200 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AXD  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
March  5,  1903. 
Summer  Roses. 
We  must  all  agree  with  “  J.  W.  ”  that  tastes  differ.  In  the 
arts,  such  as  literature,  music,  and  painting,  it  would  also  be 
agreed  that  there  are  high  and  refined,  because  educated,  tastes, 
and  those  that  are  low’  and  debased,  because  they  are  uneducated. 
Shall  we  say  that  the  same  holds  good  in  Roses?  That  anyone 
who  has  devoted  much  time  and  labour  to  educating  himself  in 
this  special  subject  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  a  higher  taste 
than  one  who  is  “  only  a  amateur,  like,”  as  Mark  Twain  w’ould 
.say?  No,  I  think  not.  In  our  appreciation  of  flowers,  though 
societies  and  specialists  may  set  up  standards,  I  should  doubt 
whether  anyone  has  a  right  to  say  that  his  neighbour’s  affections 
are  set  upon  wrong  ideals.  “  J.  W.”  says  if  we  give  up  “  summer  ” 
Roses  we  must  make  up  our  minds  to  dispense  with  some  of  the 
most  lovely  forms  of  climbing  Roses  we  possess.  He  instances 
“  Blairii  2  and  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Rambler  section,”  but 
Crimson  Rambler,  though  classed  as  a  summer  Rose,  certainly 
lasts  much  longer  in  flower  than  any  other  in  that  section. 
As  to  good  perpetual  climbers,  we  have  Reine  Marie  Henriette, 
a  splendid  crimson,  sometimes  large  and  well  shaped  enough 
even  to  show  among  H.P’s,  and  so  perpetual  as  to  be  spoken 
of  as  ever-blooming,  even  in  the  United  States,  where  so  few’ 
Roses,  except  the  Teas  and  Chinas,  bloom  a  second  time  at  all. 
Also  Reve  d’Or,  strongest,  hardiest,  and  best  of  climbing 
Noisettes,  clothed  with  foliage  to  the  very  base,  and  a  good  per¬ 
petual,  especiallj’  if  some  of  the  superabundant  trusses  of  buds 
in  the  spring  be  removed  before  they  flower ;  and  a  few  others, 
not  enough,  or  good  enough,  I  grant ;  but  is  that  a  reason  for 
being  content  with  summer  climbers  because  they  are  “old 
favourites  ”  ?  Not  at  all,  I  say.  Of  course  I  may  not  be  right, 
but  my  taste  and  my  idea  lead  me  to  clamour  to  raisers  for  more, 
at  least  a,s  good,  or  better  if  possible,  than  those  I  have  men¬ 
tioned.  The  perpetuals  are  actually  better  than  the  summer 
Roses  in  size,  shape,  and  colour ;  but  it  is  not  only  for  these 
causes  that  I  do  not  grow’  or  recommend  the  latter.  The  prin¬ 
cipal  reason  is  that  I  have  but  a  limited  garden  (and  very  many 
must  be  in  the  same  position),  and  I  simply  cannot  afford  to  give 
board  and  lodging  to  tenants  which  will  give  me  only  a  fortnight’s 
return  in  the  whole  year.  During  that  fortnight  I  might  be  laid 
up,  or  neicsssarily  aw'ay,  and  so  miss  a  wdiole  year’.s  payment. 
Or  it  might  be  bad.wmather,  a  day  of  .steady  rain  just  w’hen  the 
blooms  are  just  out,  followed  by  a  couple  of  damp,  still,  muggy 
days;  at  the  end  of  the  first  week  the  plants  are  covered  with 
brown  rotting  balls — a  positive  eyesore,  and  the  plants  w’ould 
look  better  without  them.  But  it  is  no  use  cutting  them  off,  for 
you  w’ill  get  no  more  for  a  whole  twelvemonth.  And  so  I,  as  a 
practical  man,  have  as  my  “  favourites  ”  those  flowers  and  fruits 
which  W’ill  give  me  the  longest  return  for  “  board,  lodging,  and 
attendance.”  Roses,  from  midsummer  to  November;  Violets, 
from  September  to  April ;  Strawberries,  from  June  to  mid- 
October ;  Apples,  from  October  to  April.  Such  good  tenants  as 
these  will  be  my  favourites,  and  wall  certainly  have  their  choice 
of  my  best  apartments. 
And  .still  I  will  not  find  fault  w’ith  anyone  whose  tastes  and 
opinions  differ  from  mine  ;  what  I  did  find  fault  w’ith  in  “  H.  D.’s  ” 
first  letter  was  that  the“  summer  ”  Roses  were  not  named  as 
such,  and  that  a  reader  might  imagine  them  likely  to  give  return 
for  a  w’hole  summer  and  autnmn,  instead  of  for  two  or  three 
Aveeks  only.  If  “  H.  D.”  thinks  Adam  a  good  Tea  Rose,  very 
well;  but  rosarians  in  general  will  not  agree  with  him.  As  to 
Perle  des  Jardins,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  in.  some  respects 
it  is  the  best  yellow’  garden  Rose  w’e  have,  but  that  does  not  at 
all  shoAv  that  it  is  “  satisfactory.”  I  think  it  is  very  unsatis¬ 
factory.  What  then  ?  Mu.st  I  put  up  with  it  because  it  is  the 
be.st  W’e  have  ?  Not  at  all.  I  am  fully  in  accord  with  the  common 
sense  of  the  legend  I  sometimes  see  in  .shops  of  a  certain  class — 
“If  you  don’t  see  what  you  want,  ask  for  it.”  All  horticul¬ 
turists  know  that  in  an  immense  number  of  instances  w’here 
there  has  been  a  strong  demand  for  a  certain  improvement  in  any 
flow’er,  fruit,  or  vegetable,  supply  has  sooner  or  later  arrived. 
A  great  many  raisers  of  Ro.ses  are  working  towards  chance,  or 
fancy,  or  different  ideals.  Their  cu.stomers  should  let  them  know 
what  they  want.  A  good  yellow’  garden  Rose,  more  perpetual 
climbers  of  different  shades,  very  much  larger  and  thoroughly 
perpetual  single  Roses  with  conspicuous  and  brightly  coloured 
stamens,  and  of  extra  vigorous  growth,  and  so  on.  Let  us  always 
be  seeking  the  better,  in  methods,  materials,  and  results. 
“Upwards  and  onw’ards,”  as  good,  dear  Mr.  Fenn  .says. — 
W.  R.  Raillem. 
Striped  Roses. 
In  answ’er  to  ‘  T.  L.,”  page  193,  I  have  not  heard  of  any  new’ 
striped  show  Rose.  The  best  knoAvn  is  Pride  of  Reigate  (Paul 
and  Son,  1885).  It  is  a  sport  from  Countess  of  Oxford,  and  has 
often  been  show  n  in  good  classes ;  but  many  good  judges  Avould 
consider  it  disfigui’ing  to  a  stand  from  its  colour.  The  ground 
colour  is  crimson  w’ith  white  stripes.  York  and  Lancaster  has 
more  often  a  white  ground  with  red  stripes.  Merrie  England 
(Harknevss  and  Sons,  1897)  is  another  striped  sport  w’hich  seems 
to  have  met  w’ith  even  less  favonr ;  the  ground  colour  is  crimson 
striped  with  silvery  pale  pink,  and  sometimes  flaked  as  a  Car¬ 
nation.  There  may  be  several  other  striped  H.P.’s  extant  Avhich 
have  never  come  into  general  cultivation.  In  the  1898-9  cata¬ 
logue  of  Ketten  Freres,  Luxembourg,  w’hich  contains  1,754 
varieties  of  Roses,  I  find  six  or  seven  striped  H.P.  Roses  men¬ 
tioned,  but  I  have  never  seen  any  of  them  but  Pi'ide  of  Reigate. 
— W.  R.  Raillem. 
Forestry  in  Russia, 
Professor  Schw’appach,  of  the  Forest  School  of  Eberswalde, 
in  Prussia,  last  autumn  undertook,  on  the  invitation  of  the 
Director  of  Russian  State  Forests,  an  extensive  tour  of  in¬ 
spection  of  Ru.ssian  fore,sts,  and  his  report  has  recently  appeared 
in  the  “  Zeit.  fiir  Forst  und  Jagd-Wesen.” 
The  total  extent  of  the  forests  of  Russia  in  Europe,  including 
Finland,  is  put  at  more  than  five  hundred  million  acres,  or 
‘thirty-three  per  cent',  of  the  total  surface  of  the  country.  The 
distribution  of  the  forests  is  extremely  unequal.  In  the  north 
there  are  wide'  regions  that  show  no  more  than  ten  per  cent, 
of  interruption  in  the  Avooded  surface,  whereas  in  the  south  the 
percentage  of  forest  land  is  hardly  greater  than  in  this  country, 
and  on  the  Steppes  it  is  even  less.  Of  the  total  forest  area,  the 
State  oAvns  considerably  more  than  half,  the  great  landlords 
about  a  quarter,  and  the  peasants,  communes,  &c.,  the  re¬ 
mainder. 
In  the  north  the  prevailing  species  are  Scots  Pine  and 
Spimce,  Avhile  Birch  and  Aspen  are  of  subordinate  importance, 
though  these  are-  much  in  evidence  along  the  lines  of  railway, 
where  the  Conifers  liave  often  been  e-xterminated  by  forest  fires. 
In  the  south.  Oak,  Ash,  Elm,  Lime  and  Sycamore  constitute  the 
bulk  of  the  forests. 
In  Finland,  as  in  Scandinavia,  Professor  Sohwappach  observed 
that  the  Scots  Pine  has  a  habit  somew’hat  different  from  that 
Avhich  it  assumes  jn  Germany.  The  stem  is  straighter,  Avhile  the 
shape  of  the  crow’ii  .somew’hat  resembles  that  of  the  Spruce-.  The 
loAver  branches  die  off  sooner,  so  that  the  stems  are  strikingly 
clean  groAvn.  Professor  Mayr  has  also  called  attention  to  this 
state  of  things,  'and  attributes  the  earlier  death  of  dhe  lower 
branches  to  the  fact  that,  in  a  cold  climate  they  cannot  stand  so 
much  shading  as  is  the-  case  farther  south. 
It  is  curious  and  interesting  to  note  that  in  Finland  the  Scots 
Pines  are  considerably  damaged  by  the  shepherds,  Avho  strip  off 
the  bark,  and  use  the  cambium  and  soft  bast  as  an  article  of 
food. 
Everything  is  done  on  a  large  scale  in  Ru.ssia.  ^  The-  main 
forest  divisions,  each  of  Avhich  is  placed  under  an  officer,  average 
over  150,000  acres  each,  w’hereas  the  corresponding  unit  in 
Germany  is  5,000  to  10,000  acres. 
Since  1895  a  rough  forest  survey  has  been  undertaken  in  this 
way,  that  rides  13ft  wide,  running  north  and  south  and  east  and 
w’est,  have  be-e-n  cut  through  the  forest.s,  so  that  the  w’hole  area 
has  been  laid  out  in  rectangles  of  nearly  20,000  acres  each.  In 
the  more  accessible  regions,  the  sub-division  has  been  carried 
somewhat  further.  By  traversing  these  rides,  and  taking  note 
of  the  character  of  the  timber  that  adjoins  them,  a  rough  esti¬ 
mate  can  be  formed  of  th^  volume  of  the  grow’ing  stock. 
Growth  in  the  northern  regions  is  .slow’,  and  in  estimating 
the  prodmetive  capacity  of  Russian  for(«ts,  this  fact  has  to  be 
kept  carefully  in  vieiv.  Conifers  do  not  reach  a  useful  size 
under  150  years,  Avhile,  as  regards  height,  the  maximum  for 
the  Spruce  may  be-  put  at  90ft,  and  for  the  Scots  Pine  at  10ft 
less.  The  heavie.st  class  of  stems  is  Formed  by  trees  having  a 
diameter  at  brea.st  height  of  18in  to  30in,  and  of  this  class  there 
are  not  usually  more  than  one  or  two  specimens  on  an  acre. 
The  bulk  of  the  crop  consists  of  much  smaller  stems,  of  which 
there  are  usually  about  fifty  to  sixty  per  acre.  An  averagei  crop 
at  the  felling  period  will  not,  as  a  rule,  exceed  800  cubic  feet 
per  acre,  quarter-girth  measure. 
The  financial  returns  vary  eon.siderably,  but  in  the  north  it  is 
seldom  that  groAving  timber  fetches  more  than  Id.  per  cubic  foot, 
while  the  net  retnrn  per  acre  is  generally  below  6d.  In  the 
middle  and  south,  where  timber  is  scarce,  some  forests  giA’e  a 
net  income  of  £1  per  acre  or  more. 
The  Government  desire  an  extension  of  the  wooded  area  in 
the  southern  provinces,  and,  with  this  object  in  vieAv,  State 
nurseries,  some  up  to  200  acres  in  extent,  have  been  created, 
and  from  these  private  planters  are  supplied  AA’ith  young  trees. — 
(The  “North  British  Agriculturist.”)  '  . 
