August  19,  1897. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
175 
Steay  Notes. 
Theee  ie  something  else  required,  I  said,  besides  intelligent  pruning 
to  make  Mar^chal  Niel  a  true  perpetual  bloomer  as  a  standard  in  the 
open,  and  that  is  thorough  protection  from  frost.  This  means  protection 
in  spring  as  well  as  winter,  in  March  and  April  as  well  as  December  and 
January.  It  breaks  very  early  by  nature,  but  care  must  be  taken  of 
those  first  breaks,  as  from  them  and  from  the  secondary  shoots  arising 
from  the  first  shoots  come  very  often  the  only  buds.  I  will  repeat  how 
I  protect  mine,  my  garden  being  so  subject  to  frost  that  Figs  are 
generally  killed  to  the  ground  unless  protected.  Short  half-standards 
are  planted  in  a  slanting  position,  so  that  the  head  is  not  much  more 
than  a  foot  above  the  ground.  In  November  the  whole  is  pegged  down 
to  the  ground,  then  covered  with  straw  or  similar  material,  and  above 
that  with  earth,  just  as  Mangolds  are  clamped  in  the  fields.  The 
advantage  of  this  very  thorough  protection  is  the  being  able  to  regulate 
the  period  of  the  first  bloom  ;  you  can  raise  and  “  start  ”  them  just  when 
you  like,  as  a  Vine.  Mine  were  only  just  breaking  about  the  middle  of 
May,  nearly  two  months  later  than  they  would  have  done  if  left  to  them- 
selves,  and  the  flowering  shoots  were  therefore  quite  untouched  by  frost. 
It  is  these  shoots  as  a  rule  that  will  produce  the  successional  blooms,  but 
the  rule  has  its  exceptions.  This  year  I  had  three  or  four  shoots  a  yard 
long  or  more,  springing  from  quite  old  wood,  which  produced  blooms  at 
the  extremities,  but  this  is  exceptional.  In  unusual  heat,  such  as  we 
have  had  lately,  the  long  flowerless  shoots  will  sometimes  break  in  side 
flowering  shoots,  and  nurserymen  often  find,  in  a  hot  autumn,  that  the 
long  maiden  shoots  which  they  have  shortened  because  they  have  passed 
the  stakes  bear  flowers  pretty  freely.  Nevertheless,  if  left  to  itself,  and 
to  break  when  it  will,  the  Rose  will  often  be  a  poor  bloomer,  and  a  still 
worse  perpetual .  _ 
But  I  had  not  any  intention  of  representing  Mardchal  Niel  as  "  a 
satisfactory  garden  Rose,”  whatever  that  may  be  meant  to  imply. 
“  Garden  Rose  ”  has  a  specific  meaning  in  N.R.S.  nomenclature,  and 
does  not  include  Mar^chal  Niel.  And  if  the  term  is  taken  to  mean,  as  I 
fancy  it  sometimes  is,  a  Rose  that  will  appear  at  its  best  without  any  care 
being  taken  of  it,  I  cannot  give  any  opinion  on  such  a  matter,  as  I  have  no 
experience.  My  Roses  are  all  taken  care  of,  and  would  not  give  me  so 
much  pleasure  if  it  were  not  owing  to  my  care  that  they  flourished.  No 
small  amount  of  such  care,  as  well  as  good  culture,  must  I  am  sure  have 
been  given  to  those  magnificent  blooms  of  Mar^chal  Niel  which  Messrs. 
D.  Prior  &  Son  showed  on  certain  occasions  this  season,  and  the  remem¬ 
brance  of  them  really  makes  me. too  impatient  to  continue  a  discussion 
upon  a  suggested  comparison  between  this  Rose  and  Medea. 
Yes  :  I  am  sure — it  seems  only  natural — that  I  take  greater  delight 
in  a  fine  bloom  whose  beauty  has  been  much  enhanced  by  care  and 
watchfulness.  Surely  this  is  the  essence  of  the  pleasure  of  competition 
at  shows.  If  it  is  only  the  richness  of  your  soil,  or  the  excellence  of 
your  gardener,  where  does  the  personal  element — the  delight  of  having 
won  by  your  own  exertions — come  in  ?  If  it  is  by  your  own  cultivation, 
selfction,  protection  and  care  that  you  can  produce  a  perfect  Souvenir 
d’Elise  in  full  size  and  beauty,  or  a  La  Bonle  d’Or,  erect,  golden, 
pointed,  with  stiff  long  wide  wings,  which  is  plainly  superior  to  all 
others,  your  toil  and  care  has  its  full  reward. 
The  mention  of  the  latter  Rose  reminds  me  that  two  or  three  years 
ago — I  tnink  it  must  have  been  when  I  got  the  medal  for  it  at  Gloucester 
N.R.S, — my  youngest  daughter  suddenly  announced  that  she  had  made 
a  riddle  (charade).  “  My  first  is  a  fierce  cow,  my  second  is  what  you 
shut,  ^my  whole  is  a  Rose.”  Answer:  Bull-door.  Forgive  her — her 
years  are  tender.  _ 
“  D.,  Deal,"  still  seems  to  think  that  some  other  reason  should  be 
given  for  holding  the  Northern  N.R.S  Show  at  Norwich  besides  the 
obvious  one  that  it  is,  literally  and  actually,  a  northern  city.  The 
“  someone  ”  who  made  the  remark  ”  waggishly  ”  that  it  must  be  because 
both  began  with  “Nor”  was  the  Dean  himself,  at  which  I  was.  I  confess, 
much  surprised,  because,  of  course,  that  is  the  reason.  Northwich 
(Norwich)  is  the  capital  of  the  Northfolk  (Norfolk)  of  the  formerly 
separate  kingdom  of  East  Anglia.  North,  indeed,  to  East  Anglia  was 
the  county  of  the  Northfolk,  for  there  is  nothing  to  the  north  of  it  but 
the  open  sea,  and  very  little  to  the  west,  as  I  fear  was  found  out  by 
travellers  to  it  from  the  N.W. 
It  is  more  diflScult  to  believe  that  it  is  actually  a  Norwich— northern 
city— as  compared  with  the  rest  of  Englan^;  but  even  this  is  true.  If 
you  lay  a  ruler  across  a  map  of  England  you  will  find  it  north  of  Wolver¬ 
hampton  and  about  level  with  Lichfield,  and  surely  this  is  northern.  I 
explained  all  this  at  a  N.R.S.  meeting,  but  am  not  surprised  that  people 
cannot  understand  it,  for,  oddly  enough,  I  can  hardly  realise  it  myself. 
It  is  the  railway  that  bothers  one.  When  you  go  down  the  seventy 
miles  to  Ipswich  by  G.E.R.  you  take  it  for  granted  that  yon  are  going 
East,  whereas  it  is  really  N.E.  Down  the  Thames  to  Margate  would  be 
East,  and  after  Ipswich  the  remaining  forty-five  miles  to  Norwich  is 
due  North. 
I  much-  regret  that  it  is  so  inaccessible  from  the  North  and  West, 
especially  at  the  missing  the  Roses  of  Messrs.  A.  Dickson  &  Son,  which 
are  always  most  interesting  at  the  northern  exhibition.  But  there  are  a 
good  many  East  Anglian  exhibitors,  and  they  have  had  many  a  weary 
journey  to  the  N.  and  N.W.  It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  there  are  so 
few  amateurs  in  Norfolk  itself,  and  practically  no  trade  growers  ;  but 
Colchester  itself  would  confess  that  the  Norfolk  and  Norwich  is  much 
the  strongest  and  most  flourishing  of  all  East  Anglian  horticultural 
societies.  I  predicted  that  the  N.R.S.  would  be  thoroughly  well  received 
and  treated  at  Norwich,  and  am  heartily  glad  that  it  has  generally  been 
considered  a  success. 
Among  all  the  hardy  annuals  submitted  to  gardeners  in  the  horti¬ 
cultural  Press,  nothing  is  more  hardy  or  more  annual  than  the  advocacy 
of  own-root  Roses.  It  is  a  crop  that  never  fails,  and  generally  ripens 
about  this  time  of  year.  It  is  in  vain  that  rosarians  repeat  what  their 
experience  has  taught  them — that  some  few  of  the  more  vigorous  H.P.’s 
will  eventually,  in  suitable  soil,  make  good  plants  on  their  own  roots, 
but  that  even  these  are  much  longer  in  doing  so,  and  do  not  flower  as 
freely  or  give  such  good  blooms  as  those  worked  on  the  Briar.  It  is  no 
use ;  it  will  crop  up  again  next  year,  I  feel  sure,  and,  perhaps,  especially 
if  the  cutting  with  a  heel  is  mentioned,  be  put  forward  as  quite  a  new 
discovery,  just  as  I  fully  expect  we  have  not  heard  the  last  of  the  old 
saddle  graft  being  a  new  invention.  I  do  not  think  that  Mr.  W.  Pea 
(page  116)  meant  that  his  Hero  had  Souvenir  d’Elise,  Innocente  Pirola, 
and  Madame  de  Watteville  at  their  best  on  their  own  roots,  though 
Dupny  Jamain  he  possibly  might ;  but  rosarians  do  not  believe  that 
“  many  a  good  Rose  gives  of  its  best  and  freshest  when  it  has  no  caterer 
but  its  own  inherent  vigour,”  though  a  few  may  do  pretty  well. 
Among  a  certain  class  of  horticulturists  there  is  now  a  strong  bias 
for  own  roots  for  everything.  There  is  no  smoke  without  fire,  and  I 
think  this  feeling  has  been  aroused  by  unnecessary  and  often  careless 
grafting  of  certain  ornamental  plants  and  shrubs.  But,  as  usual,  the 
reactionary  feelings  and  statements  have  gone  too  far.  I  read  in  a 
gardening  journal  not  long  ago  an  editorial  on  the  standard  Rose, 
strongly  opposed  to  all  “  working,”  in  which  it  was  asserted  that  budding 
and  grafting  were  practically  the  same,  and  standards  were  spoken  of 
as  grafted  plants.  I  felt  a  strong  desire  “  to  offer  some  statements”  in 
answer,  but  wiser  counsels  prevailed.  I  have  done  some  such  quixotic 
tilting  at  windmills  before  now,  with  the  usual  result,  and  have  learnt 
my  lesson. — W.  R.  Raillem.  _ 
P.S. — As  the  above  seems  not  to  have  been  in  time  for  the  last  number, 
I  would  add  a  sentence  or  two.  If  Mr.  Walter  Easlea,  after  taking  part 
for  over  twenty  years  in  the  cultivation  of  thousands  of  Mar^chal  Niel, 
never  expects  to  get  more  than  a  single  crop  from  it,  it  only  emphasises 
what  we  all  knew  before — that  no  amount  of  time  or  experience  will 
exempt  us  from  having  something  yet  to  learn.  Why  “  so  few  specimens 
are  found  at  the  summer  exhibitions  ”  is  probably  because  few  think  it 
worth  while  to  treat  their  plants  as  mentioned  above. 
Though  “D.,  Deal,"  is  chivalrous  enough  to  come  to  my  aid  against 
the  windmills,  I  cannot  agree  with  him  altogether  on  one  point.  He 
looks  upon  the  pendent  position  of  the  flower  out  of  doors  as  a  defect, 
and  says  you  see  nothing  but  the  outside  petals  of  the  flower,  which  are 
generally  discoloured.  True,  if  the  bloom  has  not  been  protected  ;  but 
cut  it  and  turn  it  up,  and  it  is  still  beautiful,  the  outside  protecting 
petals  being  easily  removed.  If  it  had  been  erect  the  whole  flower 
would  have  been  spoiled  ;  the  fact  of  its  being  thoroughly  pendent  makes 
it  often  last  longer  in  bad  weather  than  other  equally  delicate  Roses. 
The  effect  of  an  abnormally  heavy  dew  on  the  Tuesday  morning 
before  the  Norwich  Show,  immediately  followed  by  a  tropical  sun,  was 
that  all  my  erect  Teas  of  any  shade  of  red  or  pink,  which  were 
uncovered,  were  completely  spoiled,  and  all  the  pendent  blooms  of  any 
colour  escaped. — W.  R.  R. 
New  Roses. 
We  can  hardly  call  Mrs.  W.  J.  Grant,  Captain  Hayward,  Heleii' 
Keller,  Crimson  Rambler,  and  Mrs.  R.  G.  Sharman  Crawford  new  Roses 
in  the  sense  that  I  mean  in  these  notes.  They  are  far  too  well  known 
and  appreciated.  But  a  few  of  the  more  recent  introductions,  and  some 
not  yet  in  commerce,  are  well  deserving  of  a  note.  Muriel  Grahame  does 
not  need  much  comment,  in  addition  to  stating  that  it  won  the  N.R.S. 
card  of  commendation  in  1895,  the  N.R.S.  gold  medal  in  1896,  and  the 
first  year  after  introduction  secured  two  of  the  silver  medals  as  the  best 
Tea  or  Noisette  among  amateurs’  classes  at  the  National  Rose  Society’s 
meetings  ;  once  at  the  Crystal  Palace,  and  again  at  Norwich.  In  every 
sense  but  colour  Muriel  Grahame  is  the  same  with  me  as  Catherine 
Mermet  and  its  other  sport.  The  Bride. 
Laurence  Allen  is  another  Rose  that  deserves  special  note.  I  may 
briefly  describe  it  as  a  m«ch  improved  Baroness  Rothschild,  but  with  a 
moat  delicious  perfume.  Comtesse  de  Canay  promises  well,  and  is  a 
dark  crimson  with  carmine  shadings.  The  best  new  Hybrid  Perpetual 
of  last  year  is  Tom  Wood,  a  grandly  built  up  cherry  red,  of  great  sub- 
