376 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
October  16,  18»«. 
At  the  end  o!  every  season  I  make  an  analysis  of  the  Roses  that  I 
have  shown.  Thinking  it  might  interest  many  of  the  readers  of  the 
Journal  of  Horticulture  to  see  how  the  different  varieties  work  out,  and 
also  perhaps  be  of  use  to  those  who  are  planting  this  autumn  with  the 
object  of  exhibiting,  I  have  made  out  the  accompanying  list. 
Being  only  a  small  grower  in  the  under  1000  division  the  number  of 
blooms  shown  was  only  240,  which  were  staged  in  twenty-five  classes  at 
six  shows.  In  cases  of  trebles  and  six  of  one  sort  the  full  number  of 
blooms  have  been  credited  to  each  variety. 
Among  the  Teas  Hpn.  E.  Gifford  and  Maman  Cochet  head  the  list. 
The  latter  has  thoroughly  won  its  position,  as  from  fewer  plants  and 
many  of  them  only  planted  last  autumn,  it  is  quite  a  feat  to  be  equal 
with  that  consistent  Rose  Hon.  E.  Gifford.  Maman  Cochet  will  be 
everybody’s  Rose,  as  it  is  a  constant  bloomer  and  charming  in  every 
respect,  though  perhaps  there  is  a  tendency  for  the  blooms  to  come  a 
little  coarse  and  divided.  This  grossness  I  attribute  to  overfeeding,  as 
the  later  blooms,  while  being  quite  full  sized,  have  been  free  from  this 
defect. 
Innocente  Pirola  and  Comtesse  de  Nadaillac  have  as  usual  done  well, 
and  it  would  be  impossible  to  find  two  better  exhibition  Tea  Roses. 
Madame  de  Watteville  has  been  very  disappointing,  and  Ernest  Metz, 
the  most  diflScnlt  Tea  with  me  toshow  in  good  form,  is  lower  down  than 
usual.  Cleopatra  is  generally  too  early  for  the  shows,  but  this  year 
being  rather  later  had  a  better  opportunity  and  comes  out  well. 
The  Teas  were  later  than  last  year  in  coming  into  bloom,  and  the 
quality  was  considerably  lower  than  usual. 
15,  Hon.  Edith  Gifford 
15,  Maman  Cochet 
14,  Innocente  Pirola 
12,  Comtesse  de  Nadaillac 
11,  Madame  Cusin 
10,  Cleopatra 
7,  Ethel  Brownlow 
C,  The  Bride 
4,  Madame  Hoste 
4,  Marie  Van  Houtte 
I  4,  Anna  Olivier 
I  4,  Catherine  Mermet 
1  4,  Souvenir  d’Elise  Vardon 
I  3,  Ernest  Metz 
3,  Niphetos 
2,  Souvenir  de  S.  A.  Prince 
2,  Madame  de  Watteville 
2,  Francisca  Kruger 
8  Varieties  shown  once. 
Mrs.  John  Laing  holds  the  premier  position  among  the  Hybrid  Per- 
petuals,  which  is  fully  in  accord  with  its  high  reputation.  It  is,  I  think, 
only  fair  to  state  that  although  both  Horace  Vernet  and  Kaiserin 
Augusta  Victoria  gave  me  some  of  the  best  blooms  of  the  year,  that  it 
was  only  on  rare  occasions  that  they  were  in  form  on  a  show  day. 
Both  Her  Majesty  and  Ulrich  Brunner  only  appear  once  in  the  list, 
ani  it  is  many  years  since  they  have  done  so  badly  ;  in  fact,  the  former 
has  hardly  flowered  at  all. 
While  too  much  importance  should  not  be  attached  to  any  analysis, 
as  the  number  of  plants  grown  of  each  variety  ought  to  be  taken  into 
consideration,  still,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  an  actual  result,  and  as  such 
is,  I  venture  to  think,  interesting. 
16,  Mrs.  J.  Laing  i 
— R.  H.  Langtox,  Hendon. 
■a,  Aja  France 
9,  A.  K.  Williams 
8,  Madame  Gabriel  Luizet 
8,  Caroline  Testout 
8,  Susanne  Marie  Rodocanachi 
5,  Gustave  Piganeau 
4,  Captain  Christy 
4,  Louis  Van  Houtte 
3,  Horace  Vernet 
3,  Mrs.  R.  G.  Sharman  Crawford 
3,  Charles  Lefebvre 
3,  Marie  Baumann 
2,  Kaiserin  Augusta  I'ictoria 
2,  Marchioness  of  Londonderry 
2,  Earl  of  Dufferin 
2,  Duchess  of  Albany 
15  Varieties  shown  once 
Exhibitions  and  Railway  Companies’  Charges. 
I  OBSERVE  a  letter  in  your  issue  of  24th  ult.  on  the  above  subject. 
It  is  not  often  that  Ireland  leads  the  way  in  railway  management,  but 
in  this  matter  of  encouragement  to  exhibitors  this  country  has  certainly 
taken  a  step  in  the  right  direction.  While  I  was  acting  as  Secretary  for 
the  Strabane  shows  I  pressed  upon  the  railway  companies  here  the 
absolute  necessity  for  giving  greater  encouragemenc  to  exhibitors  coming 
to  the  shows,  but  I  could  get  nothing  done  till  I  went  to  Dublin,  and  had 
a  personal  interview  with  Mr.  Robertson,  the  late  manager  of  the  G.N.R., 
Ireland,  and  after  a  long  conversation  I  got  him  to  grant  return  tickets 
to  exhibitors  at  single  fare  on  production  of  a  voucher  signed  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  show.  This  concession  is  now  obtainable  for  all 
similar  shows  in  Ireland  from  all  the  railway  companies  when  proper 
application  is  made  by  the  show  secretaries.  I  have  no  doubt  the  same 
privilege  can  be  obtained  for  exhibitors  in  England  and  Scotland  if 
the  secretaries  or  committees  of  some  of  the  principal  societies  were  to 
take  the  matter  up.  I  enclose  herewith  copy  of  notice  which  is  usually 
prkted  in  the  schedules  of  the  Strabane  and  Armagh  shows.  This 
might  be  useful  to  some  of  your  societies  who  might  wish  to  bring  the 
matter  before  the  railway  companies  interested.  I  will  gladly  give  any 
secretary  any  further  information  he  may  require  on  hearing  from  him. 
W.  R.  Oer,  The  Horticultural  Agency,  9,  Olenravel  Street,  Belfast, 
Bdttonhole  Roses. 
I  SHOULD  be  glad  if  some  of  the  writers  in  the  Journal  would  give 
me  the  names  of  one  or  more  really  good  buttonhole  Roses,  and  if  of  deep 
colour  so  much  the  better.  I  enclose  a  sample  half  dozen  from  our  plants 
of  Papa  Gontier,  of  which  we  have  a  dozen  small  plants.  From  these  I 
cut  fifty  last  week,  and  made  them  into  gentlemen’s  buttonholes,  and 
think  I  could  not  have  cut  the  same  number  from  all  our  other  Rose 
bushes,  and  we  have  several  hundreds.  I  should  like  to  plant  more  that 
will  give  us  buds  the  shape  of  Papa  Gontier  that  will  flower  as  late  as  it 
does,  if  some  of  our  practical  writers  will  be  kind  enough  to  oblige  me 
with  the  names  of  the  varieties. — F.  Geeson. 
Roses  from  Waltham  Cross. 
The  utility  of  autumn-flowering  Roses,  or  rather  of  Roses  that 
flower  in  the  summer  and  the  autumn,  is  well  known,  and  undisputed. 
Such  being  the  case  the  introduction  of  new  varieties  that  fulfil  these 
desirable  essentials  are  hailed  with  delight  by  che  ever-increasing 
army  of  rusarians.  Belonging  to  such  as  these  are  Queen  Mab  and 
Enchantress,  of  which  the  former  is  of  the  China  section,  while  the 
latter  is  a  Tea-scented  variety.  Of  all  Roses  these  are  amongst  the 
most  charming  we  have  seen  of  184^,  and  that  they  are  floriferous  is 
proved  by  the  beautiful  bunches  of  flowers  that  have  been  forwarded 
to  us  by  Messis.  W.  Paul  &  Son,  the  great  Rose  growers  of  Waltham 
Cross.  Queen  Mab  is  one  of  the  most  effective  Roses  in  cultivation, 
the  colour  being  a  soft  silvery  rose.  Enchantress  is  a  creamy  white, 
floriferous  and  fragrant,  and  was  honoured  by  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society  some  time  ago. 
CUCUMBER  ROOTS  FROM  »W.  D.” 
The  roots  came  to  hand  on  the  5th  inst, — too  late  for  examination, 
as  artificial  light  is  not  good  for  microscopic  work,  therefore  they  were 
examined  on  the  6th.  They  were  mostly  found  to  be  dead,  completely 
destroyed  by  the  eelworm,  and  in  the  dampest  parts  the  micro¬ 
organisms  were  found  in  a  free  state,  young  eelworms,  male  and  female. 
This  was  the  general  state  of  affairs  but  there  were  some  parts  of  the 
roots,  bearing  the  nodosities  caused  by  the  eelworms,  comparatively 
fresh,  yet  more  or  less  in  a  state  of  decay.  There  was  not,  however,  any 
cellular  tissue  but  what  had  ceased  connection  with  the  vascular ; 
indeed,  there  was  scarcely  a  cell  intact,  which  is  a  very  important 
matter  in  nutritive  parasitism.  The  roots  were  also  very  woody,  more 
like  Tomato  than  Cucumber  roots  ;  in  brief,  I  have  never  seen  any  such 
roots  of  a  Cucurbitaceous  plant  either  with  or  without  eelworm.  This 
does  not  make  the  slightest  difftrence  as  regards  the  eelworm,  for  it  is 
just  as  fond  of  a  succulent  Cucumber  as  of  the  more  woody  Tomato  root, 
only  it  is  more  malignant — that  is,  feeds  better  on  the  former  than  the 
latter. 
In  the  most  recent  living  parts  of  the  cellular  tissue  of  the  nodosities 
I  found  adult  eelworm,  male  long  and  comparatively  slender,  and 
female  about  one-third  shorter  than  the  male,  but  what  was  lost  in  length 
was  made  up  in  stoutness.  There  was  also  a  female — I  did  not  trouble 
to  find  any  more — in  the  last  days  of  gestation,  the  flask-shaped  body, 
so  often  laid  stress  on  in  the  identification  of  root  eelworm,  but  not  by 
any  means  confined  to  one  species  of  the  family,  and  this  body  was  still 
imbibing  nutritive  matter,  nay,  ingesting  it  by  the  mouth.  This  is  the 
important  point  alluded  to,  for  the  cells  were  dead,  and  the  eelworm 
must  derive  nutritive  matter,  if  at  all,  from  the  juices  of  the  plant  in 
which  it  was  bathed,  and  which  were  being  rapidly  converted  into 
inorganic  solutions  (upon  which  no  eelworm  can  live)  by  bacteria,  the 
species  in  this  case  being  "  Bacillus  sabtilis.” 
Eelworm,  therefore,  in  the  absence  of  living  tissues  obtain  nourish¬ 
ment  from  organic  solutions — the  remains  of  vegetable  or  animal 
organisms  in  a  state  of  decay,  hence  can  live  saprophytically  as  well  as 
parasitically,  in  the  latter  case  exploiting  the  host — causing  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  cellular  tissue — the  nodosities,  and  atrophy  of  the  root  system, 
in  order  to  have  an  abundant  supply  of  nutrition  and  nourishment  for 
the  offspring,  which  live  saprophytically,  and  can  only  live  at  all  where 
organic  matter  prevails  in  such  amount  as  to  bathe  the  soil.  When, 
therefore,  lime  is  applied  in  such  amount  as  to  practically  resolve 
organic  matter  into  inorganic  the  animal  cannot  live,  but  the  plant 
thrives  because  supplied  with  the  substances  upon  which  it  builds  its 
structure. 
No  eggs  were  found,  nor  any  cysts  in  the  free  state,  or  any  of  the 
latter  in  the  partially  decayed  cellular  tissues ;  but  there  was  a  wire- 
worm — larva  of  skipjack  beetle  (Elater  lineatus,  and  so  active 
that  I  determined  to  test  the  animal’s  power  of  endurance  in  a  solution 
of  soluble  phenyle,  1  in  100.  In  this  the  wireworm  performed  various 
evolutions,  and  gave  up  the  ghost  in  exactly  seven  minutes.  This  may 
be  useful  to  those  who  have  wireworm-infested  soil,  but  if  applied  to  it 
an  eye  should  be  kept  on  the  surface,  for  the  wireworms  come  up  for 
air,  and  if  indoors  may  be  killed.  If  outdoors  it  does  not  much  matter, 
as  birds  will  make  a  meal  of  them  and  not  be  killed,  as  soluble  phenyle 
is  not  poisonous  unless  taken  in  very  large  amount ;  but  corrosive 
sublimate  solution  will  not  only  kill  the  pests  harbouring  in  the  soil, 
but  the  birds  that  eat  them,  so  both  will  surely  die,  the  eaten  and  the 
eater. 
“  W.  D.”  is  now  welcome  to  write  the  life  history  of  root  eelworm, 
and  of  your  readers  none  will  be  more  pleased  to  find  anything  calculated 
to  prevent  or  destroy  the  pests  of  crops  than — G.  Abbey. 
