September 19, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
33 
TEA-SCENTED ROSES. 
The section of Roses classed under the above heading 
is one of the most popular, and deservedly so, for 
none can excel Tea Roses in their exquisite chaste¬ 
ness of colours and scent. They are also amongst 
the most floriferous plants we have, and being so 
eminently suitable for indoor or outdoor cultivation, 
they are well worthy of a place in all gardens or 
greenhouses, however small. 
Tea-scented Roses are truly “perpetual,” for they 
are among the first to flower in early spring, and 
will keep on producing quantities of bloom until 
completely cut down by the frost. I have often cut 
a nice bunch of Roses from the open air during 
November and December, the majority of which 
belonged to this section. 
During the last ten to fifteen years, Roses have 
made a wonderful advance, both as regards size, 
shape, and colour, and none more so than this 
section. 
For softness of shadings, and delicate tints, no 
flower, excepting a few of the choicest of Orchids, can 
compare with such varieties of Tea Roses as Sou¬ 
venir d’un Ami, Francisca Kruger, Comtesse Riza 
du Parc, Jean Ducher, Annie Ollivier, Niphetos, 
Perle des Jardins, Comtesse de Nadaillac, Ethel 
Brownlow, Marie Van Houtte, Jean Pernet, Madame 
de Watteville, and dozens of others to be found 
amongst this section. The twelve varieties named 
above are perhaps the best for forcing, or growing 
in a warm and sheltered situation out of doors. 
When choosing climbers for 'any walls or fences, 
one is naturally drawn towards Roses, and the finest 
of all for this purpose can also be found amongst the 
Teas ; for instance, Gloire de Dijon, Marechal Neil, 
Reine Marie Henriette, Heinriette de Beauveau, 
Brunnert Fridolin, Mdme. Berard, &c., are all suitable. 
Wherever Roses will thrive at all well, this class is 
sure to give the most satisfaction. Any description 
of soil suits them, but the best is a deep, rich, and 
well-drained loam. Tea Roses will amply repay 
any generous treatment in the way of manure and 
constantly working among the plants ; also in having 
all dead and decayed blooms removed. One more 
very great point in their favour is their comparative 
freedom from mildew, and absolute freedom from 
the orange fungus and red rust, so prevalent among 
other classes in the autumn months. 
Teas are also a hardy class of Roses, although the 
delicate appearance of their growth and blooms 
have, until lately, made many growers treat them as 
tender subjects. It is not so, however, for provided 
this class of Rose is protected at the base of the 
plant, by having some soil earthed up around it, the 
most severe frosts will not kill the plant outright; 
the lower eyes being kept sound under the soil, they 
start into healthy growth early in the spring. 
They also possess greater vitality than any other 
section. A Tea-scented Rose that has a little life left 
in it should never be cast away or condemned, as, if 
carefully nursed, it will more often than not return 
to full strength and health. Not so the Hybrid 
Perpetuals and Bourbons, which if once they com¬ 
mence to go back, are almost hopeless; these 
classes also die more frequently from the effects of 
frost than the Teas. Where any growers have a 
fancy for plants upon their own roots, this section is 
the best to grow, as they will keep producing strong 
suckers from their base and which will greatly in¬ 
crease the size of the base and also produce the 
grandest blooms,— Experience. 
GARDEN TURNIPS. 
The varieties of Turnips both for field and garden 
purposes are now very great. While the aim is to 
get large-sized and generally late Turnips for the 
field, small or fair-sized and early varieties have 
been selected for garden use. The market growers 
about London grow very few sorts, and Snowball is 
the universal favourite. The gentleman’s gardener 
may have his favourites, but he grows a number of 
varieties as a rule according to fancy and require¬ 
ments. Several varieties are noted for their earliness, 
and for this quality they are used for the first sowing 
on warm borders. Where ground is scarce it is 
sometimes convenient to employ the small-topped 
varieties which require little distance between the 
rows. The first sowing may be made about the 
middle of March, and successional ones at intervals 
from thence onwards to the end of June or the 
beginning of July for the rnain or winter crop. 
Those who prefer very young Turnips may keep on 
sowing up to the end of August in the southern 
districts and all the warmer parts of England. 
The early sown crops must be utilised as soon as 
they become fit for use, otherwise the hot and dry 
weather soon renders them stringy, or causes them 
to run to seed. The particularly early varieties are 
most liable to behave in this way. Varieties differ 
in form by being oblong and tapering resembling 
Beetroot, while others are globular or more or less 
flattened. The leading colours are white, yellow, 
red, green, and brownish or black, wdth every inter¬ 
mediate shade. The flesh is either white or yellow, 
but varies greatly in quality. Curiously enough 
great value is attached to the white varieties in the 
southern parts of the country, while those in the 
north have as great a liking for the yellow kinds. 
A large collection may be seen on trial in the 
gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chis¬ 
wick, where all the leading and most popular types 
may be noted. The first to come into use is Early 
Milan, a flattened, purple-topped Turnip of small 
size and short leaves. This is followed by the Strap 
Leaf, which is white, with a red top, and is of much 
better quality ; it is also very compact in habit, and 
may be sown in lines but a short distance asunder, 
or broadcast for early work. Next in order comes 
the White Dutch, a roundish white Turnip of excel¬ 
lent quality, and an old and much cultivated sort. 
Snowball is the variety so much grown by the 
London market growers, and constitutes the best 
main crop sort to follow the above mentioned in 
private gardens. It is also sometimes grown under 
the name of Early Stone, Stubble or Six Weeks. 
The flesh is sweet and tender, while its fine shape 
and clean appearance help largely to render it popu¬ 
lar. There is also a sub-variety of the above with 
the upper or exposed portion of it green. 
Several other varieties find favour with different 
cultivators, according to the purpose for which they 
may be used. That known as Half-long White has 
a tuber about 6 in. to 8 in. long, tapering somewhat 
like Beetroot, and white. It is very early, has 
small leaves, and is found to be a useful sort for 
forcing purposes ; the quality is also good. Some¬ 
what similar in shape is the Long Green Tankard, 
the exposed portion being green ; the quality is 
also fine. The Half-long Red Top is also good, 
and differs chiefly in the top of the tuber being red. 
It is otherwise known as Tankard or Vertus. 
Chirk Castle or Black Stone is a hardy sort of good 
quality. The skin is generally described as black, 
but it may more correctly be compared to the 
Potato known as Village Blacksmith, the skin being 
brown and very rough. Russian Scarlet has very 
small leaves and a compact habit, and the quality 
being good, the variety will no doubt get into the 
favour of some. The tuber is somewhat flattened 
and red. 
The Yellow Finland is a remarkably small and 
flattened yellow Turnip comparable to Early Milan, 
but is even more compact with a few short leaves 
lying upon the ground. One would hardly expect to 
find a tuber at all, judging from the diminutive leaves. 
The tap root is very slender, and leaves the tuber 
quite clean. Large White Globe Purple Top offers 
a strong contrast to the above in the matter of size. 
The exposed portion of the large tuber is of a clear, 
light purple, and the flesh of excellent quality. 
Robertson's Golden Ball is another large Turnip, 
similar in size to Snowball, but differing from it in 
being golden-yellow. While the latter constitutes 
the main crop in the south, the former or some of 
the allied varieties is the favourite in the north of 
England and in Scotland. In spite of their yellow 
skin and flesh it is questionable whether yellow 
Turnips are not of better quality than the white kinds; 
and they are certainly hardier and better adapted to 
resist a severe winter. The Yellow Dutch also 
grown in the collection here is a large and good sort 
THE EPACRIS. 
“ Can I grow the Epacris ? ’’ said a neighbour to me 
a few days ago. It is a plant cultivated with great 
success at Gunnersbury Park, being found so useful 
for cutting purposes; and my neighbour being a 
lover of plants wished to know if she could grow 
them, and the information I gave her may be per¬ 
haps useful to readers of The Gardening World, 
who are always desirou,§ of picking up information 
of this character- 
Few plants are better for winter and spring 
flowering than the Epacris, and what is of some 
importance, they are on the whole easy to manage. 
Flowever, as in the case of other things, if one would 
succeed it is necessary to understand something 
about first principles, which I will endeavour to lay 
down as clearly as I can. 
One of the chief recommendations belonging to 
this class of plants is that they require nothing 
beyond that of a common greenhouse temperature, 
helped as a matter of course by a little artificial heat 
when necessary. Indeed, some of the species and 
varieties will not be injured if they experience a 
few degrees of frost; however, it is always best to 
prevent the frost from getting to them. After the 
plants have done flowering they should be kept as 
cool as can be allowed in the greenhouse, say the 
coolest and shadiest side away from the sun heat; 
indeed, a cold pit or frame, if available, is a more 
suitable place for them, but it is not always those 
who have a greenhouse have a pit also. Here they 
can remain through the spring, covering the frame 
up at night when frost may be expected ; and in the 
early part of May the plants can be cut down to 
within an inch or so from where they had been cut 
back the previous season. 
To induce them to break again into growth, it is 
the usual practice to keep the frame close for a fort¬ 
night or so, and when started, they need to be re¬ 
potted, using three parts of fibry peat and one part of 
turfy loam, mixing with both some silver-sand. The 
bulbs can be reduced one-half or even more, accor¬ 
ding as the roots are in a healthy condition or other¬ 
wise. When repotted in well drained pots, the soil 
being pressed firmly about the roots, they do best 
when placed on a north aspect, and kept close for 
two or three weeks in a frame on a north aspect; or 
if on a southerly one, the plants should be shaded 
from the sun in the middle of the day. Water should 
be applied cautiously, and only when necessary ; and 
so treated, the plants would commence to go a-head 
nicely. They are much benefited by syringing over 
head, but only on the mornings or evenings of warm, 
drying days. It is not usual to stop growing plants, 
unless it is required to make them more bushy ; but 
if wanted for the decoration of rooms, halls, etc., it 
is certainly advisable not to stop them. Young 
plants may be encouraged to grow into size by giving 
them more than one shift in a season, and they can be 
stopped also as required in order to make them bushy. 
Some of the varieties are winter bloomers and 
others flower in the spring; the former require a 
moderate amount of fire heat to bring them well into 
flower. The colours of the flowers are varied, they 
range from white to dark-crimson; and those with 
combinations of crimson and white, rose and white, 
or pink and white, are very attractive indeed. The 
flowers, when cut, and especially in the winter time, 
remain a long while fresh in wet sand and water, 
which is a valuable quality. Then of all hard-wooded 
su bj ects, the Epacris perhaps makes the strongest 
roots; they are also much less subject to insects than 
other plants of the same character. 
The white carmine and bright pink forms of E. 
hyacinthus, Salmonea, reddish salmon, Sunset, 
bright-red, and the Bride, pearly-white, are among 
the best early flowering forms; and for later work, 
Eclipse, bright-red and white, very free and fine; 
Grandiflora rubra, deeper in colour than the preced¬ 
ing, and muriata splendens, red, tipped with white, 
are decidedly the best.— R. D. 
THE WHITE STOCK, 
PRINCESS ALICE. 
In this variety the lover of good Stocks has a per¬ 
fect gem. It may be described as a Ten-weeks 
variety, and is pure white. I sowed a packet of seed 
in March in a box in a frame, transplanted the seed¬ 
lings into other boxes when large enough, and finally 
planted them out in May into well-tilled land. We 
have been cutting the side spikes for some weeks 
past, and as they are large and can be cut a foot in 
length they look handsome when massed in large 
vases, and their odour is simply delicious. 
Another great recommendation of this Stock is 
that it keeps on blooming until severe frosts stop it. 
Last year we could cut them till November, and both 
last year and this we had but a small percentage of 
singles. Beautiful as are the East Lothians I prefer 
the Princess Alice, as it comes into bloom so much 
earlier in the summer. It is also most valuable for 
planting in the mixed border in large masses. To 
have Stocks really fine the soil must be in good heart, 
deeply worked and well enriched ,—Cgn 
