Jan. 3rd, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
277 
THE “ PEN-Y-BYD ” MARROW. 
At the October meeting of the Fruit and Vegetable 
Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, in 
1883, that very successful vegetable grower and exhi¬ 
bitor, Mr. Muir, gardener to C. R. M. Talbot, Esq., 
Margam Park, Tiabach, South Wales, exhibited a new 
Vegetable Marrow, which came before the Committee 
with a wonderful reputation as a cropper. Some of 
the members present had seen it the month previously 
at the great show at Dundee, where the judges recog¬ 
nizing its good qualities, gave it a First-Class Certifi¬ 
cate. It was much admired at South Kensington and 
gained a similar award there. At both of these 
meetings it was shown as Muir’s Hybrid, a plain, 
matter of fact sort of cognomen, which has been 
changed for the more striking name of Pen-y-byd, by 
which every Welshman will recognize it as The best 
in the World. 
This is not the first new Marrow that Mr. Muir has 
raised, but it is the best and most distinct. It belongs 
to the custard section, and is generally globular in 
shape, as will be seen by the accompanying illustra¬ 
tions, but sometimes comes slightly ribbed. The plant 
is a strong vigorous grower, very short jointed, and 
sets a fruit at every joint. The flesh is of a creamy 
white colour, thick and firm, and very delicate in 
flavour. The stock has passed into the hands of 
standards, and some make good pillar Roses. Really 
they represent a section of late summer and autumn 
flowering Roses that are deserving of a much wider 
popularity than they at present enjoy. At one time 
they were in advance of the perpetual Roses in point 
of colour, but though headed if not surpassed in this 
respect, they are as beautiful in the summer as the 
perpetuals, and more lasting on into the year. As to 
their treatment, they can be cultivated and pruned in 
the same way as the perpetuals. 
It would seem that the first Bourbon Rose received 
the name of L’lle de Bourbon or Bourbon Jacques, for 
under both these names it was disseminated, and it 
was from this Rose, variously hybridized, that all the 
Bourbon Roses have been obtained. For the first few 
years most of the seedlings obtained one of the same 
colour of the original. Some were finer and many 
more double. The first variation" was the production 
of varieties of a clear and beautiful silvery tint, then 
of a dark purple and crimson hue ; and when Paul’s 
Prince Albert came out, about 1850 or thereabouts, a 
great gain was achieved. This Rose has a somewhat 
interesting history. It was found growing by Mr. 
Adam Paul, of the Cheshunt Nurseries, in the garden 
of the raiser, in the neighbourhood of Fontenay-aux- 
Roses, near Paris, and, being struck with the beauty 
and brilliancy of the flowers, he purchased the entire 
slock and sent it out. Of the Bourbon Roses now in 
expanding at the end of October. Anyone who may 
be induced to give some of them a trial will be certain 
to be grateful that our advice was taken.— B. D. 
— a~~ -■ 
SUBSTITUTES FOR THE POTATO. 
During bad Potato-disease years, when something like 
a panic seems to have seized us, and when the cry is for 
gooddisease-resistingkinds.it is not unusual to hearthat 
various other tuber-producing plants are being pressed 
into the service in the hope of discovering some good 
substitute for the Potato—a tuber which is undoubt¬ 
edly one of the staple food-stuffs of the nation. 
Hitherto, however, little success has attended the 
efforts of those who would have us quite independent 
of the Potato. Either the climate has been unsuited, 
or some peculiarity of the English palate has prevented 
any progress being made. Parsnips and Jerusalem 
Artichokes have been recommended, and although we 
profess a certain partiality for these at times we are 
not sanguine enough to believe they will ever become 
substitutes for a good floury Potato. We do not 
think that the plant has yet been discovered which in 
our climate can be so cheaply produced, had in 
perfection all the year round, and of which our 
palates never seem to tire. 
One of the plants which have been introduced to 
compete with the Potato is Ullucus tuberosus, the 
MUIR S NEW VEGETABLE MARROW, PEN-Y-BYD. 
Messrs. James Veitch & Sons, who are sending it out 
this season as one of their novelties, and to whom we 
are indebted for the illustrations given above. 
- CL - ' ' *^0 — 
THE BOURBON ROSES. 
Some seventy years ago, “ a French Botanist, M. 
Breon, visited the Island of Bourbon, and found 
growing in a garden at St. Benoist, a Rose altogether 
new to him. The flowers were rosy-carmine, beauti¬ 
fully cupped, and the petals remarkable for their 
size and smoothness. Our botanist did not fail to 
appreciate this nou veaute, and sending it to Paris, it 
was there multiplied and scattered abroad; this was 
the original Bourbon Rose. It is not a species, but 
an accidental hybrid, supposed to have sprung up 
between the common China Rose and the red Four 
Seasons.” Such is the account handed down to us 
as to the origin of the first Bourbon Rose. The 
hybrid Bourbon Roses are hybrids between the 
Bourbon and the Gallica and Provence Roses; the 
ohage which is large, handsome and shining, par¬ 
takes much of the former, the flowers resembling the 
ybnd Chinas. They are nearly, if not quite, all 
0 Y1 8 orous and robust growth, forming handsome 
cultivation the following are the best:—Acidalie, 
blush-white, large and full, very fine ; Armosa, pink, 
full double flowers, produced in masses; Madame 
Isaac Periere, light carmine, clear in colour, exceed¬ 
ingly large, one of the best; Queen, buff-rose, large 
and double, very free; Queen of Bedders, dark 
purplish-crimson, very free and fine ; Setina, pink, a 
new climbing form of Armosa; and the fine old 
Souvenir de Malmaison, clear flesh, the edges blush, 
large and full, and can be shown on the exhibition 
table. Of the hybrid Bourbon Roses the following 
are the pick ;—Baronne Gonella, bright rose with 
bronze shading, perfectly arranged petals, large and 
full; Baronne de Noirmont, rose, -with white under¬ 
sides of petals, large, full, and globular; Madame 
Blanche Durschimal, white, slightly tinted, semi¬ 
double, very free and good ; and Reine Victoria, fine 
bright pink, perfect half globular form, medium sized, 
very good blossoms. 
One authority on the Rose informs us that the 
Bourbon Roses are generally hardy and easy of 
culture, short wooded, and free blooming, and they 
require two annual dressings of manure and close 
pruning. So treated they are the most beautiful of 
autumn Roses, flowering better and more abundantly 
late in the season than in summer, fine flowers often 
tubers of which are largely consumed by theTndians 
of Peru and Bolivia. The plant is a member of the 
Chenopodiacete, hence a cousin of the Beetroot; though 
it is not the root which is eaten, but a true tuber, very 
similar to the Potato in shape and appearance, but 
smaller than a Walnut, and of a pale green colour and 
waxy texture. The plant is largely cultivated in the 
Andes of Peru and Bolivia at an elevation of 11,000 ft. 
to 13,000 ft. under the name of Ocaquina. The 
Indians are said to prepare them by alternately 
freezing and steeping, by which an amylaceous sub¬ 
stance is produced. The plant was long ago introduced 
by Professor Jameson, of Quito, to the Horticultural 
Society’s Gardens under the name of Jlelloco. At the 
present time new species of Potato are being looked 
up, chiefly for hybridizing purposes, and it is possible 
that some success may in this way be looked for. We 
recently heard that one of these species had acquired 
the bad habit of producing its tubers above ground. 
Ullucus tuberosus is said to produce thread-like 
branches from the axils of the leaves, which run over 
the soil and enter to develoii tubers; and we suspect 
some connection between the two, especially as a dish 
of the tubers was exhibited at the meeting of the 
Linnean Society on December 18th. These tubers 
were very similar to small round Potatos, the eyes 
