418 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER . 
May  7,  1896. 
Kose  Show  Fixtures  in  1896. 
June  17th  (Wednesday). — York.f 
„  18th  (Thursday). — Colchester  and  Isle  of  Wight  (Hyde). 
,,  24th  (Wednesday). — Reading  (N.R.S.) 
„  25th  (Thursday). — Hereford. 
„  27th  (Saturday). — Canterbury  and  Windsor. 
„  30th  (Tuesday). — Maidstone  and  Sutton. 
July  1st  (Wednesday). — Croydon,  Ealing  and  Leatherhead. 
„  2nd  (Thursday)  — Eltham  and  Norwich. 
„  4th  (Saturday). — Crystal  Palace  (N.R.S.) 
„  7t’n  (Tuesday). — Wolverhampton.-}- 
„  8th  (Wednesday).  — Canterbury  (Hospital  Fete),  Chelmsford, 
Hitchin,  Lee,*  Newcastle-on-Tyne,f  Redhill  (Reigate),  and 
Tunbridge  Wells. 
„  9th  (Thursday). — Helensburgh  and  Worksop. 
„  15th  (Wednesday). — Ulverston  (N.R.S.) 
„  18th  (Saturday). — New  Brighton. 
„  21st  (Tuesday). — Tibshelf. 
„  30th  (Thursday). — Trentham. 
Aug.  5th  (Wednesday). — Chester*  and  Chesterfield. 
„  19th  (Wednesday).— Shrewsbury.* 
f  A  show  lasting  three  days.  *  A  show  lasting  two  days. 
I  am  sorry  not  to  have  been  able  to  issue,  as  promised,  a  list  of 
fixtures  in  April.  Any  dates  not  appearing  in  the  present  list  I  shall 
be  glad  to  publish  in  the  next  one.  I  regret  to  announce  that  there  will 
be  no  Rose  show  held  at  Gloucester  this  year,  owing  to  the  small  pox 
epidemic  prevailing  there.  —  Edward  Mawley,  Rosekanli,  Berk- 
Jiamsted,  Herts. 
Marechal  Niel  versus  Perle  des  Jardins. 
I  desire  to  add  my  mite  to  the  discussion  going  on  concerning 
Marshal  Niel  and  Perle  des  Jardins.  I  have  had  them  growing  side 
by  side  under  glass  both  in  Surrey  and  Berkshire.  The  Mardcbal  to  my 
mind  is  unapproachable  in  many  ways,  but,  dare  I  say  it?  is  an  impostor 
when  he  poses  as  a  Perpetual.  When  he  blooms,  I  admit  he  does  the 
thing  handsomely.  I  hear  there  is  a  plant  here  in  Reading  which 
inhabits  three  houses,  and  comes  into  bloom  there  successively,  and 
thinks  nothing  of  giving  its  900  flowers.  But  I  do  not.  think  I  have 
ever  known  the  Marshal  bloom  a  second  time  either  under  glass  or  in 
the  open  ;  whereas  Perle  des  Jardins,  though  an  inferior  Rose,  has  given 
me  three  distinct  and  very  excellent  sets  of  flowers  under  glass  in  the 
same  season. — A.  C. 
Rose  Cloth  op  Gold. 
If  I  have  not  said  anything  regarding  this  Noisette  in  recent 
contributions  to  the  Journal  of  Horticulture,  it  is  because  I  have 
never  seen  it  anywhere  in  the  perfection  of  beauty  which  “  D.,  Beal," 
on  page  374,  so  exquisitely  describes.  I  gave  this  Noisette  a  trial  on 
the  south  wall  of  my  garden  for  several  years,  where  Lamarque  blooms 
splendidly  every  season,  and  where  Climbing  Niphetos  has  proved  an 
invariable  and  gratifying  success.  During  all  that  period  Cloth  of 
Gold  did  not  produce  a  single  bloom  ;  it  grew,  however,  with  remark¬ 
able  vigour,  if  this  characteristic  was  any  consolation,  and  produced 
beautiful  foliage  of  a  deep  shining  green.  But  as  this  constituted  its 
entire  achievement,  I  transferred  it  from  my  garden  to  the  central 
conservatory  at  Logan  House,  where,  under  more  favourable  atmospheric 
conditions,  I  hope  it  may  do  well.  It  is  curious  that  Lamarque,  from 
which  Cloth  of  Gold  was  originally  derived,  should  be  so  much  more 
reliable  than  its  offspring  ;  likewise  that  the  latter,  when  it  does  appear 
in  its  integrity,  as  it  has  sometimes  done  in  Nottinghamshire,  Kent,  and 
other  English  counties,  should  have  been  so  much  larger  and  deeper  in 
colour  than  the  parent  Rose. 
Cloth  ©f  Gold,  which,  as  your  correspondent  indicates,  is  usually 
called  Chromatella  on  the  Continent,  has  always  bloomed  magnificently 
in  the  South  of  France.  The  late  Mr.  Thomas  Rivers  has  a  memorable 
eulogium  of  it,  the  “  Rose  Amateurs’  Guide.”  I  presume  the  special 
Noisette  approximating  in  grandeur  to  Chromatella,  to  which  Mr. 
Rivers  has  also  referred,  is  Marshal  Niel  (descended  from  Cloth  of  Gold 
through  Isabella  Gray),  which,  as  we  are  informed  in  that  compre¬ 
hensive  work,  entitled  the  “  Rose  Garden,”  was  first  introduced  into 
England  and  exhibited  in  London  by  Mr.  William  Paul,  who  was  also, 
I  understand,  the  introducer  of  that  invincible  variety  Gloire  de  Dijon. 
A  hardy,  free-flowering  Mardchal  Niel,  with  the  erect  blooming 
characteristic  of  Cloth  of  Gold,  less  subject  than  either  to  atmospheric 
influences,  and  more  perpetual,  would  undoubtedly  prove  an  inestimable 
acquisition.  But  at  present  I  see  no  signs  of  the  appearance  of  such  a 
phenomenon. — David  R.  Williamson. 
Occasional  Notes. 
I  DO  Dot  remember,  at  all  events  in  the  last  ten  years,  such  a  satis¬ 
factory  pruning  of  Roses  as  that  which  has  been  lately  concluded.  The 
combination  of  thoroughly  ripened  wood  with  almost  entire  absence  of 
frost  gave  such  firm  shoots  with  white  healthy  pith,  that  I  have  been 
able  to  leave  such  varieties  as  require  less  severity  with  considerably 
longer  shoots  than  usual,  and  1  hope  they  will  profit  by  it.  In  such 
cases  most  of  the  strong  buds  which  push  from  the  old  wood  should 
be  rubbed  off,  or  the  advantage  of  the  longer  pruning  will  be  lost. 
Many  of  such  gross  shoots  from  the  old  wood  will  not  flower  at  all  till 
late  in  the  season,  and  will  then  be  disappointing  in  themselves,  besides 
having  robbed  the  young  wood  of  much  sap  and  vigour. 
Many  aphides  are  showing  on  the  young  shoots  and  bursting  buds, 
and  as  they  are  wingless  it  must  have  been  in  Bheer  despair  of 
accounting  for  their  presence,  that  old  gardeners  laid  all  such  things  to 
the  account  of  the  general  enemy,  the  east  wind.  They  are  easily  kept 
under  by  the  man  constantly  on  the  watch,  who  never  lets  one  pass,  or 
leaves  one  on  a  shoot.  Poor  little  things  !  very  easily  killed  1  It 
reminds  me  of  a  long  time  ago  when  a  friend  gave  me  a  day  on  his 
noted  snipe  marsh.  I  soon  brought  down  a  snipe  with  a  really  long 
shot,  with  which  I  was  well  satisfied.  “  Poor  little  thing  I  ”  said  my 
friend,  picking  it  up,  “  it  takes  but  a  slight  blow  to  knock  them  down.” 
“  Yes,”  said  I,  a  little  nettled,  “  but  the  job  is  to  give  them  that  slight 
blow.”  So  is  it  with  the  aphides,  let  finger  and  thumb  show  untimely 
mercy,  and  they  will  soon  be  out  of  range  of  such  primitive  weapons. 
The  inserted  buds  of  my  standard  maidens  have  bten  terribly 
harassed  by  grubs  and  caterpillars,  not  one  in  a  dozen  I  should  think 
escaping.  I  am  quite  convinced  that  it  is  good  policy,  when  time  can 
be  found,  to  search  the  standard  stocks  in  the  spring  before  budding, 
and  destroy  the  grubs.  If  this  is  not  done,  what  a  quantity  of  these 
destructive  moths  are  propagated  in  the  very  spot  where  the  precious 
buds  will  be  next  year  1  Though  they  are  not  often  seen,  I  have  lately 
come  across  two  or  three  flitting  among  the  standards,  but  did  not  catch 
one  of  them.  The  flight  is  so  very  zigzag  and  uncertain  (worse  than 
the  snipe  !)  that  a  hat  wildly  waved  is  likely  to  do  more  harm  than 
good,  and  do  what  I  would  I  could  not  “mark  them  down;”  they 
seemed  suddenly  to  vanish.  The  zigzag  flight,  which  of  course  is  done 
by  beating  the  wings  alternately  instead  of  “  in  time,”  is  no  doubt  an 
inherited  “  protection,”  gained  by  Darwin’s  law  of  the  survival  of  the 
fittest.  A  flycatcher,  accustomed  to  straight  flying  insects,  can  seldom 
catch  a  lumbering  butterfly  or  moth,  and,  knowing  the  difficulty, 
generally  does  not  try.  I  find  my  sight  is  getting  hardly  good  enough 
to  find  the  tiny  grub  in  the  curled  bud  ;  it  is  a  much  more  ticklish  job 
than  budding.  _ 
As  to  yellow  Roses,  no  doubt  Perle  des  Jardins  is  a  better  colour,  and 
more  generally  available,  in  the  autumn  than  MaiAchal  Niel  ;  but  the 
latter  will  bloom  well  at  that  time  on  a  standard  in  the  open  if  the  buds 
can  be  kept  dry.  I  do  not  think  Cloth  of  Gold  so  good  in  colour,  or 
shape,  or  anything  else  ;  its  shyness  in  blooming  and  general  rarity  have 
given  it,  I  think,  a  fictitious  value. 
I  think  it  was  Mr.  Geo.  Paul  who  strongly  recommended  some  years 
ago  raised  beds  for  Tea  Roses  ;  and  most  gardeners  in  making  a  Rose 
bed  would  raise  it  several  inches  above  the  general  level.  In  heavy  soils 
this  may  be  desirable,  but  in  ordinary  cases,  especially  with  amateurs 
who  do  not  recognise  slow  and  gradual  changes,  I  would  recommend 
that  the  bed,  when  consolidated,  be  no  higher  that  the  general  level  of 
the  ground,  aDd  if  surrounded  with  grass  even  below  that  level.  The 
“denudation  ”  that  geologists  speak  of  as  continually  taking  place  on  all 
our  mountains  proceeds  at  a  very  rapid  rate  indeed  on  a  Rose  bed, 
subject  to  heavy  waterings,  frequent  hoeings,  and  parings  and  clippings 
of  the  grass  edges.  I  have  seen  cases  where  in  a  very  few  years  the 
roots  of  the  Roses  have  “  come  to  the  surface  ”  in  a  mysterious  way,  and 
the  point  of  juncture  between  stock  and  scion,  originally  below  the 
surface,  has  appeared  some  inches  above  it,  in  both  cases  to  the  very 
great  detriment  of  the  plants.  Of  course  a  yearly  renewal  of  the  surface 
by  a  top-dressing  might  equalise  matters,  but  I  do  not  think  it  is  good 
for  the  roots  to  be  gradually  brought  to  the  surface,  and  then  covered  up 
again.  I  much  prefer  a  flat  bed,  where  there  is  no  such  denudation. — 
W.  R.  Raillem. 
ROSE  GROWING. 
( Continued  from  page  401.) 
Sports. — Besides  being  raised  as  seedlings,  new  Roses  occasionally 
come  from  a  “  sport.”  Sometimes  a  branch  will  develop  a  flower  quite 
different  from  all  the  rest  on  the  bush.  If  this  branch  is  marked  and 
budded  from  or  grafted  it  is  very  likely  the  new  variety  will  be  “  fixed.” 
Thus  the  Pride  of  Reigate,  that  remarkable  red  and  white  striped  Rose, 
was  obtained  from  the  Comtesse  d’Oxford,  a  red  Rose  ;  and  thus  Mr. 
Prince  obtained  his  pure  white  S.  M.  Prince  from  the  pink  Souvenir 
d’un  Ami.  There  is,  however,  always  a  danger  of  a  relapse  to  the  old 
type.  Nature  dislikes  being  interfered  with.  “If  you  turn  her  out  of 
the  front  door  she  will  very  likely  come  in  at  the  back  1  ”  I  myself 
have  had  lately  a  very  singular  experience.  I  budded  Climbing 
devoniensis  on  a  Cheshunt  Hybrid  under  glass.  The  result  was  a 
crimson  Rose  with  pointed  bud,  but  with  no  devoniensis  about  it.  I 
have  put  in  many  thousand  buds,  but  never  before  knew  an  instance  of 
the  stock  changing  the  nature.  A  branch  has  been  sent  to  Mr.  George 
Paul,  who  considered  the  matter  worth  investigating. 
Reproduction. — In  respect  of  reproducing  existing  varieties,  budding 
of  course  is  the  easiest  and  most  speedy  procedure.  Grafting  is  also 
