330 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
October  1, 18i6. 
Rose  Judging. 
Mb.  Cocker  will  receive  a  uaanimoits  answer  from  Rose  judges 
that,  with  the  facts  as  stated  by  him,  the  stand  should  have  been  dis¬ 
qualified  for  duplicates.  This  is  according  to  the  rules  of  common  sense 
as  well  as  of  the  N.R.S.,  for  the  blooms  were  shown,  not  the  shoots  or 
habit,  and  the  blooms  were  not  dissimilar.  It  does  not  necessarily  follow 
that  the  Committee  had  power  to  interfere  with  the  ruling  of  the  judges. 
The  anomalous  position  of  H.T.  Roses  is  also  shown  by  the  incident : — 
The  class  was  for  H.P.’s.  La  France  is  H.T.,  yet  Regulation  14  states 
H.T.’s  may  be  shown  among  H.lVs.  So,  if  a  class  of  H.P.’s  only  is 
required,  “  H.T.’s  excluded  ”  or  some  such  wording  should  be  put  in  the 
schedule. — W.  R.  Raillem. 
Some  Holiday  Visits, 
Having  paid  a  few  visits  during  the  past  season  to  certain  gardens 
whose  owners’  names  are  mostly  well  known  to  the  readers  of  the 
Journal,  I  think  a  few  notes  of  things  which  struck  me  might  possibly 
be  acceptable ;  they  will  not  be  formal  or  stereotyped  accounts,  but 
simply  jottings  from  memory  alone  of  what  seemed  most  noteworthy 
to  me  as  a  “  mere  amateur ;  ”  in  some  cases,  neither  new  nor  strange, 
perhaps,  to  an  expert,  but  still,  what  attracted  my  notice  may  also  prove 
of  interest  to  other  amateurs. 
Visiting  Colchester  Rose  show,  on  June  20th,  many  of  us  were  most 
hospitably  lunched  by  Mr.  Frank  Cant,  and  went  ronnd  his  Roses 
afterwards.  I  suppose  I  saw  too  much  that  day,  for  I  can  remember 
nothing  of  especial  note.  I  and  another  enthusiast  got  together,  and 
went  down  every  row  discussing  the  variety,  and  so  got  separated  from 
the  main  body  altogether,  till  it  was  nearly  time  to  go.  The  Roses 
looked  very  well,  and  I  think  I  'Was  again  impressed,  as  I  have  been 
before,  at  this  nursery,  at  the  fineness  of  the  blooms  on  the  dwarf  Teas, 
even  on  quite  short  growths.  _ 
I  managed  to  see  a  good  bit  on  the  same  afternoon  of  the  Rose 
grounds  of  my  old  friend  Mr.  Benjamin  Cant  (whom  I  should  have 
liked  to  have  seen  stronger  and  in  better  health),  and  here  I  do  remember 
that  I  was  much  impressed  with  the  crop  of  maiden  Manetti  H.P.’s.  A 
failure  or  gap  was  quite  hard  to  find  ;  the  rows  were  like  hedges,  which 
I  believe  would  really  have  puzzled  a  rabbit  to  get  through.  I  remember, 
too,  at  both  these  nurseries  that  standard  stocks  looked  unusually  good 
and  promising,  wondering  at  the  strong  demand  still  existing  for  such 
old-fashioned  Roses  as  Jules  Margottin,  and  I  also  remember  thinking 
in  my  ignorant  heart  that  Lord  Penzance’s  Sweet  Briars  were  mostly 
rubbish,  and  wondering  whether  I  should  dare  to  say  so. 
About  the  middle  of  July  I  had  the  pleasure  of  visiting  Mr.  C.  J. 
Crrahame  for  a  day  or  two  at  his  new  home  at  Leatherhead,  and  inspecting 
his  garden  and  Roses.  Almost  the  whole  of  these  were  newly  planted,  the 
greater  part  of  the  garden  being  freshly  laid  out  ;  and  although  the  late 
autumn  and  the  winter  seem^  very  favourable  for  planting,  the  dry 
summer  has  been  very  much  against  all  moved  plants  and  shrubs. 
I  do  not  remember  a  year  when  my  own  moved  Roses  have  done  so 
badly  or  made  so  little  growth,  so  there  is  no  wonder  that  the  majority 
of  Mr.  Grahame’s  Roses  looked  rather  weak  at  first  sight.  I  felt  sure, 
however,  when  I  remembered  the  Roses  that  he  showed  at  Reading, 
the  Crystal  Palace,  and  elsewhere,  that  the  plants  were  in  good  condition, 
though  their  growth  was  then  short ;  and  examination  showed  that  they 
were  ready  to  make  very  good  and  strong  growth  when  the  rains  came. 
Especially  was  this  the  case  with  two  splendid  beds  of  standard 
Teas,  perhaps  some  600  in  all.  These  were  already  beginning  to  make 
very  good  growth,  in  many  cases  considerably  stouter  than  the  old  wood, 
Cleopatra  being  pre-eminent  in  this  respect.  I  gave  it  as  my  opinion 
that  those  standard  Teas  would  give  Mr.  Orpen  some  trouble  at  the 
Crystal  Palace  next  year  if  they  passed  through  the  winter  safely,  and 
1  wished  I  had  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  the  amateur  Tea  champion’s 
plants  at  West  Bergholt,  near  Colchester,  to  make  mental  notes  of 
comparison  for  the  benefit  of  myself  and  others.  Mr.  Grabame  grows 
Carnations  and  some  other  flowers  well.  He  has,  I  think,  a  capital 
gardener,  and  his  soil,  if  not  first-class,  has  at  present  the  great  advantage 
of  being  maiden,  fresh,  and  new.  I  qni*^e  expect  his  name  to  be  a 
familiar  one  among  the  Rose  prize  lists  of  1897. 
He  kindly  took  me  over  to  see  Mr.  Douglas’  Carnation  nurseries, 
which  are  but  a  short  distance  from  Leatherhead.  Here,  on  turning 
a  comer  by  one  of  the  glass  houses,  I  found  myself  unexpectedly  face  to 
face  with  the  Journal  himself,  with  a  lovely  bunch  of  the  flowers  in  his 
hand,  a  renoontre  already  alluded  to.  For  myself,  I  know  very  little 
about  Carnations,  though  I  admire  them  much  ;  yet  I  noticed  and 
remembered  one  point.  Two  men  were  seated  in  one  of  the  houses, 
layering  the  Carnations  in  large  pots  with  great  dexterity  and  dispatch, 
and  the  soil  or  compost  in  which  they  were  being  layered  was  to  my 
thinking  of  an  extremely  harsh  and  sharp  and  dry  nature.  Of  course 
this  was  exactly  what  it  should  be  ;  but  if  I  were  a  Carnation  grower  it 
was  jnst  the  point  that  I  should  have  noted  for  imitation,  knowing  Mr. 
Dongls.s’  fame.  It  so  chanced  that  within  a  short  time  1  happened  to 
visit  two  or  three  private  gardens  where  the  layering  of  Carnations  was 
going  on,  and  in  these  cases  a  much  softer  compost,  with  more  humus  in 
it,  was  being  employed  ;  but  1  guess,  from  what  I  saw  of  “  grass  ”  and 
flowers,  that  Mr.  Douglas’  was  the  right  stuff  to  use. 
In  the  first  week  of  August  I  was  staying  at  Felixstowe,  which  is 
only  a  short  distance  from  my  home.  I  have  always  been  of  opinion 
that  some  of  the  soil  in  this  neighbourhood  is  as  good  as  any  in  the 
county  :  it  is  a  rich  loam  on  a  subsoil  of  “  crag,”  the  peculiar  porous 
formation  of  the  district.  I  happened  once  to  be  passing  through  the 
gardens  of  the  Bath  Hotel  (where  bedding-out  is  extremely  well  done), 
when  part  of  the  ground  was  being  dug,  and  was  much  struck  with  the 
good  appearance  of  the  soil.  As  for  the  climate,  three  or  four  great 
standard  Fig  trees,  in  the  open  between  the  hotel  and  the  sea,  and 
generally  bearing  well,  tell  plainly  of  the  soft  influence  of  the  salt  water 
in  extreme  frost ;  for  at  home,  about  fifteen  miles  inland,  I  can  hardly, 
with  protection,  keep  my  Fig  tree  alive  during  a  severe  winter.  The 
handsome  house  and  garden  of  Felix  Cobbold,  Eiq.,at  Felixstowe,  stand 
on  the  extreme  seaward  point ;  in  fact,  tremendously  strong  walls  and 
buttresses  have  been  built  just  above  highwater  mark  to  protect  the 
garden  from  injury  in  winter  storms  and  high  tides.  The  gardener,  Mr. 
McIntosh,  is  tolerably  well  known  by  name  to  East  Anglians,  as  he  sup¬ 
plies  a  sound,  common-sense,  practical  letter  on  horticultural  matters 
once  a  week  to  the  widely  read  local  daily  paper,  “  The  East  Anglian 
Daily  Times.”  I  was  glad,  therefore,  when  Mr.  Cobbold  kindly  gave  me 
the  opportunity  to  visit  his  garden,  and  see  what  Mr.  McIntosh  could 
do  in  such  an  exceptional  situation. 
Mr.  Cobbold  happened  unfortunately  to  be  out  when  I  called  with 
my  wife,  so  we  moved  from  the  front  door  to  the  flower  garden,  but  soon 
stood  still  in  delight  and  astonishment.  A  beautiful  old-fashioned 
garden,  completely  surrounded  and  sheltered  on  all  sides  by  a  thick 
useful  belt  of  trees,  so  that  it  was  diflScult  to  believe  that  this  was 
really  an  exposed  point  on  the  bitter  East  Coast  (as  it  is  generally 
supposed  to  be)  within  a  stone’s  throw  of  the  German  Ocean.  The  old- 
fashioned  flower  beds  were  full  of  flowers  in  luxuriant  growth  and  bloom, 
Cannas  and  Gladioli  being  conspicuous,  but  when  I  came  nearer  I  said, 
*'  Bless  me  1  this  great  Rose  bush  (nearly  as  high  as  my  waist  and  2  or 
3  feet  through)  is  Madame  Hoste.  And  that  one,  not  much  smaller,  is 
Madame  Cusin.  Well  done,  East  Anglian  Coast,  and  the  red  crag 
loam.”  There  was  not  a  large  collection  of  Teas.  I  remember  noticing 
Souvenir  de  S.  A.  Prince  as  also  exceptionally  strong,  and  I  was  sorry  to 
see  them  rather  crowded  with  other  plants,  but  the  blooms  and  buds 
were  very  fine  and  good,  and  I  felt  that  I  was  at  all  events  permanently 
supplied  with  an  answer  to  the  question  whether  Roses  can  be  grown  to 
perfection  at  the  seaside.  _ 
Under  glass  there  was  abundant  evidence  everywhere  that  Mr. 
Macintosh’s  preaching  is  justified  by  the  practice.  I  think  I  did  not 
quite  agree  with  his  treatment  of  Mar^chal  Niel,  and  fancy  I  was 
almost  pleased  to  discover  something  to  find  fault  with.  Outside  the 
sea  bank,  where  a  path  was  well  arranged  among  the  crag  rocks,  a  tiny 
freshwater  spring  trickled  to  the  sea.  A  small  shallow  pool  had  been 
made  in  this,  wherein  was  a  good  patch  in  bloom  of  the  charming  Water 
Hawthorn  (Oponogeton),  its  quaint  sweet-scented  flowers  being  great 
favourites  of  mine.  Here  also  in  a  box,  with  one  splendid  expanded 
flower,  was  one  of  the  new  Water  Lilies.  I  forget  its  name,  but  it  was 
most  striking,  and  seemed  to  be  a  very  great  advance  in  every  way  ;  for 
not  only  was  the  bloom  a  grand  improvement  on  the  old  Nymphaea,  but 
the  fioriferousness  was  also  very  great ;  a  large  amount  of  buds  were 
showing,  more  in  number,  I  think,  than  the  leaves.  I  quite  fancy  that 
failure  with  these  two,  and  some  other  aquatics,  often  arises  from  their 
being  placed  too  deep  in  the  water. 
In  August,  circumstances  not  wholly  unconnected  with  the  period 
which  commences  on  the  12  th,  took  me  for  a  fortnight  to  a  very  secluded 
spot  between  the  moorlands  of  Cheshire  and  Derbyshire.  Here  horti¬ 
culture  seemed  very  much  at  a  discount.  Hardly  anything  appears 
to  thrive,  even  far  away  from  smoke,  along  the  Manchester  and 
SheflSeld  Railway.  They  say  it  is  so  cold  ;  but  why  it  should  be  so 
much  colder  than  West  Scotland  1  could  not  make  out.  Pansies 
seemed  to  do  well.  I  suppose  they  prefer  a  cooler  climate.  The  only 
incident  that  I  can  recall  as  having  any  bearing  on  horticulture  was 
the  sitting  down  alone  (save  for  keepers)  to  a  very  well-earned  lunch 
on  the  top  of  a  high  hill  in  the  centre  of  a  grouse  moor  far  from 
any  habitation,  and  discovering  that  the  excellent  Innch  borne  up 
there  with  much  toil  for  me  by  a  stalwart  youth  consisted  principally 
of  a  cold  sirloin  of  beef  with  knife  and  fork  unfortunately  forgotten. 
From  my  waistcoat  pocket  came  to  the  rescue  my  well-worn  budding 
knife  with  blade  inch  long,  and  I  am  bound  to  say  it  performed 
its  unaccustomed  task  with  the  same  success  with  which  it  has  pro¬ 
pagated  some  thousands  of  Rose  plants. 
At  the  end  of  my  stay  I  remembered  that  I  passed  Worksop  on  the 
way  home,  and  was  glad  to  find  that  Mr.  Machin  would  be  at  home 
during  the  short  time  that  an  unreliable  time  table  would  allow  me  to 
spend  with  him.  I  should,  of  course,  have  liked  a  drive  through  the 
”  Dukeries  ”  but  there  was  no  time  for  that,  and  I  was  glad  enough  to 
see  Mr.  Machin  among  bis  Roses.  I  did  not  quite  make  out  whether 
