in this way, and 
prove invaluable to gardeners in this country who 
have a difficulty in obtaining a supply of this useful 
vegetable. Amateurs may also grow it as easily as the 
common kinds. 
The Rose Garden, 
TEA ROSES ON THEIR OWN ROOTS,-III. 
Hitiiejito I have considered the propagation of the 
Tea Rose by cuttings, and their ultimate success as 
established plants in pots, fit either for further use as 
pot plants or for planting out, as the case may be. 
Before we go farther it will perhaps be as well to 
consider the effects of mildew on the plants, its cause, 
prevention, and cure. That mildew attacks the Rose 
in all its stages of growth, both in spring, summer, 
and autumn, is a fact only too patent to the cultivator 
with a quantity under his charge. Its causes are not 
far to seek, but its absolute cure has baffled the best 
growers, and a good method of prevention would beat 
all the best nostrums yet put before the public for its 
destruction. 
That prevention would be better than cure in this 
case is certain, because the foliage would be free to 
perform its functions, whereas when mildew attacks the 
young growth, this function is sadly impaired. Mildew 
is at once visible on the general appearance of the plant, 
both in wood and leaf, and disfigurement of the foliage 
takes place that cannot be easily eradicated—that is, 
not until other growth has been made. 
The appearance of mildew is attributable to but very 
few causes, and one of them is the variable changes of 
the atmosphere in the course of a week—a sudden chill 
from what has previously been a high temparature, 
with cold winds prevailing, combined with bad venti¬ 
lation. This is a frequent cause. Another and certain 
cause is drought at the roots, which has the effect of 
making the plant become less vigorous than what it 
should be, opening out a means to the attack of para¬ 
sitical or insect life. Mildew rarely attacks the Rose 
until one or the other of the above causes have arisen 
to lay the plants open to the invasion of the enemy. 
It is seldom that it appears until we begin to get some 
power from the sun, which causes ventilation to have 
to be put on the houses, thereby drying the plants up 
quicker than they otherwise would do if no air were 
put on. Therefore it behoves us to consider if this 
cause cannot to some extent be mitigated. If the 
plants are in a nice growing condition during March 
and April—a time when sudden outbursts of sun and 
cold wind predominate—it is necessary for a man to 
have all his wits about him to watch the weather and 
attend to the ventilation of glass structures in a proper 
and careful manner. It is a stupid idea for a person 
to throw the doors of greenhouses wide open, because a 
sudden outburst of sun takes place during these months. 
Nothing worse could possibly be done, as the plants at 
once get a sudden cooling that is tantamount to us 
mortals catching a bad cold. 
The door at all times in the spring of the year should 
be kept shut, giving ventilation by side shutters at the 
bottom of the house and over the hot-water pipes, 
with a slight easement on the top ventilators. If 
strong winds prevail, so that this ventilation causes a 
cold current through the house, my advice is, keep 
your ventilators shut and stop your valves, so that the 
fire heat may be properly checked, trusting to the sun 
to give enough warmth for a few hours, being careful to 
turn the heat on again in time to prevent the house 
coming anything near what one may term clammy. 
The cause of mildew appearing from drought is to be 
avoided by careful watering with water at an equable 
temperature suitable to the house, and with proper care 
in the manner of ventilating the structure in which the 
Roses are grown. 
As a general rule Roses like heat, and appear to 
advantage when growing in a good moist heat and in a 
good light house, where the floors can be freely damped ; 
and where you may see the edges of the leaves hanging 
with dew-drops in the early morning, then you may 
conclude your Roses are doing well, and there mildew 
does not appear until the ventilation is brought into 
use, to give, in many cases, a sudden check to the 
temperature of the house. I am therefore of opinion 
that where the heat can be slackened, it is preferable to 
giving so much air during the early spring months of 
the year. But even in the best regulated families 
accidents will occur and mildew will get on the plants, 
for in many places this matter of ventilation, &c., has 
to be trusted to young men in charge, and sometimes 
their minds are not quite so attentive to their duties as 
they might be, and the mildew is in and all over 
the place before anyone is aware of its presence. 
Plenty of remedies are advertised to destroy mildew, 
and probably some kill it better than others, but 
whatever remedy kills it, the disfigurement of the 
foliage remains until new growth has again been made, 
as previously stated. If, therefore, prevention is the 
best remedy, it is worth while trying to avoid the evil 
than having to kill or cure after you have got it. 
If by attention to ventilation and watering the evil can 
be avoided, it must be of more importance and more 
benefit to the well-being of the plants to keep mildew 
from them ; at any rate, during the time they are 
making a quantity of young growth.— IF. O. 
- •*=£*• - 
ON WATERING PLANTS.* 
There is, perhaps, no other operation in the whole art 
of gardening which is so important to master as the 
principles of watering. In order to try and make this 
matter clear, I will first mention a few of the more 
important functions which water performs, or brings 
about in the plant. First of all, let us remember that 
the essential living principle of plants (the protoplasm) 
cannot exist without water, even when in its most 
dormant condition, such as in seeds, bulbs, &c. 
Neither can it grow, nor in fact move, and show signs 
of life. Indeed, water is an inseparable constituent of 
living things ; and most important to remember that 
plants take up all their food in either a liquid or 
gaseous state, the former by the roots, the other, as 
before mentioned, by the leaves and other aerial parts 
of the plant. Moreover, there is a certain relationship 
between their amount of absorption—that is, a plant 
may have a plentiful supply of the gaseous constituent, 
but without the liquid. This of itself is of little 
avail to the plant without water to carry and distribute 
throughout its system the newly-formed products ; 
indeed, for the time being they become part and parcel 
of the plant itself. But what is most important is 
that, with the exception of carbon, the other elements 
which are required by plants are all introduced through 
the agency of water by the roots. All other things 
being equal, the amount of any given element taken 
up by the plant bears individually a direct relationship 
to the amount of water absorbed. 
It will easily be seen that this is the case, when we 
remember that in the vapour or water which leaves the 
plant in the process of transpiration or evaporation, it 
is practically pure water—that is to say, the various 
salts which may have entered the plant with it in 
solution have been left behind, and become part of the 
plant; or what is for all practical purposes the same 
thing, they may have been stored up in some compound 
form as a reserve material. Indeed, as before men¬ 
tioned, exposure to light, to encourage transpiration, 
was said to be favourable to the ripening of the wood. 
It therefore follows that without a sufficient supply 
of water they will necessarily be imperfectly ripened, 
as without the proper proportion of all the elements 
which go to make up the perfect plant, it is impossible 
for true maturation to take place. Instances of this 
may often be seen in fruit trees grown under glass, and 
which have not had sufficient water allowed them. In 
the case of Peaches, the flower buds, instead of de¬ 
veloping into strong healthy flower, fall off, or drop, as 
it is called. Sometimes this occurs to such an extent 
that the crop is a failure, but it may be only partial, if 
the process has not been carried to an extreme. If 
this case should happen to a Grape Vine, then young 
growths appear without bunches, or they may be small 
and weakly, and so on. In other plants, say in a Pine¬ 
apple, the best fruits are produced without shading, 
and for the simple reason that, as they then pass more 
water through their systems, there are more ash con¬ 
stituents and nitrogen taken up by the plants. I 
might just mention that this process of maturation is 
really the point upon which the success or failure of 
fruit-growing depends, and this leads to the conclusion 
that fruit-growing outdoors (with a few exceptions) 
must in a fitful climate like ours be something near to 
a game of chance or speculation. Could we but bring 
the clearer skies of Australia, or of the Continent, or 
America, to illuminate our lands, which are equally as 
well adapted for fruit growing as any, then something 
like regularity in success might be anticipated. It 
amounts to nothing more than that the various forces 
of which we have been speaking, are more active in 
other countries during the growing period than with 
us, and hence it is that we are dependent on foreign 
lands for supplies of fruit. As a further proof that it 
is so, when we are visited by a winter approaching in 
severity to theirs, we suffer much more than the 
countries mentioned, the maturation process not 
having been so complete. 
As this is what takes place in large-fruiting plants, it is 
reasonable to infer that the same holds good of smaller 
subjects grown in pots. But in the ease of pots, a new 
factor is brought to bear upon the matter. The roots 
* Extracted from a paper read by Mr. Frank Ross, Pendcll 
Court Gardens, at a recent meeting of the Chiswick Gardeners' 
Mutual Improvement Association. 
Papaver orientale. (See p. 437.) 
