January  1,  1903. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  -  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
17 
Brussels  Sprout,  Solidity. 
This  excellent  Sprout,  although  only  introduced  so  recently 
as  the  spring  of  1901,  has  attained  phenomenal  success  amongst 
cultivators  in  the  North.  All  who  have  grown  it  bear  testimony 
to  its  sterling  excellence,  both  as  to  its  cropping  capabilities, 
its  hardiness,  and  the  superior  quality  of  the  sprouts.  It 
originated  with  a  well-known  and  successful  grower  and  exhibitor 
of  vegetables  in  Perthshire,  who,  after  years  of  careful  selection, 
placed  the  stock  in  the  hands  of  Messrs.  Alexander  and  Brown, 
New  Scott  Street,  Perth,  for  distribution.  Last  year  it,  wasi 
exhibited  at  the  Chrysanthemum  shows  in  Edinburgh  and 
Dundee,  and  in  both  instances  took  the  premier  position  ;  while 
this  season  again  at  the  same  shows  it  has  maintained  its 
eminently  high  position.  The  plants,  as  would  be  seen  from  the 
illustration  last  week  on  page  588,  are  of  medium  height,  and 
are  literally  crowded  with  fine,  firm  sprouts.  It  is  also  of  ai 
hardy  constitution,  withstanding  the  rigours  of  our  northern 
winters  with  impunity.  In  my  own  experience  this  year  it  has 
done  excellent  service.  I  planted  two  breadths,  the  seeds  of 
the  earlier  batch  being  sown  under  glass  and  transplanted  into 
a  frame,  from  wliich,  after  being  sufficiently  hardened  off,  they 
were  carefully  transferred  to  their  final  quarters.  The  plants 
were  lifted  with  a  nice  ball  of  soil  adhering,  and  were  planted  with 
the  trowel.  (I  never  use  the  dibble  now  excepting  for  planting 
Leeks,  as  I  cannot  conceive  a  worse  method -of  planting  young 
plants  of  the  Brassica  tribe  than  that  of  dibbling  them  in, 
crushing  as  it  does  all  the  roots  together  instead  of  spreading 
them  out,  as  they  should  be.)  'The  second  batch  wei'e  raised 
from  seeds  sown  in  the  open,  but  otherwise  similarly  treated, 
but  the  resulting  crop  was  very  marked.  Those  sown  under 
glass,  having  a  longer  season,  naturally  grew  stronger  and  taller, 
producing  a  large  percentage  more  of  sprouts,  the  plants  attain¬ 
ing  to  a  height  of  about  2lft,  while  the  others  are  about  8in  or 
9in  dwarfer.  These  latter  are,  however,  giving  us  an  abundant 
.supply  now,  and  will  continue  doing  so  for  some  time  to  come. 
— Albtn. 
Rose  Catalogues. 
• 
Many  of  your  readers,  like  myself,  must  have  been  put  to 
needless  inconvenience  in  our  Rose  planting  b5'  the  difficulty  of 
deciding,  from  the  meagre  and  often  misleading  descriptions  of 
the  newer  Roses,  in  which  row  to  planf  in  order  to  obtain  a  fair 
certainty  that  the  front  rows  will  be  composed  of  dwarf  growers, 
the  back  rows  of  the  strongest  growers,  and  the  intermediate 
rows  of  those  Roses  which  stand  between  in  vigour  of  growth.  And 
by  vigour  in  this  case  I  mean  height.  The  word  “robust”  is 
often  used  to  express  height,  instead  of  stoutness  of  wood; 
"free”  used  to  express  fairly  vigorous,  instead  of  free,  flowering. 
Is  it  asking  toO'  much  to  suggest  a  small  revolution  in  the  cata¬ 
logues?  That  the  above  words  should  be  used  only  in  the  de¬ 
scriptions,  but  that  the  groA\th  column  should  be  reserved  to 
express  relative  height  only  ?  I  wordd  suggest  that  a  single 
nuuiber,  or  in  doubtful  cases  two  numbers,  should  be  printed  in 
the  growth  column,  ranging  from  one  to  five,  and  so  defining  in 
which  of  five  parallel  rows  any  given  Rose  should  be  planted. 
Thus  in  H.P.’s  and  H.T.ls:— 
1  (or  front  row)  should  be  used  for  the  dwarf  growers,  such  as 
Lady  M.  Fitzwilliam,  White  Lady,  Horace  Vernet,  Gustave 
Piganeau,  Ac. 
2  (or  second  row),  medium  growers,  such  as  Louis  Van  Houtte, 
Victor  Hugo,  Xavier  Olibo,  Baroness  Roch-.child,  Ac. 
3  (or  third  row),  such  as  A.  K.  Williams,  Captain  Hayward, 
Helen  Keller,  Star  of  Waltham,  Couute.ss  of  Caledon,  Ac. 
4  (fourth  row),  strong  growers,  as  Madame  Victor  Verdier, 
IMrs.  J.  Laing,  Mrs.  Sharman  Crawford,  Charles  Lefebvre,  Duke 
of  Teck,  Ac. 
o  (fifth  row),  extra  strong  growers,  such  as  Duke  of  Edinburgh, 
Paul  Neyron,  Margaret  Dickson,  Ulrich  Brunner,  Clio,  Gabriel 
Luizet,  Ac. 
The  use  of  these  numbers  would  save  printing,  and  be  far 
more  intelligible,  and,  I  hope,  more  accurate.  In  cases  of 
doubtful  growth,  two  numbers  might  be  given,  such  as  2,  3, 
showing  that  it  was  as  yet  doubtful  into  which  row  such  a  plant 
.should  go.  But  in  case  of  doubt,  as  the  new  Roses  are  probably 
better  “done”  than  the  older  ones,  the  smaller  number  would 
probablj’  represent  the  facts  best.  I  feel  sure  that  such  a 
system  q  ould  be  far  more  useful  to  buyers,  and  far  more  reliable. 
Such  a  plant  as  Baronc'.^s  Bothschild  might  well  have  “  robu-t  ” 
adcUnl  in  its  verbal  de>cription,  to  express  <|uality  of  vood,  not 
height  of  grouth.  I  hope  your  pow('rful  advocacy  iiiay  he  ob¬ 
tained  for  the  propos('d  change.  L.  C.  R.  Nouuis-Elye,  Louth, 
Lincolnshire. 
P.S. — The  Teas  should,  of  course,  be  treated  similarly:  — 
1. — Cleopatra,  Souvenir  d’Elise,  N^iphetes,  Princess  of 
lYales,  Ac. 
2.  — ComtO'se  de  Nadaillac,  Catherine  IMermet,  The  Bride, 
Sj’lph,  Ac. 
3.  — Edith  Gifford,  Medea,  Perle  des  .Jardins,  Madame 
Wilermoz,  Ac. 
4.  —  Madame  Hoste,  Innocentc  Pirola,  .Inna  Olivier,  Ac. 
5.  — Maman  Cccliet,  White  Maman  Cochet,  Mrs.  Edward 
Maw  ley. 
Ic  may  be  that  I  have  in  some  cases  incorrectly  gauged  tin? 
average  growth  of  varieties;  but  the  principle  is  the  same,  and 
various  catalogues  would  give  information  of  variations  of  growth 
in  diff.ei’ent  localities. 
- - 
Growlh  of  Flints  at  Right. 
Text  books  of  botany  tell  me  that  plant  growth  takes  place 
chicflii  at  night.  It  is  interesting  to  find  on  page  472  that  E.  C. 
Chisholm  “  cannot  throw  in  his  lot  with  tliose  who  believe  that 
plants  grow  at  night,”  and  evho  finds  “  sufficient  evidence  in  the 
fact  that  the  .sun  is  the  source  of  life  to  reasonably  repel  the 
stoutest  asseverations  of  those  who  maintain  contrary  views.” 
Having  stated  so  much,  I  think  it  but  reasonable  to  ask  E.  C. 
Chisholm  for  some  evidence  disproving  the  theory  of  night 
growth.  It  would  be  interesting  to  many  of  my  gardener 
friends,  and  csi)ecially  so  to  those  who,  like  myself,  are  parti¬ 
cularly  interested  in  plant  physiology.  My  own  observations 
and  little  experiments  point  to  growth  taking  place  at  night  ; 
but  I  shall  be  glad  to  believe  I  was  mistaken  if  the  evidenco 
against  night  growth  is  scientific. — John  T.  Blexcowe. 
The  Japanese  Ciirysanthemum :  Reflexing  the  Pet-als. 
'When  .such  an  authority  as  Mr.  Edwin  Molyneux  declare.s  in 
favour  of  reflexing  the  petals  of  Japanese  blooms,  in  his  admir¬ 
able  article  headed.  “Manipulating  the  Petals,”  on  page  422, 
Novembei-  G,  I  feel  I  am  treading  on  dangerous  ground  when  I 
take  up  the  subject  to  advance  my  views;  against  the  practice  of 
destroying  the  character  or  form  of  an  incurved  Japane.se  bloom 
by  reffexing  it.  I  will  take  the  variety  Mrs.  Barkley  first. 
When  blooiiis  of  this  sort  are  shown  artificially  reffexed,  in  my 
opinion  they  are  not  half  so  pretty  as  when  the  petals  curl  and 
are  partly  reflexed  ami  partly  incurving,  and  '■howing  the  silvery 
underside  and  deep  rose  pink  of  the  insiidc'  of  the  petals,  as  is 
natural  to  the  variety.  If  anyone  .stares  to  reflex  a  bloom  of 
Mrs.  Barkley,  commencing  at  the  base  and  working  right  up  To 
the  centre,  iintil  the  whole  of  the  petals  are  turned,  the  finale  is 
a  bloom  both  very  formal  in  shape  and  unnatural  to  boot.  iMany 
of  the  blooms  exhibited  at  the  great  show  of  the  N.C.S.  in  N'ovem- 
ber  last,  looked  as  if  they  had  been  through  a  carver’s  hands,  so 
stiff  and  formal  did  they  appeal-.  The  vase  of  six  blooms  of 
Mrs.  Barkley,  which  gained  for  me  the  first  prize  in  the  class 
for  any  colour  except  white  or  yellow,  were  shown  exactly  as 
grown,  no  extra  foliage  on  separate  stems  was  added,  and  I  was 
very  sorry  no  exhibitor  in  this  class  mas  forthcoming  with  a  vase 
of  this  sort  equally  as  good,  but  with  the  petals  artificially  re- 
flexed.  I  find  the  blooms  of  Mrs.  Barkley  which  come  reflexed 
unaided  are  quite  distinct  and  much  prettier  than  bloom, s  which 
are  reflexed.  The  blossoms  of  that  magnificent  variety,  WL  R. 
Church,  when  shown  as  grown,  have  a  certain  charm  and  fascin¬ 
ation  about  them  that  irre.sistibly  draws  one  to  it  again  ami 
again.  The  yellowish-green  tips  of  the  petals  which  curl  up 
compel,  as  it  were,  nearly  everybody  to  exclaim,  “How  lovely! 
What  a  pretty  curl  the  tips  of  the  petals  have!”  Now  what  is 
the  result  when  a  bloom  of  W.  R.  Church  has  been  ruthlessly  re¬ 
flexed?  Well.  I  admit,  if  the  operation  has  been  carefully  done, 
that  the  operator  has  still  a  beautiful  and  highly-coloured  bloom  ; 
but  the  greater  part  of  the  beauty  it  previously  had  has  di.s- 
appeared.  And  why?  Because  the  natural  characteristics  the 
bloom  posse.ssed  have  gone,  for  its  indiviiluality  has  been  de¬ 
stroyed.  No  bloom  grows  exactly  perfect,  as  everyone  knoTvs, 
but  at  the  same  time  I  do  not  think  blooms  should  be  shown  in¬ 
side  out  by  over-manipulation  of  the  petals.  Cidture  and  bud 
selection  liave  a  great  deal  to  do  with  a  .Japanese  incurved  bloom 
coming  closcdy  incurved  or  otherwise;  but  Nature  places  the 
florets'^all  the  .'^aiiie,  and  therefore  I  maintain  that  a  Japanese  in¬ 
curved  bloom  should  remain  in  its  natural  state,  and  not  be  un- 
naturallv  reflexed  when  exhibited  in  va.scs  or  on  boards,  as  ha< 
been  done  so  much  rccmitly. — A.  Jefferies.  Moor  Hall  Garden-, 
Harlow,  Lssex. 
