November  8,  1900.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
421 
Best  Cactus  Dahlias. 
I  CANNOT  aprree  with  “  H.  S.”  in  his  notes  on  my  “  Best  Cactus 
D  ahlias,”  page  328,  when  he  says  he  is  not  in  favour  of  Viscountess 
Sherbrook,  as  it  is  not  free  flowering.  I  took  my  twelve  best  from  an 
exhibition  standpoint,  and  Viscountess  Sherbrook  with  us  must  still  be 
included  in  our  best  dozen.  As  for  Radiance,  we  consider  its  habit 
entirely  spoils  it,  as  the  flower  stem  is  very  soft  and  makes  no  attempt 
to  hold  up  the  blooms,  although  it  is  long  eniough  for  two.  I  did  not 
include  Emperor,  as  it  is  too  coarse  for  an  exhibition  Cactus,  but  the 
colour  is  no  doubt  wanted.  Much  might  be  said  on  “  H.  S.’s  ”  remarks 
on  certificates,  but  probably  the  Grapes  are  sour  in  this  case. —  F.  C.  C. 
^  Retarded  Bulbs. 
The  great  advantage  of  the  system  of  retarding  the  roots  of  various 
hardy  plants  has  been  frequently  pointed  out  in  the  pages  of  the  Journal 
of  Horticulture,  and  it  is  the  fault  of  its  readers  if  they  have  not  grasped 
its  importance.  A  very  striking  instance  of  it  was  to  be  seen  in  Mr.  T. 
Rochford’s  really  remarkable  group  at  the  Drill  Hall  on  October  23rd  : 
a  grand  collection  of  plants  that  would  be  quite  impossible  to  produce 
at  this  time  of  year  without  the  aid  of  refrigerating  machinery.  It  is 
wonderful  how  these  retarded  plants  start  when  introduced  to  a 
gentle  warmth,  and  of  course  by  a  little  experimenting  it  is  quite  easy 
to  have  any  of  these  plants  in  full  flower  and  foliage  at  any  specified 
time  of  the  year.  This  is  indeed  a  boon  to  gardeners  who  have  to 
cater  for  their  employers’  tastes  by  producing  flowers  in  given  quantities 
on  certain  dates.  They  have  only  to  order  a  little  in  advance  and  pay 
a  slightly  higher  price,  the  latter  being  well  repaid  by  the  superior 
quality  of  the  produce.  Mr.  Rochford’s  exhibit  richly  deserved  the 
Banksian  medal  awarded  it,  and  he  is  to  be  complimented  upon  bringing 
the  merits  of  this  system  into  prominence. — H.  R.  Richards. 
- - 
Asparagus  Fungus. 
Seeing  the  report  of  Dr.  W.  G.  Smith  on  Asparagus  fungus  on 
page  358  of  the  Journal,  I  venture  to  make  a  few  remarks  on  the 
subject,  our  Asparagus  being  infested  with  the  same  pest,  which  is  to 
me  a  new  experience.  The  fungus  has  been  most  destructive  on  young 
plants  in  beds  made  three  or  four  years  ago,  the  foliage  dying  off  a 
month  or  six  weeks  before  the  proper  time,  the  stalks  decaying  right 
down  to  the  roots,  while  plants  in  older  beds  have  not  suffered  nearly 
so  much,  the  latter  being  made  on  sloping  ground,  while  the  former  are 
on  the  level.  These  seem  to  have  been  well  made  in  the  first  instance, 
the  soil  being  worked  three  spits  deep,  and  plenty  of  manure  and  leaf 
soil  added,  but  with  no  attempt  at  drainage.  The  subsoil  is  of  a  very 
close  retentive  character,  and  the  fact  of  the  plants  on  the  level  being 
affected  more  with  the  disease  than  those  on  sloping  ground  seems  to 
point  to  want  of  drainage  as  being  the  primary  cause  of  the  pest.  The 
soil  is  also  deficient  in  lime,  judging  from  the  luxuriant  way  in  which 
Rhododendrons  and  similar  plants  thrive  in  it,  and  this  no  doubt  would 
intensify  the  evil. — R.  W.  Dean,  Wainsford,  Hants. 
Women  as  Gardeners. 
“  A.  D.’s  ”  accusation  (page  384)  against  the  lady  students  at  the 
Lady  Warwick  Hostel,  Reading,  can  have  only  one  interpretation — viz., 
that  the  practical  instruction  is  a  failure.  I  have  not  had  the  pleasure 
of  visiting  the  hostel,  but  in  “  The  Cable  ”  for  December  2nd,  1899, 
there  is  a  view  of  the  ladies  at  work,  and  the  way  they  are  holding  the 
tools  shows  that  the  first  lesson  on  that  subject  was  neglected.  My 
own  experience  of  women  in  the  garden  is  that  they  are  quite  as 
practical,  methodical,  and  tidy  as  the  majority  of  men,  doing  the  work 
in  which  they  have  been  instructed,  and  are  capable  of  performing, 
with  as  much  taste,  tact,  and  intelligence. 
Digging  if  properly  performed  is  not  the  back-breaking  business  so 
many  believe,  but  one  of  the  healthiest  occupations,  and  for  bringing  all 
the  muscles  cf  the  body  into  play  cricket  cannot  compare  with  it. 
Amongst  the  men  with  whom  I  have  come  into  contact,  not  10  per  cent, 
handle  the  spade  properly,  let  alone  dig  a  piece  of  ground  as  it  should 
be  done.  The  saying,  “A  Russian  can  do  anything  with  an  axe,” 
should  be  true  in  another  sense,  that  anyone  professing  to  be  a  gardener 
ought  to  be  able  to  do  anything  with  a  spade. — A.  D.  C. 
Mr.  Mawley’s  Rose  Analysis. 
We  are  greatly  indebted  to  Mr.  Mawley  for  the  care  with  which  he 
has  prepared  his  Rose  analysis  for  the  present  year.  It  is  most 
interesting,  and  should  prove  a  reliable  guide  in  determining  the  best 
Roses  for  the  early  shows.  But  I  hardly  think  it  will  prove  as  useful  to 
those  exhibitors  who  desire  to  prolong  their  Rose  season.  Beai  in  mind 
that  the  flowers  from  which  this  list  is  chiefly  compiled  are  staged  at 
the  Metropolitan  Show  of  the  N.R.S.,  which  is  always  held  on  the  first 
Saturday  in  July, 
A  glance  at  the  list  will  show  at  once  that  in  it  the  early  flowering 
varieties  take  the  premier  position.  Some  of  the  later  blooming 
varieties,  but  nevertheless  indispensable,  occupy  an  inferior  place 
on  the  list,  and  some  have  disappeared  altogether.  For  instance, 
Horace  Vernet  and  Charles  Lefebvre  are  placed  at  17  and  24, 
whilst  Auguste  Rigotard,  Madame  Victor  Verdier,  and  Countess  of 
Rosebery  are  not  in  it  at  all.  Simply,  I  think,  because  Horace  Vernet 
and  Charles  Lefebvre  are  rarely  in  perfection  at  the  Crystal  Palace 
Show,  and  are  generally  at  their  best  on  and  after  the  third  week  in 
July.  Again,  Madame  Victor  Verdier  did  not  open  with  us  until  the 
10th  of  July,  yet  we  exhibited  it  at  seven  shows.  Countess  of  Rosebery 
gave  its  first  flowers  on  the  17th  of  July,  and  we  staged  it  four  times. 
And  although  we  had  no  really  good  flowers  of  Auguste  Rigotard  until 
about  the  middle  of  the  month,  yet  we  showed  it  seven  times. 
These  Roses  are  too  good  to  be  rejected,  especially  if  we  wish 
to  carry  on  the  Rose  season  to  the  end  of  the  month.  They,  and 
others  of  late  flowering  habit,  would,  I  am  sure,  obtain  a  much  higher 
position  in  the  Rose  analysis  were  Mr.  Mawley  to  compile  his  list  from 
Roses  staged  at  the  later  exhibitions. — Joseph  H.  Pemberton. 
- - 
Horticultural  Club. 
On  Tuesday  evening  the  members  of  this  association  enjoyed  the 
pleasure  of  listening  to  a  paper  read  by  Mr.  Harry  J.  Veitch,  embodying 
some  of  the  impressions  gathered  by  him  during  his  recent  visit  to 
Nubia  and  the  region  of  the  Nile.  It  was  entitled  “  Egyptian  Plants,” 
and  set  forth  in  a  cursory  manner  the  views  of  an  eminent  specialist 
upon  the  flora,  agriculture,  and  horticulture  of  the  land  which,  so  far  as 
we  know,  has  been  longest  subject  to  the  civilising  influence  of  man. 
While  giving  many  interesting  facts  indicating  the  extraordinary 
cultural  possibilities  of  the  soil  under  the  influence  of  improved 
irrigation,  and  pointing  to  a  bright  future,  Mr.  Veitch  thought  that 
English  floriculture  and  horticulture  of  to-day  had  nothing  to  learn 
from  Egyptian  methods  in  the  past.  The  dominant  feature  of  Egyptian 
vegetation  was,  said  Mr.  Veitch,  the  Date  Palm,  which  he  sighted 
before  the  lighthouses  at  Port  Said,  and  continued  to  see  all  the  way  up 
the  Nile  as  far  as  Nubia.  Of  it  there  are  some  twenty  varieties. 
After  almost  every  known  cereal,  the  Palms  and  their  allies  figured 
conspicuously  in  the  list  given  by  Mr.  Veitch,  but  he  remarked  that 
the  Conifere  were  not  largely  represented  except  by  a  few  of  the 
Australasian  genera,  and  one  could  gather  that  acclimatisation  has 
already  done  much  to  obscure  the  indigenous  flora  of  this  portion  of 
Africa.  All  the  fruits  of  the  Mediterranean  abounded,  and  also  the 
flowers,  but  no  specimens  of  ripe  Bananas  were  to  be  seen  just  then, 
perhaps  owing  to  its  being  the  winter  season.  What  struck  most 
conspicuously  on  the  eye  were  Roses,  Poinsettia  pulcherrima. 
Bougainvilleas,  and  Linum  trigynum,  which  attains  to  the  dimensions 
of  a  bush.  The  Orange,  too,  figured  prominently  as  a  hedge  plant, 
and  the  Ricinus  communis  often  reached  a  height  of  twenty  feet. 
After  describing  how  Egypt  enjoyed  three  seasons  of  growth  in 
each  year  owing  to  the  natural  irrigation  of  the  Nile  inundation, 
supplemented  by  a  crude  native  system,  Mr.  Veitch  described  their 
methods  of  manuring.  The  manure  is  obtained  by  the  felahleen 
from  flocks  of  pigeons  or  from  the  saltpetre  dug  out  of  the  mounds  of 
sand  covering  long  buried  towns,  and  which,  it  is  estimated,  will  last  for 
many  more  generations. 
At  Cairo  there  are  three  public  gardens,  including  that  of  the 
Khedive,  conducted  on  European  principles,  the  one  by  the  great 
reservoir  being  superintended  by  Mr.  Walter  Draper,  of  Kew  ;  and  in 
the  fashionable  suburb  at  Ramleh,  at  Alexandria,  European  villas, 
with  gardens  full  of  Roses,  Carnations  and  Palms,  on  the  European  plan 
are  quite  numerous.  In  fine,  the  lesson  taught  by  the  address  of  Mr. 
Veitch  was  that  the  stimulating  hand  of  the  Anerlo- Saxon  now  rests 
upon  the  moribund  land  of  the  Pharoahs,  and  is  fast  communicating  to 
it  a  renewed  life,  which  will  develop  its  latent  capacities  to  the  full. 
As  an  earnest  of  this  he  instanced  the  canal  constructed  by  M.  Lesseps 
through  the  land  of  Goshen  in  1858,  which  has  enabled  12,000  persons 
to  live  upon  a  surface  soil  which  would  only  maintain  4000  a  century 
ago. 
Mr.  Shea  in  commenting  upon  the  entertainment  afforded  by  the 
lecturer,  gave  some  very  interesting  facts  in  connection  with  Sicilian 
vegetation  and  agriculture,  suggesting  a  curious  resemblance  between 
those  of  Sicily  and  of  Egypt,  and  ultimately  moved  a  vote  of  thanks, 
which  was  ably  seconded  by  Mr.  Arthur  Pearson. 
