April 13, 1901. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
519 
T O LET, in the neighbourhood of 
Worthing, Sussex, a particularly good Farm of about 
200 acres with first-class residence, almost all the land is 
thoroughly suitable for Market Garden purposes. Rent, £500 
per annum. Apply to—POWELL & CO,, The Estate 
Offices, Lewes, Sussex. 
THOMPSON & MORGAN, Seedsmen, 
5, Carr Street, Ipswich, 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man "— Bacon. 
liMw 
Edited by J. FRASER, F.L.S., F.R.H.S. 
Beg to invite the attention of Amateurs to their extensive 
collection of FLOWER and VECETABLE SEEDS for the present 
season. It will be found replete with valuable Novelties and 
Rare Seeds, and is especially rich in HARDY PERENNIAL8 and 
ALPINES. Priced Catalogue, sent post free to any address. 
CHEALS 
W&HLD-WIDE l\EB0WN- STRIKING flOVELTIES 
C^NEW CATALOGUE POST FREEDS? 
SATURDAY , APRIL i^th, 19m. 
The Editorial and Publishing Offices are 
now removed to 4, Dorset Buildings, 
Salisbury Square, Fleet St., London. 
Editorial matters are to be addressed to 
the Editor. 
All other communications and Remit¬ 
tances must be addressed direct to the 
Proprietors— 
HICKS, WILKINSON & SEARS. 
NEXT WEEK’S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Thursday, April 18 th.—Royal Botanical and Horticultural 
Society of Manchester, Spring Show (3 days). 
SPECIAL LINES. 
Our supplementary 32pp. Plant List will be sent to any 
applicant post free. 
Illustrative Lines of our charges. 
A Good Collection of Giant Sweet Peas.— 
Ten disiinct varieties, 50 seeds ot each, post free for 1 / 2 . All 
new sorts and all plump seeds (500 seeds in all): Navy Blue, 
deep violet-blue ; Blanche Burpee, the finest white; Captiva¬ 
tion, bright rosy-rlaret; Lady Marie Currie, large orange- 
pink; Lady Nina Balfour, delicate mauve, shaded dove-grey ; 
Lovely, large flowered, delicate ruse and flesh ; Mars, extra 
large scarlet; Senator, a stnwy striped chocolate ; Triumph, 
orange-pink and white ; Salopian, true scarlet. Tne 500 seeds 
for i/j. 
Potatos. — One pound each of the following seven ex¬ 
hibition varieties of Pctatos, ca rlage free to nearest railway 
station, for 2 / 3 . Sharpe’s Early Victor (earliest kidney), Duke 
ofYork (Ea-lj), Green's Favourite ( New), The Sirdar (New), 
General Roberts (New), Up-toDate (New), Abundance (New). 
Seven pounds each ot the seven sorts carriage free to nearest 
railway station for 9 / 6 ; fourteen pounds of each of t s e above 
named seven varieties, carriage free for 17 / 6 . 
Established hardy trees, not scraggy cuttings. 
Tea Roses. —The following twelve varieties, carriage 
free lor 5 /-; Homer, Devoniensis, Maman Cochet, Fraooisca 
Kruger, Belle Lvonnais», Catherine Mermet, Papa Gontier, 
Ernest Metz, Mdme. Falcot, G. NabODand, Marie Van 
Hontte, Hon. Edith Gifiord. 
See our Special Offer in this week’s 
“HOBBIES." Obtain a specimen copy from 
your newsagent, and participate in our offer. 
HOBBIES, LIMITED, 
With which is incorporated JOHN GREEN, F.R.H.S , 
Norfolk Nurseries, DEREHAM. 
RANSOMES’ 
LAWN MOWERS. 
THE BEST 
in 
THE WORLD. 
Sent 
Carriage 
Paid 
on a 
Month’s 
Free 
Trial. 
THE “PATENT” AUTOMATON. 
Chain or Wheel Gearing. 
Important Improvements Embodied in no other Maker's 
Machines: 
PATENT DOUBLE-ANCLE CUTTERS, 
PATENT RIBBED DRIVING ROLLERS, 
PATENT ADJUSTABLE FRONT ROLLERS. 
Made in 9 sizes. 3 in, to 54 in. wide. 
“ANGLO-PARIS” AND “LION.” 
Light. Cheap, and Durable. 6 in. to 20 in. 
“HORSE AND PONY” MOWERS. 
New Patterns and Patent Spring Handles. 
Made in 6 sizes. 26 in. to 48 in. wide. 
Supplied Promptly by all Ironmongers. 
MBSOHES, SIMS 4 JEFFERIES, Ltd,, Ipswich, 
She Rose and St. George’s Day.— 
After the lapse of a century the Society 
of St. George, located in London, has joined 
issue with various other societies of the 
same name both in the British Isles and 
abroad, in raising the banner of St. George, 
their Soldier Saint. A festival dinner was 
held in the Holborn Restaurant, London, 
on St. George’s Day, April 23rd, 1900, 
under the patronage of the Right Hon. the 
Lord Mayor, and the Lord Mayors and 
Worshipful Mayors of the principal English 
boroughs, when about 150 ladies and gentle¬ 
men sat down to table. Cablegrams of con¬ 
gratulation passed between the central 
society and others of the same name in 
various parts of the world, including 
Canada and the United States. Strange 
to say there have been several kindred 
societies in Ireland for some years past ; 
but as far as we see from the published 
account of /. pril 23rd of last year, the 
record for age must rest with the society at 
Poole which was founded in 1408, for the 
encouragement of “ piety and patriotism.” 
The day was observed in many of the lead¬ 
ing Canadian towns (throughout Canada is 
the expression), a large number of the 
English boroughs, several of the cities of 
Ireland, Cape Town, New South Wales, 
New Zealand, Tasmania, &c. The Society 
of St. George, London, was not established 
solely to 1 do honour to the long-neglected 
Patron Saint. It seeks a higher field, 
namely, “ to cultivate national sentiment,” 
and it is said that “ sentiment governs the 
world.” 
As far as the wearing of Roses is con¬ 
cerned we take it for granted that few will 
object to that, and fewer connected with 
gardening. One of the chief difficulties in 
connection with April 23rd is that no Roses 
are obtainable from the open garden, though 
Roses grown under glass may be had prac¬ 
tically all the year round—thanks to the 
skill of our Rose growers, whether pro¬ 
fessional or amateur. It is to be presumed 
also that the foreigner will avail himself of 
a national Rose day in England to do a bit 
of trade. Surely we may take it for granted 
that our Rose growers at home will make 
an effort to meet the demand on that par¬ 
ticular date, assured that it will be worth 
their while to do so. We have some 
evidence that the supply was fairly adequate 
to the demand last year; but imagine that 
a more decided effort will be made to meet 
the demand with Roses grown on 
national soil. On the occasion of last 
year’s festival the back of the chair was 
resplendent with a magnificent wreath of 
red and white Roses, tied with ribbfins of 
like colours, and flanked on eitheffside by 
silken banners of St. George. The diners 
also wore the national emblem. St. George’s 
Day also coincides with the birthday and 
death of Shakespeare, the national poet. 
Our late Queen Victoria observed the day 
by wearing Roses. The crowd attending 
the mounting of the guard at St. James’ 
Palace, in many cases, wore red and white 
Roses, and though they were worn so long 
as they could be got, the streets were not 
perfumed by them, which may have been 
due to failure in meeting the demand. 
Many of the cabmen and ’bus drivers 
decorated their horses, &c., with them. A 
large consignment of Roses was sent over 
to Ireland from the Royal Gardens at 
Windsor. By ordering in good time the 
London society was able to get a supply 
for 2/- per dozen; and it was given to 
understand that as soon as a regular 
demand is established they can be sold at 
half that price, namely, a penny each, and 
leave a good profit for the grower. It is 
hoped that his Majesty King Edward VII. 
will elect to be crowned on St. George’s 
Day, as were several of his predecessors, 
both English and British monarchs, in¬ 
cluding the celebrated Alfred the Great. 
That would certainly give a great impetus 
to the cause. 
Red and white Roses are evidently the 
favourites. This raises the question which 
is the English Rose ; but that, like the true 
Shamrock, is a difficult question to answer ; 
and we also remember that the heraldic 
Thistle of Scotland seems to be a creation 
of the imagination, for it is certainly not a 
native. The ancient national emblem of 
Scotland as recognised by Burns is well 
known to be the Spear Thistle (Carduus 
lanceolatus) and certainly native to the soil. 
Both the red and the white Rose mentioned 
by Shakespeare might have been foreigners, 
as the York and Lancaster Rose certainly is, 
being a variety of Rosa damascena. That 
generally but incorrectly known as the York 
and Lancaster Rose is really Rosa Mundi, 
also named Village Maid and Rosa gallica 
versicolor. The true York and Lancaster 
Rose, symbolising the union of the ancient 
royal families or houses of those respective 
names, is a pale rose or white variety, only 
sometimes striped. Seeing that the symbol 
is an exotic Rose, would it not be appro¬ 
priate for the St. George’s Society to foster 
the development of a national Rose, native 
to the soil ? No doubt some will say that 
a Rose or any Rose is the national emblem; 
but then we have Scotch Roses which 
acquired that name simply from the fact 
that they were developed from Rosa spino- 
sissima by Scotch growers, many of them 
being raised from R. s. cyphiana, a red and 
white striped variety. If the opportunity 
had been seized upon in time, this might 
well have furnished the idea of the union 
of the red and white Roses. 
There are several other wild species and 
varieties, natives of Britain, that might 
well be taken in hand and improved so as 
to render them more durable and fit for 
wearing than the relatively ephemeral single 
types, beautiful as they are. There are 
already several improved forms of British 
Roses in cultivation besides the Scotch 
Roses. For instance, there are several 
semi-double Roses, known collectively as 
Ayrshire Roses, and individually as Dundee 
Rambler, Bennett’s Seedling, Ruga, Splen- 
dens, and others. Here again some of the 
forms are admittedly Scotch, while the 
name for the section is decidedly so. On 
the other hand the Sweet Brier or Eglantine 
(Rosa rubiginosa) is essentially English, not 
only in name, but because it is a true native 
of the chalk hills of the south of England, 
and although found elsewhere it is probably 
an escape from cultivation in the north of 
England, in Scotland and Ireland. A great 
