742 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 25th, 1885. 
SCOTTISH GARDENING. 
Notes on Eoses. —At this season of the year, the 
“ Queen of Flowers ” probably commands more 
attention than perhaps any other plant growing in 
the open air. The interest taken in the cultivation 
of Eoses is widely shared by all classes ; they are 
objects of admiration to all, from peer to peasant, 
and many of the finest plants are to be found in the 
possession of cottagers. Where proprietors take an 
interest in their poorer neighbours and aid them in 
securing neat gardens, where their tastes can be 
developed in cultivating flowers, fruits, and vegetables, 
such proprietors cannot fail to experience much 
pleasure and satisfaction at having the privilege of 
thus (in a certain sense) “ bearing one another’s 
burdens.” We know that many employers of labour 
in Scotland have done much to cheer their poorer 
neighbours, and greatly advance morality and thrifty 
habits by judicious arrangements in providing cottage 
gardens and allotments, and afterwards interesting 
themselves in fostering a taste for horticulture. In 
many counties of England, especially in the south, 
the best Apricots, out-door Grapes, and Eoses, are 
to be found in the gardens of the peasantry. We have 
very distinct recollections of the Essex, Suffolk, and 
Norfolk Eoses, and in Oxfordshire and Wilts, where 
lime is very abundant in the soil, Apricots are found 
healthy, and fruiting admirably on cottagers’ houses, 
while Eoses adorn the fronts of the dwellings, and 
the cultivation of them, in many eases, is thoroughly 
understood. 
Poverty of soil, dryness at the roots, sour, 
undrained land, being well-known to act as the chief 
barriers to success in Eose growing, are frequently 
combated with a skill by humble cultivators that 
would do credit to any gardeners we ever knew. In 
such dry seasons as this, the present, and last year, 
it is no light task to keep Eoses healthy and maintain 
the excellence of bloom so desirable. 
Localities change matters very materially. While 
some Eoses are all that one would desire, when grown 
in certain districts, they are almost worthless in other 
places. We were told the other day by a visitor, that 
in his western, mild, and moist county, Souvenir de la 
Mahnaisons would not open sufficiently to make them 
recognizable, but they have shown their distinctive 
qualities here most satisfactorily. We have found that 
much can be done to remedy such evils as not 
opening, but to substitute a bracing atmosphere and 
a reduction of atmospheric moisture, is beyond our 
ken. Experience in districts wide apart where the 
nature of the soil and climate varies proportionately 
has long since prompted us to take measures to find 
out the kinds of Eoses (like hardy fruits) which are 
popular, and give the greatest satisfaction in the 
locality, and although good selections may be added to 
the established favourites, the latter must be planted 
in the greatest numbers. 
We have had some experience with a good 
collection which we found here, and which were 
planted in ground excellently prepared the season 
before our arrival. Changed circumstances led to 
their having to be lifted to another position. Among 
these are Eoses which have had the character of being 
tender, tardy in flowering, and liable to disease. 
Last year further extension and new arrangements 
caused them to be again lifted and replanted, with their 
numbers largely augmented by a purchase of other 
kinds, perhaps 150. The ground was well turned 
over for them—the subsoil was not brought to the 
surface, but carefully dug over and well broken, 
leaving the best soil upwards. The Eoses by the 
removals were fibry at the roots, and healthy. They 
were planted with rich, wholesome, and kindly soil, 
thoroughly mulched with rotten cow-manure, carefully 
covering the junction of stock and scion ; over all was 
placed a covering of soil, to give an orderly appearance 
to the surface, and although we were eight weeks with¬ 
out a shower to moisten the surface of the soil, the Eoses 
grew and flowered far beyond our expectation. Just 
a word in passing on mulching: a quantity of manure 
thrown over the surf ace of the roots, made firm and close, 
does much good by nourishing and protecting the 
roots, but when the manure is made to answer its 
purpose and is kept from the action of the weather, 
which soon dries it up and absorbs all the nourish¬ 
ment out of it, we have economy and usefulness in 
a much greater degree than when the manure is left 
exposed. It is many years since I took to covering 
mulching placed over fruit bushes, trees, and Eoses. 
The lifting of Eoses does much to save them from 
mildew; suckers can be' got rid of and the vigour 
of the plants is much increased by the inducing of 
a fibry state of the roots, which causes the wood to 
ripen early, and thus be prepared to stand against 
a severe winter. The growth is more even, and 
flowering greatly increased. One of the greatest 
Eosarians of the present century (both as a grower for 
sale and for exhibition), while giving us some of his 
secrets which made him very successful, remarked, 
“ When your Eoses are doing well, let well alone.” 
There was a deal of common sense in such advice, but 
it was evident this gentleman, who possessed many 
acres of Eoses, did not wholly confine himself to the 
practice which he advised me to follow, as his beds 
of favourites for exhibition purposes evidently were 
frequently renewed by fresh soil, causing lifting of 
roots more or less. Liberal mulchings of old cow- 
manure, the thinning of the strong firm wood, re¬ 
duction of flower buds, copious floodings of farm 
yard manure, and extinction of aphis, were some of 
the items in his practice, which was inconsistent with 
the advice to “ let well alone.” Many of the kinds, 
which were favourites then for the exhibition table, 
were represented in the famous prize collections at 
Edinburgh, lately, which came from Belfast. To have 
such grand blooms, one must not cultivate at random 
—liberality at the roots must be special. 
The mere pruning and surface-dressing are not all 
that is necessary for the attainment which some 
have reached in Eose culture. The use of the knife 
is, however, not to be despised, and one must not 
be guided by the old advice of cutting precisely to the 
same number of buds on each shoot; rather cut out all 
small spray, and the strong wood may have less shorten¬ 
ing. For masses of Eoses to fill beds and borders, 
it is a good system to retain the strong wood in good 
lengths, and peg them down regularly over the surface 
of the soil. They break freely all over and close to 
the roots, and in good ground well cultivated there 
need be no failure with Eoses. This pegging down is 
a practice which we have favoured from our earliest 
recollection, and the shoots often root freely into the 
surface soil, and quantities of plants on their own 
roots are easily obtained. 
The greatest mass of flowers we have ever seen was 
on a south sloping border where the plants were 
freely thinned, but the immense shoots were left long 
and little use of the knife seemed to be put into 
practice. All the kinds were Perpetuals, and the 
cultivator, a very old gardener, did not seem to see 
the necessity of pruning a Hybrid Perpetual different 
from a Hybrid China ; and evidently his purpose was 
well suited, for such a mass of grand Eoses I have 
not seen since, and that is about twenty-two years 
ago. It has been noted, and we think correctly, that 
where fine Wheat can be produced good Eoses 
can also be grown, and if the eastern counties of 
England (Kent, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk) are the 
finest in the kingdom for Wheat-growing, they are 
certainly second to none for Eoses. 
There is much mischief done by the too early 
pruning of Eoses, and we think April—or at least not 
till late in March—very suitable. The shoots then 
grow on unchecked. Mildew is perhaps the worst 
enemy the Eosarian has to contend with, and the 
prevention of this evil is not always under the control 
of the cultivator. Where the circulation of fresh air 
is impeded by buildings or trees mildew can hardly 
be escaped. Where land, is shallow and the roots 
reach a hard dry bottom mildew may be expected as a 
matter of course. Stagnation at the roots from any 
cause accompanied by a damp unhealthy atmosphere 
is a fertile source of this evil. Among some of the 
most noteworthy Eoses which led in the prize collec¬ 
tions at the late Edinburgh show we noted : Duchess of 
Bedford, Merveille de Lyon, Duke of Edinburgh, Dupuy 
Jamain, Lady Mary Fitzwilliam (this commanded 
special attention as a distinct feature of the show), 
Sir Garnet Wolseley, Gloire de Dijon, Star of Waltham, 
Triomphe de Kivers, Souvenir de Paul Neron, Homere, 
Triomphe d’Caen. We have made a list of Eoses 
which have opened extra well here, and which we 
imagine would be useful in any district, but as we see 
others (though later) giving much satisfaction, we 
hope to give a list later on.— M. T. 
THE VICAR’S GARDEN. 
So much has been and is constantly being written 
about the queen of flowers, that it is most difficult 
to say anything fresh on the subject; but Eoses are 
so prominent a feature in the Vicar’s garden, and 
they are grown so admirably, that I would feign add 
my quota in her majesty’s praise. The Eose is 
pre-eminently the Englishman’s flower, for however 
grand or humble his garden may be, he is never 
satisfied until the Eose lends its charms to its embel¬ 
lishment. The plants in our Vicar’s garden are mostly 
dwarfs, some on the seedling Briar, the rest on the 
Manettii stock, and planted from 4 ft. to 5 ft. apart. 
Many of them are fine specimens, yielding blooms 
which would not discredit their grower at any exhibi¬ 
tion. The kinds grown are mostly Hybrid Perpetuals, 
and almost confined to those selected by the National 
Eose Society as the best for exhibition. The names 
are frequently mentioned in the reports of the various 
shows, so that no useful object will be attained 
by repeating them here. The soil here is not of that 
character which an experienced Eosarian would 
select for the purpose, if he had any choice in matter, 
consisting as it does of sandy, stony marl, resting on 
sand and pea-gravel. It receives a liberal coat of 
manure in the winter, and after pruning time the beds 
are mulched with the short grass from the lawn, 
which serves to keep the soil moist and cool, so that 
in ordinary seasons very little watering is required, 
but lately occasional waterings of liquid manure have 
been given. Being planted in a series of beds devoted 
almost exclusively to them, they present a galaxy of 
beauty which any possessor of a garden might well be 
proud of. Where there is space at command, dwarfs 
are incomparably superior to standards. The effect of 
a large bed or beds of dwarfs all in flower is beautiful 
and natural, and the flowers are seen to much better 
advantage. Where space is limited, and the most must 
be made of the ground, standards present some advan¬ 
tages, but only in such cases should they be admitted 
into any garden ; at most they are very artificial look¬ 
ing objects, and when out of flower are oftentimes a 
positive disfigurement. 
Having taken a glance at the Eoses, we will now 
take a look at the herbaceous borders, still gay and 
attractive with many things previously noticed, but 
enriched with a display of handsome spikes of some 
of the best Lilies, and as the names of these are not 
so familiar to many as they should be, we will 
mention a few of the best at present in flower, viz.: 
L. eroceum splendens, L. davuricum, and L. Thun- 
bergianum in variety ; L. japonicum Brownii, one of 
the very best, flowers large, white inside, the outside 
rusty-purple, and the stamens chocolate, forming a 
very distinct feature; L. Martagon and L. Martagon 
album, a very choice variety, which should be included 
in all collections, though rather costly at present; L. 
monadelphum Szovitzianum, of which too much can¬ 
not be said in its praise, it being beautiful, majestic, 
and fragrant, citron-coloured and spotted black; L. 
pomponium verum, fiery-scarlet; L. superbum par- 
dalinum, extra fine; L. candidum, the old white 
garden Lily, still, when well done, one of the best; 
and last, but not least, Lilium auratnm. An 
oft-repeated advertisement runs, “ imported bulbs do 
die,” and no doubt the great majority of them have 
done so. Many explanations have been given for 
their so doing, and the one given here is that the 
treatment after flowering is at fault. There are here 
splendid spikes with from ten to twenty flowers on 
them, and this is the second season of then-flowering. 
Instead of being allowed to stand or lay about for 
months after flowering, as soon as the flower stems are 
ripened off they arc repotted in a suitable compost, 
and kept moderately moist till growth commences. 
Among other things in flower calling for notice are 
(Enothera macrocarpa, very fine; Triteleia laxa, 
Broditea coccinea and grandiflora, Heleniumpumilum, 
Erigeron macranthum superbum, E. multiradiata, and 
E. speciosa. Have not these a better claim to be called 
Blue Marguerites than the Agathrea coelestis ? There 
are not many flowering shrubs at present calling for 
notice, but there is a large plant of Buddlea globosa. 
This is a very fine and distinct shrub, but, unfor¬ 
tunately, in some districts is much cut up in severe 
winters. Spinea ariiefolia, with its feathery plumes 
of fresh white flowers, is a lovely object; these are 
capital for the decoration of flower vases. Deutzia 
