’ tically, says of the plant ‘that it resists cultivation in a 
remarkable manner, submitting permanently neither to 
budding, nor grafting, nor laying, nor striking from 
cuttings, nor, in short, to any of those operations, one or 
other of which succeed with other plants. Drought does 
not suit it; it does not thrive in wet; heat has no bene- 
ficial effect, cold no prejudicial influence; care does not 
improve it, neglect does not injure it. Ofall the numerous 
seedlings that were raised from Sir H. Willock’s seeds 
and distributed, scarcely a plant remains alive. ‘T'wo are 
still growing in a peat border in the Chiswick Garden ; 
but they are languishing and unhealthy ; and we confess 
‘that observation of them in a living’ state, for nearly four 
years, has not suggested a single method of improving the 
cultivation of the species.” , 
; On the other hand, I have the pleasure of citing, in his 
own words, the success of Mr. Watson, Assistant Curator 
of Kew, in both cultivating and propagating this interesting 
lant :-— 
pe At Kew this rose is planted in a raised border of rich 
porous loam in a cool green-house where Cape bulbs are 
grown. It is exposed to full sunshine all the year round. 
’ During summer the soil is kept moist, but after October, 
when the leaves fall off, it is kept as dry as possible, and 
the plant remains dormant until March.” Tae 
* We have failed to propagate this rose by means of 
grafts or cuttings, although tried in the various ways 
which answer with other roses. Several plants have, how- 
ever, been obtained from the suckers developed by the 
old plant. These suckers grow under the soil for about a 
foot before pushing through and forming leaves. If the 
underground part is cut through after the sucker is about 
six months old, roots are formed on the severed part.” . 
Returning to the history of the species, I find from a 
note in the late J. Gay’s Herbarium now at Kew, that 
Professor Bertoloni, writing in 1831, when Director of the 
Bologna Botanical Gardens, mentions the Rosa berberifolia 
as being in cultivation there, and as having been for sixteen 
years previous to that date, but that its origin was un- 
known. For the latest notice I must refer to Brigade-Sur- 
geon <Aitchison’s “‘ Account of the Botany of the Affghan 
Boundary Commission,” to which that energetic botanist 
