39f?  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  October  29,  1903 
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Mr.  Conway  Jones. 
Mr.  Herbert  E.  Molyneux. 
Prefatory  we  may  remark  that  Mr. 
Herbert  E.  Molyneux,  of  the  world  of 
Poses,  has  no  family  relationship  to  the 
other  Jlr.  ilolyueux,  famed  mostly  in 
comiectioti  ^^iLh  the  Chfj’santhemum, 
the  lioral  queen  of  the  autumn  and 
winter.  He  is  one  of  the  younger 
generation  of  amateur  rosarians,  in  the 
front  rank  as  an  exhibitor,  and  though 
his  garden  at  Balham  is  well  within  the 
six  miles  area  of  Charing  Cross,  where 
the  smokiness  may  be  said  to  constitute 
a  grievance,  he  is  yet  successful  wherever 
his  dowers  go.  This  year  he  did  well  at 
Sutton  in  Surrey,  and  at  Harrow,  as 
elsewhere;  while  the  year  before,  though 
he  only  put  three  boxes  in  competition, 
owing  to  family  bereavement,  he  never¬ 
theless  won  two  first  prizes  and  one 
second,  as  well  as  two  silver  medals — 
surely  not  a  bad  day’s  work. 
It  may  be  mentioned  that  Mr.  Moly- 
neu.v  read  a  paper  before  the  Horticul¬ 
tural  Club  in  December  last  year  on 
“Pose-Growing  Near  Large  Towns,” 
which  was  so  much  appreciated  that  it 
has  since  been  published  in  pamphlet  form,  after  having  been  incorporated  in  vol.  xxvii., 
part  4,  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society’s  Journal.  That  paper  has  the  right  spirit, 
the  true  rosariau’s  love  for  his  flowers,  running  along  its  lines,  and  we  hope  its 
message  may  have  searched  the  hearts  of  even  a  few  suburban  residents  whose 
inclinations  are  horticultural,  and  only  require  encouragement.  “  What  man  has 
done,  man  may  do.” 
Mr.  Molyneux  is  one  of  the  joint  auditors  of  the  National  Rose  Society  and  also  a 
member  of  the  committee.  He  has  done  good  work  as  honorary  local  secretary,  and 
is  well  known  as  a  judge  at  the  Temple  Pose  Show  and  at  others  near  Loudon.  His 
pen,  too,  finds  occasional  employment  in  describing  “  Roses  ”  through  the  gardening 
Press. 
Rev.  F.  Page-Roberts. 
Mr.  F.  Page-Roberts  begair  Pose  growdng  at  Scole  Rectory,  Norfolk,  in  1876  in  the 
poorest  of  sandy  soils  sloping  to  the  south.  He  exhibited  for  the  first  time  in  1881  in 
that  excellent  class  for  those  who  have  never  won  a  prize  at  the  National  Rose  Society’s 
shows,  and  won  one  of  the  prizes.  From  that  year,  although  the  severe  winters  of  1891- 
92-93  killed  more  than  2,000  Teas,  and  he  again  lost  a  great  many  in  the  winter  of  ’9-5  — 
lie  exhibited  successfully,  nevertheless,  in  the  principal  classes  fot  Teas,  being  first 
lour  times  in  five  years — the  years  when  the  principal  class  for  Teas  was  raised 
from  twelve  to  eighteen.  He  moved  This  year  (1903)  from  Halstead,  Kent,  where 
Ms  Roses  were  beginning  to  do  well,  to  Strathfieldsaye  Rectory  in  Hampshire. 
This  time  he  has  a  real  Rose  soil  to  deal  with.  He  show’ed  only  once  this  year 
—at  the  Reading  Rose  Show — winning  three  first  prizes,  one  second,  and  the  prize 
for  the  best  Rose,  with  flowers  cut  from  the  trees  that  were  moved  in  March.  The  Rev. 
Page-Roberts  attends  to  the  trees  entirely  himself,  and  if  he  could  win  prizes  with 
Roses  on  a  poor  sandy  soil  in  Norfolk,  where  will  he  stand  now,  when  he  has  “a  real 
Rose  soil?”  There  will  be  increased  zest  in  the  shows  wherever  the  Strathfieldsaye 
Roses  meet  those  from  the  east,  the  north  or  the  metropolitan  area.  Mr.  Page-Roberts 
takes  a  warm  interest  in  the  National  Rose  Society,  and  is  a  faithful  attender  of  its 
meetings. 
Rev.  J  H.  Pemberton. 
Mr.  Pemberton  is  a  gentleman  of  great  energy,  and  what  lime  he  can  afford  from  his 
clerical  duties  in  a  poor  and  thickly  popnlated  district,  he  devotes  to  Rose  culture.  He 
was  one  of  the  earliest  to  revive  a  iaste  for  the  “garden”  Roses,  for  at  a  National  Rose 
Society’s  show,  held  at  South  Kensington,  he  staged  twelve  varieties  of  old-fashioned 
Roses  in  boxes,  labelling  them  “  Grandmothers’  Roses,”  giving  delight  to  hosts  of  the 
visitors,  who  would  be  sure  to  remember  an  exhibit  of  this  nature.  These  old  Roses 
were  a  few  found  by  Mr.  Pemberton  in  his  own  garden,  which,  by  the  way,  was  his 
father’s  and  grandfather’s  before  him. 
Living  at  Romford,  a  little  to  the  east  of  London,  it  might  be  thought  that  he  had 
difficulty  in  staging  first-rate  blossoms,  but  he  does  it.  Moreover,  the  work  is  all  done 
by  himself  and  his  equally  devoted  sister,  except  some  of  the  digging  and  hoeing,  and 
truly  4,000  Rose  bushes  require  much  loving  care.  The  enthusiastic  cleric,  however, 
knows  his  plants  by  heart,  and  is  never  in  a  quandary  wffien  blooms  are  to  be  selected. 
And  Mr.  Pemberton  is  an  out-and-out  exhibitor  ;  ho  has  staged  at  a  show  on  .Jure  18 
(1896),  and  continued  all  the  while  to  August  4,  exhibiting  forty-nine  times  and  winning 
forty-eight  prizes,  including  two  challenge  trophies,  and  two  cups  and  medals.  If  that 
is  not  a  record,  we  want  to  hear  where  the  record  lies!  He  has  been  amongst  Roses 
from  childhood.  His  father  taught  him  to  bud,  prune,  graft,  Ac.,  while  he  was  still  a 
lad,  and  so  far  back  as  1874  he  won  his 
lirstpremieraward.  Exhibitingatthein- 
augural  showof  the  National  Rose  Society 
in  St.  James’  Hall  in  aclass  for  twelvedis- 
tinct  varieties, hecamesecond  outof  forty 
competiiors,  and  has  never  been  absent 
from  one  exbibition  of  the  “  National.” 
Amongst  other  successes,  Mr.  Pem¬ 
berton  has  been  first  three  times  in  the 
amateurs’  trophy  class  ;  been  second  six 
times,  and  thrice  third,  but  never  out  of 
it  altogether.  The  Jubilee  trophy  has 
also  fallen  to  him  four  times.  As  a  judge 
of  Roses  he  is  always  in  request,  for  he 
knows  varieties  exceptionally  well.  He 
always  forms  one  of  the  adjudicators  in 
the  nurserymen’s  great  c’ass  for  seventy, 
two  distinct  varieties, which  honour  could 
only  be  accorded  to  very,  very  few. 
Mr.  Pemberton  vvrites  a  good  deal  to  the 
Mr.  H.  Molyneux. 
gardening  papers,  and  is  now  the  leading 
spirit  in  a  movement  to  get  the  National 
Rose  Society  to  establish  two-days  Rose 
shows.  As  a  vice-president  of  that 
body  he  takes  the  keenest  interest  in 
its  working. 
Rev.  F.  Page-Roberts. 
