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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
of  maturity.  A  cool  dry  shelf  is  the  best  place  for  storing 
exhibition  bulbs. 
Onions  treated  in  the  manner  described  do  not  suffer  materially 
from  attacks  of  the  maggot,  as  the  growth  is  firm  before  the  plants 
are  placed  in  the  drills,  and  the  dreaded  fly  passes  them  over  in 
favour  of  the  tender  growths  of  the  maincrop  Onions  sown  out¬ 
doors.  Where  the  grub  is  very  destructive  it  is  a  good  plan  to 
sow  largely  under  glass,  and  afterwards  transplant,  as  this  is  a  good 
means  of  averting  the  pest.  A  further  method  of  prevention  is 
found  in  spraying  at  intervals  with  a  mixture  of  soapy  water  con¬ 
taining  a  little  petroleum,  bat  the  first  application  must  be  given 
before  the  winged  enemy  is  out  and  about,  the  time  of  emergence 
depending  on  the  weather. 
Among  the  varieties  of  Onions  now  in  the  market  Ailsa  Craig 
retains  its  popularity  as  one  of  the  best  of  the  large  globular 
types.  As  a  maincrop  Onion  it  has  no  superior,  and  if  not  sown 
too  thickly  and  afterwards  judiciously  thinned  bulbs  of  good  size 
and  firm  in  texture  may  be  obtained.  Cranston’s  Excelsior  is 
another  variety  with  a  reputation  second  to  none.  It  is  regular 
and  even  in  shape,  large  in  size,  and  weighs  well.  This  variety, 
like  the  foregoing,  is  excellent  for  growing  in  quantity,  and  without 
any  special  treatment  gives  excellent  returns.  Cocoa-nut  is  good 
when  its  qualities  are  fully  developed  by  special  cultivation. 
Advance  is  also  a  fine  Onion,  and  for  long-keeping  qualities  the 
Improved  Wroxton  is  excellent.  The  bulbs  are  large,  even,  and  so 
sound  that  they  will  keep  in  good  condition  till  the  following 
summer. 
Among  the  large  flat  types  Anglo-Spanish  still  holds  its  own 
both  for  exhibition  and'  also  as  a  maincrop  Onion,  Under  special 
treatment  it  grows  large  in  size,  and  is  perfectly  sound.  Both 
Lord  Keeper  and  Bousham  Park  Hero  are  excellent  for  exhibition, 
and  splendid  examples  may  often  be  seen  at  large  shows.  Sutton’s 
A1  is  an  Onion  of  excellent  quality,  and  mention  may  also 
be  made  of  Boyal  Jubilee  as  a  good  exhibition  variety.  No  vege¬ 
table  gives  better  returns  for  good  cultivation  than  the  Onion, 
whether  for  show  purposes  or  general  crop,  so  that  the  above 
remarks  will  be  found  applicable  in  either  case. — Gkower  and 
Judge. 
OLD  ROSES  AND  NEW  CARNATIONS. 
An  Old  Rose  Hero. 
“  Growth  such  as  I  never  had  before  ;  blooms — ah  !  there  was 
nothing  to  touch  them  in  my  showing  days,  and  never  an  insect 
anywhere.  Come  and  see.”  That  closing  adjuration  is  quite 
Cannellesque  to  be  sure,  and  the  ingenious  reader  who  spots  bis 
rnan  with  a  certainty  is  doomed  to  confusion.  It  was  not  the  old 
lion  of  Swanley,  but  a  rare  fighting  hero  for  all  that,  though  he 
now  talks  as  one  who  scents  the  battle  no  more.  I  picture  him 
standing  at  the  vicarage  door,  gazing  with  a  pathetic  far-away  look 
as  though  all  too  sadly  conscious  that  ho  is  much  given  to  for¬ 
getting  the  faces  of  friends,  and  pleads  the  weakness  of  sight 
consequent  on  a  heavy  burden  of  years  as  his  excuse  if  he  is 
deficient  now  ;  but  his  wrinkled  face  breaks  at  length  into  a  cheery 
smile  of  recognition,  and  perturbation  passes  swiftly  away.  He  is 
upright  as  any  guardsman,  notwithstanding  that  he  bears  the 
burden  of  seventy-five  years,  and  his  step  has  the  briskness  of 
youth.  I  ask  myself,  as  I  follow  him,  whether  it  is  because  he  is 
leading  me  towards  the  flowers  that  his  movements  are  thus 
buoyant.  I  think  it  must  be  so,  and  that  the  light  in  his  eye  is 
also  a  reflection  of  olden  fires.  Curious  it  is  to  note,  and  pregnant 
of  the  depth  of  sympathy  that  exists  between  a  true  flower  lover 
and  his  plants,  that  although  the  veteran  has  to  peer  long  and 
earnestly  to  make  sure  of  the  face  of  an  old  acquaintance,  by  some 
strange  power  he  is  able  to  name  at  the  briefest  glance  scores  upon 
scores  of  varieties,  differing  from  each  other,  many  of  them,  by 
only  a  faint  shade  of  colouring.  So  do  we  know  that  love  indeed 
rises  supreme  over  the  weakness  of  the  failing  senses. 
The  old  hero  lingers  amongst  his  beds,  pointing  with  joyful 
finger  to  noble  blooms  and  thick  leathery  leaves.  “Times  have 
changed,”  he  says,  “  and  I  cannot  afford  to  keep  a  gardener  now, 
for  I  am  very  poor.”  There  are  evidences  of  this,  alas  !  in  plenty  ; 
but  as  if  Nature  were  determined  'to  deal  kindly  with  the  old  man, 
fly  and  blight  have  spared  his  bushes  as  they  never  spared  them  in 
the  days  when  a  gardener  pursued  his  daily  round  of  mbour.  They 
have  been  perforce  neglected,  but  they  are  as  clean  as  if  no 
pestilent  foe  existed.  And  the  flowers  are  fit  to  fight  any  cup 
battle.  They  are  of  huge  size  and  full  of  the  most  lustrous  colour. 
“  I  have  grown  Roses  all  my  life,”  he  says,  “  but  they  were  never 
like  this.  Look  at  that  Souvenir  d’Elise,  look  at  that  Innocente  Pirola. 
It  is  an  old  favourite  of  mine,  but  I  have  never  had  it  like  it  is  this 
season,  Madame  de  Watteville,  too,  and  Dupuy  Jamain.  Do  you 
Dot  think  that  A.  K.  W  illiams  would  have  won  me  a  medal  ?  ” 
It  is  the  same  round  of  delighted  exclamation  and  admiring 
response,  long  continued.  Such  Roses  would  satisfy  the  eye  of  the 
most  critical  expert,  and  he  would  be  lacking  in  sensibility  indeed 
if  he  did  not  see  in  the  glory  of  the  flowers  a  great  and  moving 
compensation  for  the  burden  of  infirmities  which  time  inexorably 
brings.  It  is  show  day  in  the  neighbouring  town,  and  for  the  first 
time  in  his  career  as  a  Rose  exhibitor  the  venerable  vicar  is  not 
there,  the  early  morning  rise  and  drive  being  now  beyond  his 
strength.  But  if  that  brings,  as  bring  it  must  in  the  memory  of 
past  delights,  a  shadow  of  pain,  this  rich  and  bountiful  harvest  of 
flowers  beguiles  the  sadness.  It  is  thus,  surely,  that  we  learn  the 
full  measure  of  compensating  happintsi  which  the  garden  can  bring. 
Anon  the  veteran’s  knife  flashes  out. 
“  You  are  going  to  give  me  a  lesson,  Mr.  Buchanan  ?  ” 
“  In  making  cuttings — yes  !  ” 
He  tells  me  that  he  has  had  great  success  with  own-root  Roses, 
and  shows  me  vigorous  bushes  raised  by  his  own  hand  a  year  and 
two  years  ago.  They  are  amongst  the  best  of  the  whole  beautiful 
flock,  running  over  with  exuberant  strength. 
“Now  this  is  the  secret  of  it  all.  A  shoot  taken  off  with  a 
heel ;  remember  that  always,  with  a  heel,  taken  8  or  9  inches  long 
and  put  in  firmly  nearly  to  the  top.” 
His  listener  had  heard  the  lesson  before  from  other  lips,  and 
illustrated  by  other  hands.  Aye  !  and  he  has  proved  the  soundness 
of  it,  but  none  the  less  he  follows  the  movements  of  the  deft 
fingers  as  they  shape  the  shoot  with  the  interest  of  inexperienced 
youth.  It  is  no  worthless  method  of  growing  Roses,  this.  Not 
every  variety  succeeds  alike  on  Manetti,  Grifferaie,  and  Briar,  and 
many  a  good  Rose  gives  of  its  best  and  freshest  when  it  has  no 
caterer  but  its  own  inherent  vigour.  Anyway,  there  is  significance 
in  this  fact  of  a  veteran  grower,  and  literally  the  hero  of  a  hundred 
fights,  telling  you  with  all  the  emphasis  of  firm  and  well-proven 
conviction  that  the  own-root  plan  has  his  strong  allegiance. 
The  Carnation  Man  at  Home. 
It  is  at  the  other  end  of  smiling  Kent.  Town  is  very  near,  but 
there  is  only  the  smell  of  Heath  and  Bracken  on  this  burning  July 
day.  Hayes  village  is  making  merry  in  good  old  English  style  at 
the  annual  show,  and  on  the  ground  I  come  upon  a  short,  sturdy 
figure,  bearing  about  it  a  notable  stamp  of  decision  and  determina¬ 
tion.  It  is  the  famous  Carnation  man,  he  who  in  a  few  short 
years  has  achieved  a  distinction  that  falls  to  the  lot  of  few  gardeners. 
It  is  not  a  far  cry  to  the  garden,  and  the  grower  is  in  a  mood  to 
act  as  guide.  The  flowers  are  there  in  thousands.  I  ask  him  how 
many,  and  he  tells  me  that  there  are  10,000  in  pots  and  another 
30,000  planted  in  the  open  ground.  What  a  legion  !  And  every 
variety  a  selected  one.  In  all  the  vast  array  there  is  not  one  which 
held  a  place  ten  years  ago. 
It  is  rich  enjoyment  to  wander  through  house  after  house. 
When  you  have  seen  Banner  you  think  that  anything  further  in 
rich  bold  colouring  it  would  be  impossible  to  get,  and  yet  but  a 
yard  away  you  find  Endymion  and  know  that  the  impossible  has 
been  accomplished.  This  is  a  classic  flower.  It  has  all  the  parts 
of  a  really  great  self.  In  the  wonderful  breadth  of  its  magnificent 
petals,  in  their  firm,  stout  texture,  in  the  extraordinary  fullness, 
richness,  and  vividness  of  the  colouring  there  are  united  in  a  most 
uncommon  degree  the  qualities  that  go  to  make  up  a  perfect  flower. 
If  the  generations  as  yet  unborn  are  to  see  as  great  an  advance  on 
Endymion  as  this  superb  variety  is  upon,  let  us  say,  Raby  Castle, 
happy  should  it  be.  Carnation  lovers  would  find  almost  as  deep 
enjoyment  in  some  of  the  best  of  the  whites.  Most  people  would 
be  satisfied  with  Adela,  but  only  till  they  had  seen  Mrs.  Eric 
Hambro  and  Pearl.  It  is  hard  to  choose  between  two  varieties  like 
these,  but  the  man.  who  can  afford  both  need  never  give  himself 
that  painful  task.  Our  old  friend  Purple  Emperor  has  departed 
to  another  sphere,  but  he  will  not  be  regretted  while  Bendigo 
remains,  for  this  beautiful  variety  has  splendid  growth  and  grand 
colour  to  help  it  in  its  fight  for  fame.  For  a  yellow  what  advance 
could  any  reasonable  mind  expect  on  Blondin  ?  It  has  substance, 
fine  form,  'fine  colour.  But  in  a  house  further  on  there  breaks  on 
the  visitor’s  delighted  gaze  tbe  form  of  Cecilia,  and  then  he  has 
eyes  for  nought  else.  That  beautiful  race  the  yellow  ground 
Fancies  are  represented  in  great  numbers.  You  think  Mrs. 
Tremayne  is  the  best  until  you  see  lago,  then  transfer  your 
allegiance  to  that  arch-traitor  and  reap  a  just  retribution  when  at 
length  you  come  upon  Badminton.  Lady  Hindlip  has  the  deepest 
colouring  of  all  the  reds.  It  is  a  rich  crimson,  bold,  lustrous  and 
shining. 
The  young  carnationist  is  a  man  of  deeds  and  not  of  words. 
He  walks  gravely  round,  throwing  in  a  remark  now  and  then,  but 
for  the  most  part  leaving  the  flowers  to  tell  their  own  story.  'W  hat 
will  be  his  future  ?  He  is  not  a  one-plant  man,  but  excels  in  every 
department  of  a  large  garden.  Onions  proclaim  his  thoroughness 
and  skill  as  eloquently  as  Melons,  Peaches,  Grapes,  and  grand 
