1869.] THE ROSE. 343 



for the sum whicli you would pay for five new Tricolor Pelargoniums 

 nearly as good as Mrs Pollock, for one specimen stove-plant, and for 

 half a specimen Orchid. Allow £7, 10s. for your Roses, and £2 for 

 your Briers, and ye shall 'siller ha'e to spare' from your £10 note." 

 When Briers are abundant, 6s. per 100 for dwarfs and 7s. 6d. for tall 

 standards is a usual tariff ; but you should remember that it is rough 

 work, and that if you cull the best you should be liberal. 



Give your order — and any labourer will soon learn to bring you 

 what you want — towards the end of October. I have myself a peculiar 

 but unfailing intimation when it is time to get in my Briers — mij 

 Briey^-man comes to church. He comes to morning service on the 

 Sunday. If I make no sign during the week, he appears next Sunday 

 at the evening also. If I remain mute, he comes on week-days. I 

 know then that the case is urgent, and that we must come to terms. 

 Were I to fancy the Manetti instead of the Brier, my impression is 

 that he would go over to Rome. 



Having made timely arrangements to secure your supply of stocks 

 before the severities of winter are likely to prevent you from planting 

 (should sharp frost surprise you during the process of removal, you 

 must "lay in^' your Briers securely, digging a hole for them, placing 

 them in a bundle therein, covering the roots well with earth, and 

 throwing an old mat over all), you must be most vigilant in your 

 selection of the stocks themselves. Some gardeners display in this 

 matter a lamentable indifference. Their motto seems to be Stemmata 

 cj[uid faciunt ? — why should not one Brier be as good as another? 

 Their budding-ground might be an asylum for the deformed, the weak, 

 the aged, instead of the school for healthful youth and the training- 

 ground for heroes. Let the amateur, avoiding this fatal error, and re- 

 membering as his rule, Ex quovis ligno noii jit Mercurius, select young, 

 straight, sapfal, well-rooted stocks, that the scion may be vigorous as 

 the sire. Let these be planted as soon as he receives them — his col- 

 lector bringing them in daily, and not keeping them at home, as the 

 manner of some is, until he gets a quantity — in rows, the Briers 1 foot, 

 the rows 3 feet apart. 



The situation and the soil for your Briers must be just as carefully 

 studied as though the Roses were already upon them. These stocks 

 are not to be set in bare and barren places, exposed to ridicule and to 

 contempt, as though they were the stocks of the parish ; nor are they to 

 be thrust into corners, as I have seen them many a time. They should 

 occupy such a position as one sees in the snug " quarters " of a nur- 

 sery — spaces enclosed by evergreen fences, which, somewhat higher 

 than the trees within, protect them from stormy winds. 



Watching their growth in spring, the amateur should remove the 



