658 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 16, 1894. 
plant. Among other plants which were favourites 
for the purpose of bedding, were Coleus, Heliotrope, 
Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums, Lobelia, Pyrethrums, and 
Marguerites. In many places carpet bedding was 
extensively laid out, but it was rather a tedious 
and tiresome business all through, although it was 
generally admired when successfully carried out. 
In large gardens, sub-tropical work might be tried 
with advantage, but in smaller places it was perhaps 
rather out of place. He strongly advised the 
planting of sweet smelling plants, which were most 
refreshing, and among some useful ones he mentioned 
the scented Tobacco, scented leaved Pelargoniums, 
lemon scented Verbenas, Stocks, and Sweet Peas. 
To those who took a special interest in bedding he 
would recommend a visit to the London parks, 
where there might be jotted down some few rough 
outlines of some of the more striking beds. 
In a discussion which ensued on the paper, Mr. 
Caterer mentioned that he had suffered very severely 
this year through bedding early, and he should, 
another year, advise waiting until the first week in 
June. He did not recommend much watering, but 
cocoa-nut fibre was very useful as a top dressing, 
although it was rather expensive. 
-- 
THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS 
IN SCOTLAND. 
Notwithstanding the fine prospect of having 
heavy crops of every kind of fruit this season, I fear 
many of us will not have our expectations realised. 
We had frost for about a week late in May varying 
from 5 ° to 7 ° in the valley of the Forth, but our 
friends from the northern counties of England and 
many parts of Scotland report greater severity of 
weather. Wherever the sun struck directly on fruit 
or foliage early in the morning severe injury was 
done ; as, for example, the Morello Cherries which 
face north-east are almost destroyed, while those 
which are on walls having a south-east aspect are 
almost uninjured, the abundant foliage having 
rendered good service in protecting the fruit. Thus a 
warning is given to those who persist in the practice 
of disbudding their wall trees early and severely. 
The Plum, Apricot, and Peach crops have suffered 
much, and the trees themselves in many cases have 
a scorched appearance. The Apple crop is no doubt 
much injured, though we think the position of the 
trees which are not exposed to early sun are pretty 
safe ; but certain hardy varieties have undoubtedly 
resisted the untoward treatment more than others, 
and by former experience we have been taught to 
plant largely such fruits as do not suffer readily from 
frost. The Apple grub has appeared in some force, and 
seems to have been scarcely checked by syringing 
the trees with soap-suds and helebore powder mixed. 
This pest finds suitable food on every variety of 
Apple we have. Bush trees which can be reached 
by the aid of steps, or those not so tall, are managed 
by hand picking and syringing, but orchard trees are 
further out of reach and cannot be managed so 
easily. It is always safer in other respects to have 
a collection of dwarf trees, especially where 
wind has much power on them. This season will 
test the Seaton House Apples here (which have 
given us our main supply since the end of last 
September, and the last of them was used on June 5 th, 
which have on no occasion failed to produce good 
crops. 
The Black Currant crops are totally destroyed, 
but Red and White are uninjured. They, along 
with Gooseberries (a good crop too) are grown with 
Apples and Plums, on tall stems, towering above the 
small fruits. While the larger fruits are generally 
very plentifully grown, as indicated, the others under 
the shelter of these are always abundant and large 
in size. Strawberries suffered where they were in 
flower. John Ruskin is apparently more hardy than 
some others. Though earlier, they seem to have 
escaped the severity of the frost. Vegetables are 
uninjured, except Potatos, which are cut down to 
the ground level, but are again starting freely into 
growth. On strong land (such as we have) we do 
not fear having good crops. 
Cabbage, Spinach, and Celery in their varieties 
have done well and did not suffer by the frost, but 
all shrubs and trees which had started into growth 
are blackened on the side exposed to morning sun. 
Rhododendrons of the earlier kinds are ruined for 
next year's flowering, and are black and scorched ; 
those which were not in flower are now a mass of 
bloom, and all flowering shrubs and trees are 
flowering more freely than we ever saw them.— 
M. T., Stirlingshire, N.B. 
THE ROSERY. 
Climbing,-OR Dijon Tea Roses. 
Generali.y speaking, these are among the most 
hardy and floriferous Roses we have, while all are 
good climbers. The parent of this race, Gloire de 
Dijon, was sent out by Jacotot in 1853 , and is 
reputed to be a cross between the Tea-scented and 
Bourbon classes. With the hope of calling attention 
to a few Roses which are equally hardy and free as 
Gloire de Dijon, and differing from it in scarcely any 
way but colour and form of flowers, I venture to name 
six of which I consider the best. Before going any fur¬ 
ther, I would like it to be distinctly understood that it 
is only for sake of variety that I would choose either 
in preference to the old Gloire. 
Belle Lyonnaise was sent out in 1869 , and is a clear 
lemon-yellow. Very large, full, and exquisitely 
sweet scented. 
Bouquet d'Or ( 1872 ) has more than once been de¬ 
scribed as an improved Dijon. I think it deserves 
this praise, for if not quite so strong a grower, the 
blooms are more finished, and have a pleasing shade 
of salmony-yellow, deeper and more constant than 
that sweet shade we find in Gloire de Dijon towards 
the end of a favourable autumn. 
Madame Berard is a light salmon with deeper 
shadings; in a young stage these are almost 
apricot or orange. It is a prodigious grower and 
carries very handsome foliage. Sent out in 1872 . 
Madame Chauvry did not follow until 1886 , and is 
distinct from the above as regards colour; the 
orange and apricot are more pronounced and con¬ 
stant. 
Henriette deBeauveau was introduced a year later, and 
is a charmingly clear yellow of good form and size. 
Sweet scented and very free blooming. 
Kaiserin Friedrich is one of the very best, and re¬ 
sulted from crossing Gloire de Dijon with Perle des 
Jardins. In every way it is equally as free and good 
as Gloire, but it has a pronounced tint of yellow, and 
always carries a deep flush of beautiful rose, some¬ 
what after the autumnal flowers of Marie Van 
Houtte. Introduced in i 8 go. 
A good scarlet variety which very closely 
resembles this class may be found in Reine Marie 
Henriette. This is a grand grower and much deeper 
in colour early in the spring under glass. Grown 
like Marechal Niel it invariably produces a large 
quantity of useful blooms, which form a grand con¬ 
trast to the lighter coloured Teas. A second cross, 
this time between Madame Berard and General 
Jacqueminot, was responsible for Reine Marie Henri¬ 
ette. Madame Berard was from G. de Dijon and 
Madame Falcot; the presence of the latter is evi¬ 
denced by the deep, bronzy foliage and apricot- 
tinted blooms. In the second cross we lose this, but 
get the deep green foliage and clear red shade of 
General Jacqueminot. All of these need growing on 
the long rod system if good blooms are wanted under 
glass. On walls and fences I would steer a midway 
course between this and the let-alone system, avoid¬ 
ing a too crowded growth by cutting away all 
superfluous wood as soon as it had flowered.— 
Experience. 
- ^ - 
THE TEAK TRADE OF 
SIAM. 
In a most interesting paper on the commerce of 
Siam in relation to the trade of the British Empire, 
read at a meeting of the Society of Arts on the 24 th 
ult., Mr. C. S. Leckie, referring to the Teak industry, 
said :—A Teak forest is generally supposed to be 
something entirely different from what it actually 
is. One can go up the bed of a stream flowing into 
one of the northern rivers, and you may walk miles 
without seeing a single Teak tree ; you meet \\;ith 
Paddy fields, dense jungle, open jungle, mountain 
gorges, splendid scenery ; but the thing you meet 
with seldom enough when looking keenly for it is a 
Teak tree. The Teak grows here and there, on the 
sides of the hills which spread for miles from the 
stream, and although in places it grows in rich 
patches, it was never my fortune to get into a really 
rich patch. The method of the work is tedious. A 
forester sends his elephants in care of their mahouts 
into the forest, for which his employers have a lease 
from the Government, or the working rights from 
the holder of the lease, and drags, during the rainy 
season, as many logs as his elephants can manage to 
the bank of the stream. It is quite a usual thing for 
the Teak to be dragged four or five miles to the 
stream, and it is a good forest which can show a 
record of fifty logs being worked by one elephant in 
one season. The elephants then stack the wood on 
the banks of the creek, where it awaits the inspection 
of the buyer. After measuring the logs are put into 
the stream and then comes the great delay, often 
enough, of waiting for sufficient rain to float the 
wood down the streams into the rivers. With a 
moderate rise of water the elephants follow the 
wood along down the river bed and push it off sand 
banks and rocks where it sticks, and get it into the 
river at last. When once in the river the wood is 
left to itself, if the water is too deep to allow the 
elephants to walk down the river bed, and the logs 
spin away down stream unassisted. After passing 
through the rapids, which descend to the low lands 
extending from the sea to the foot of the northern 
plateaus, the wood is caught by rafters, and tied up 
into rafts of 150 on the Me Ping, or 100 logs in the 
Eastern river, and sent on down the 400 miles or so 
to Bangkok in care of the Siamese rafters. The 
rafting waters are from June to November. The 
work is slow, for the average time used in delivering 
a Teak tree into Bangkok, from its stump where it 
was felled, is about three years, although the distance 
actually covered is not over 600 miles. 
The Burmese and Shan foresters who work for 
the British firms are all British subjects, and as the 
trade is carried on for the most part through them, 
the Teak trade in the forests is really a British trade. 
The owners of the forest leases, with but few excep¬ 
tions, are the Laos chiefs and princes, who receive a 
royalty on every log worked out of a forest, and the 
Government collect a second duty before the wood 
enters Bangkok. The labour is mostly supplied by 
the native hill tribes, Kamouks and Kariengs. 
Kamouks come to the Teak workings from across 
the Mekong, and as they are now being cared for by 
the paternal Government of France, it is possible 
our labour question in the Teak forests may become 
difficult. 
The preservation of Teak forests, which has had 
such excellent attention from the British Govern¬ 
ment in India, has been ignored in Siam ; but we 
now begin to hear of certain stipulations being put 
into new leases, imposing on the lessee the obligation 
to plant four Teak saplings for every one tree felled 
during the term of a lease. The British firms buy 
only wood which has reached a certain maturity, 
and their contractors deliver no very young wood. 
But the natives send down to Bangkok annually 
large quantities of quite young Teak ; this has gone 
on unchecked by the Government, and several 
thousands of these logs come on the Bangkok market 
every season, and are bought for posts and light 
beams and house work. The simple remedy of 
forbiding the delivery past the Government Timber 
Duty Station of all Teak below a certain girth would 
cure the evil quickly, and prevent any necessity of 
irksome stipulations being imposed on British 
traders. 
The annual export of Teak from Siam to Europe, 
Bombay, and Hong-Kong is likely to increase, as 
the northern forest work gets better organised, and 
the elephant force employed increases. The annual 
supply of rough logs into Bangkok is so entirely 
dependent on the rainfall for the year that there 
must always be the great variation in quantity shown 
by the export lists of the past six or eight years. I 
will mention here that the coinage used in the north 
of Siam is the Indian rupee. As soon as the 
Cheangmai plateau or the Lakon, Phrae, Nan, or 
Ootaradit districts, and the rich Mekong plain are 
reached, the Siamese Tical ceases to pass current; 
and in this large section of Siam the British rupee is 
the only coin the people understand. The British 
Teak firms have to import their rupees and send 
them up to Cheangmai. It is interesting to find a 
large portion of Siam using British coin, and main¬ 
taining it for many years after the establishment of 
the Tical Mint in Bangkok. 
- ^ - 
EARLY STRAWBERRIES. 
Though the season has been a very trying one, I 
gathered my first Strawberries in the open on May 
25 th. The variety was Laxton’s Noble, and very 
fine. I picked my first dish of Peas on June ist— 
Sutton’s Improved ^Villiam I., sown at the same 
time as Sangster's No. i, but a fortnight earlier.—■ 
W. Pepper, Holme Mead, Lymington, Hants. 
