400 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  30,  1898. 
argument  for  the  weekly  half  holiday,  as  the  project  is  intended  for  the 
benefit  of  the  majority.  And  even  admitting  the  privileges  offered  to 
Mr.  Brough’s  men,  they  have  to  be  asked  for,  as  a  favour.  The  half 
holiday  should  not  be  granted  as  a  privilege  entirely,  but  something  to 
which  men  feel  they  have  a  right— a  right,  of  course,  duly  admitted 
by  employers  and  respected  by  employed,  which  would  result  in  mutual 
benefit  rather  than  otherwise.  It  should  therefore  be  with  this  feeling, 
and  the  worthy  end  in  view,  that  the  subject  is  approached. 
I  was  glad  to  see  the  “  Old  Boy”  had  something  to  say  in  the  matter, 
as  there  is  always  much  that  is  fresh  and  invigorating  about  what  flows 
from  his  pen,  and  if  I  mistake  not  is  of  opinion  that  the  last  half-day 
of  the  week  is  of  but  little  value  so  far  as  work  is  concerned,  and  an 
extra  spurt  would  be  put  on  earlier  in  the  day  in  anticipation  of  the 
half  holiday.  Here  I  fully  agree  with  him,  and  rightly  or  wrongly  am 
of  opinion  that  in  the  majority  of  establishments  Saturday  afternoon  is 
chiefly  spent  in  the  men  waiting  for  four  o’clock,  or  whatever  hour  the 
work  ceases. 
I  wish  the  “  Old  Boy  ”  had  unfolded  a  few  of  his  startling  tales, 
which,  delivered  in  that  very  readable  language  peculiarly  his  own, 
would  have  interested  instead  of  startled  not  only  the  youngsters,  but 
some  of  the  oldsters  also.  The  “  Old  Boy’s  ”  arguments,  however,  are 
throughout  in  favour  of  the  movement,  though,  he  like  many  others  of 
similar  opinions,  entertaine  grave  doubts  respecting  its  institution. 
Here,  however,  is  a  suggestion.  We  have  been  hearing  a  good  deal 
lately  about  some  proposed  alterations  to  be  made  by  the  Council  of  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society  ;  could  not  a  beneficial  start  be  made  by 
closing  work  at  the  Chiswick  Gardens  at  one  o’clock  on  Saturdays,  instead 
of  half-past  five,  which  I  believe  is  the  time  at  present  ?  The  employes 
would  no  doubt  appreciate  it,  and  our  premier  Society  would, at  any  rate, 
be  setting  a  good  example  for  the  proprietors  of  other  gardens  to  follow. 
In  commencing  it  was  my  intention  to  say  something  more  about 
habitations,  but  as  all  appear  to  be  agreed  that,  though  much  has  been 
done  in  this  direction,  there  still  remains  ample  room  for  further 
improvements.  I  should  like  to  have  seen  some  remarks  from  the 
bothyites  themselves  on  this  question,  which  affects  them  so  directly. 
Should  the  desired  state  of  things  become  general  in  the  future  it  will 
add  much  to  benefit  the  gardener,  both  head  and  under,  without  in  any 
marked  degree  affecting  the  interest  of  the  employer. — G.  H.  H. 
The  notes  which  have  appeared  in  your  columns  during  the  last  few 
weeks,  under  the  above  heading,  have  been  most  interesting  to  many 
young  gardeners,  and  I  know  have  been  read  by  many  of  my  colleagues 
who  are  anxious  to  see  this  half  holiday  become  general.  Your  corre¬ 
spondent,  “  An  Old  Boy,”  alludes  to  the  farm  and  forester’s  men.  It 
would,  indeed,  be  very  unfair  to  exclude  them  from  this  privilege  ; 
again,  we  must  not  Bhut  out  estate  tradesmen  and  stablemen.  If  granted 
to  one  department,  I  say  grant  it  to  all. 
The  worthy  and  kind  hearted  head,  under  whom  it  has  been  my  good 
fortune  to  serve  for  several  years,  has  told  me  he  would  not  stand  in  the 
way  of  such  a  measure,  though  to  me  it  does  not  require  any  words  of 
his  to  understand  his  views  on  the  subject.  There  exist  few  places 
where  the  young  men  are  more  kindly  and  liberally  dealt  with  than  are 
those  employed  on  the  estate. 
Through  the  kindness  of  our  worthy  squire  cricket  matches  were 
played  here  almost  every  Saturday  afternoon  last  summer  (though  not 
actually  a  holiday)  with  neighbouring  teams,  who  always  consider  it  a 
great  privilege  and  pleasure  to  play  on  our  beautiful  and  well  kept 
ground,  situated  in  front  of  the  hall.  The  work  under  the  above 
circumstances,  at  least  as  far  as  I  could  see,  never  suffered  in  the  least. 
I  think  that  whether  there  are  one  or  two  responsible  for  Sunday  duty, 
they  should  take  Saturday  afternoon,  then  the  work  left  undone  by  those 
who  go  away  can  readily  and  easily  be  accomplished  by  them  ;  they 
knowing  that  their  tarn  to  be  off  will  come  in  due  course.  I  do  not  like 
the  idea  of  having  the  Saturday  half  holiday,  and  then  be  expected  to 
bring  up  arrears  of  work  on  the  Sunday  morning. 
But  in  my  opinion  the  work,  taking  it  in  the  aggregate,  would  not 
Buffer  in  the  least  through  the  change  proposed,  and  the  master  would 
find  that  any  young  man  who  lakes  sufficient  interest  in  his  duties  would 
not  hesitate  to  assist  an  hour  or  two  extra  with  thinning  Grapes,  tying 
and  staking,  or  other  pressing  work,  and  that  without  extra  pay.  To 
the  married  men  the  half  day  would  come  as  a  great  boon  now  that 
allotments  are  so  numerous,  especially  where  men  have  a  mile  or  two 
to  walk  to  work,  to  say  little  of  the  advantage  it  would  be  in  out-of-the- 
way  districts  iD  getting  to  a  market  town.  I  am  now  speaking  from 
actual  facts.  I  concur  with  "  S.,  Yorlis,”  that  the  “  head  of  affairs”  in 
many  instances  is  not  to  blame  for  the  hours  which  gardeners  have  to 
work. 
The  working  hours  in  the  gardens  from  whence  1  write  are  6.30  to 
5  30,  and  four  o’clock  on  Saturdays.  There  are  two  men  on  duty  each 
Sunday,  one  taking  night  duty  the  whole  of  the  week  one  week  in 
three  ;  the  youngest  in  the  bothy,  not  taking  night  duty,  does  the  day 
firing.  With  respect  to  the  bothy,  in  which  there  are  five,  I  am  glad 
to  say  that  we  have  many  comforts  for  which  we  ought  to  feel  deeply 
thankful. 
Referring  back  to  the  able  note  of  Mr.  Bardney  respecting  the  extra 
work  entailed  by  an  “  enthusiastic  ”  gardener  who  may  be  preparing 
for  coming  exhibitions,  it  must  be  admitted  that  with  such  a  man  as 
this  the  young  assistant  must  be  benefited  in  no  small  measure  if  he 
pay  attention  to  it ;  and  I  can  conscientiously  say  were  I  so  situated  it 
would  be  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  assist  in  every  possible  way  that  I 
could,  especially  if  I  thought  our  labour  would  be  rewarded  by  taking  a 
front  position  in  the  competition. — Subordinate. 
The  Worksop  Rose  and  Horticultural  Society. 
It  will  be  lemembered  that  this  active  Society  a  few  weeks  ago 
changed  the  date  of  the  show  from  July  9th  to  July  30th.  We  learn 
that  it  is  now  changed  back  to  the  9th  again,  and  is  expected  to  remain 
there,  weather  permitting. 
The  George  Prince  Memorial  Prize  Fund. 
The  following  additional  donations  are  announced  :  —  Edgar 
Hanbury,  Esq.,  £1  Is. ;  Messrs.  Alex.  Dicksons  &  Sons,  £1  Is.  ; 
R.  G.  N.  Baker,  Esq.,  £1  Is.  ;  O.  G.  Orpen,  Esq.,  £1  Is. ;  Messrs.  H.  and 
A.  Turner,  £1  Is.  ;  A.  Hill  Gray,  Esq.,  £2  2s. — D.,  Deal. 
The  Banksian  Rose. 
I  noticed  recently  when  passing  through  the  Birmingham  Market 
Hall  upon  the  florists’  stalls  sprays  5  and  6  feet  long  of  this  charming 
old-fashioned  Rose.  It  occurred  to  me  how  admirably  they  were  adapted, 
furnished  as  they  were  with  the  miniature  pale  yellow  blossoms  and 
elegant  green  coloured  foliage,  for  “  shower  ”  bouquet  and  other  similar 
decorative  purposes,  and  with  an  effect  far  more  natural  than  the 
tted-on  flowers  produce  —  excepting,  however,  that  possibly  the 
“  sprays  ”  in  question  might  be  considered  as  somewhat  too  stiff  in 
comparison  with  such  as  Smilax  and  Asparagus,  But  used  judiciously 
with  an  intermixture  of  the  latter  this  slight  disability  might  be 
readily  overcome. 
I  may  add  that  ever  since  I  first  saw  the  white  and  the  yellow 
Banksian  Roses  growing  on  the  old  garden  walls,  nearly  fifty  years  ago, 
at  Penrhyn  CaatJe  I  have  ever  cherished  a  fond  recollection  of  their 
pretty  and  unique  racemes  of  inflorescence,  and  it  seems  to  me  a  pity 
that  a  warm  and  sheltered  site  is  required. — W.  G. 
Marechal  Niel  v.  Perle  des  Jardins. 
Many  are  the  eccentricities  of  our  pets,  and  therefore  comparisons 
are  not  always  easy  even  if  odorous,  as  Mrs.  Malaprop  puts  it.  Possibly 
the  old  lady  was  quite  correct  when  it  comes  to  flowers,  as  it  does  in  this 
instance. 
Am  I  wrong  in  thinking  that  as  fine  blooms  of  Mardchal  Niel  are  not 
seen  nowadays  as  in  the  days  of  its  earlier  introduction  ?  Grown  under 
glass,  it  so  fiequently  lacks  the  glorious  colour,  and  puts  on  mildew  with 
the  slightest  provocation  ;  and  yet  it  needs  a  sort  of  protection  out  of 
doors,  where  in  favoured  positions  it  is  generally  in  its  best  form,  and 
let  the  word  “  form  ”  here  include  every  beauty  that  this  grand  Rose  can 
attain.  Judging  from  my  own  experience,  by  no  means  large,  I  should 
have  said  that  it  was  far  hardier  than  climbing  Perle  des  Jardins. 
Having  very  little  wall  for  Roses,  I  in  1894  put  one  strong  plant  of 
the  “  garden  jewel  ”  against  a  wall  facing  south-east.  On  the  other  side 
of  the  doorway  was  a  Mardchal  Niel  that  had  been  planted  the  year 
before  and  had  had  a  battle  for  life,  so  much  so  that  I  hesitated  about 
its  retention  ;  however,  it  held  on,  and  weathered  the  severe  outburst  of 
the  early  part  of  1895  fairly  well.  Not  so,  alas  !  did  the  Perle ;  that 
succumbed  root  and  branch,  so  in  the  autumn  of  1895  I  tried  again  with 
a  very  Btrong  looking  plant  from  our  departed  friend  at  Oxford.  It 
cannot  be  said  that  this  winter  has  been  unkind  to  us  ;  but  greatly  to 
my  dismay  all  the  long  shoots  of  the  Perle  looked  decidedly  poorly,  and 
I  have  been  cutting  back  with  a  still  persisting  shrinking  which  does 
not  augur  very  well  for  the  future,  one  or  two  of  the  shoots  being  abso¬ 
lutely  dead  down  to  their  origin.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Marbchal  Niel 
has  good  buds  on,  much  larger  than  horse  beans.  Of  course,  my  expe¬ 
rience  would  lead  me  to  say  that  Perle  des  Jardins  (climbing)  was  not 
so  robust  as  the  old  soldier. 
Marechal  Niel  distinctly  requires  some  slight  protection,  not  from 
cold,  but  from  wet ;  as  I  some  years  ago  pointed  out,  the  peculiar  forma¬ 
tion  of  the  seed  pod,  if  I  may  so  call  it,  so  different  as  far  as  I  know  to 
most  Roses,  accounts  for  this  necessity.  In  most  Roses  the  rise  from  stem 
to  the  seed  pod  is  gradual  and  even,  in  Marbchal  it  is  abrupt  ;  moreover 
the  stem  appears  inserted  into  a  pit  in  the  pod,  at  any  rate  there  is  a 
fosse  or  ditch  all  round  the  stem.  Then  the  weight  of  all  the  large 
blooms  is  great,  and  very  few,  except  perhaps  in  the  luxuriant  autumn 
growth  terminating  in  a  truss  of  bloom,  can  continue  erect,  but  gradually 
as  the  weight  increases  they  bend  low  their  glorious  heads,  and  so  hang 
downwards  ;  here  then  is  a  pit  round  the  stem  formed  ready  to  receive 
moisture,  whether  from  dew  or  rain,  and  to  retain  it  much  longer  than 
is  useful.  This  I  believe  to  be  the  cause  of  the  decay  that  so  often 
occurs  in  the  Mardchal,  and  which  is  often  most  discouraging.  A  good 
tree  out  of  doors  would  pay  to  be  covered  by  tiffany,  and  probably  would 
be  improved  in  colour  too.  I  have  also  found  a  12-inch  board  above  the 
tree  save  many  of  the  blooms. 
If  the  climbing  Perle  des  Jardins  has  less  of  the  quartering  that  so 
often  mars  the  beauty  of  its  parent  that  would  greatly  add  to  the  value 
of  the  sport,  but  when  both  Perle  and  Marechal  are  at  their  best,  can 
there  be  any  question  which  is  the  grander  Rose  ?  Very  rarely  does  the 
Marshal  figure  as  the  best  Tea  Rose  in  an  exhibition,  but  then 
