152 THE GARDENER. ^ [April 



be imparted to the Rose, -whereas the superabundance of sap has been 

 fatal. Food, continuous and compulsory, which it could not assimi- 

 late or digest, has induced a sickly surfeit ; and the wretched Rose is 

 stupefied, and looks so, with a determination of blood to the head. 

 Are we then to discard entirely those standard trees described to us 

 in the catalogues as "extra tall" 1 Is Rriareus the giant to be again 

 buried beneath Mount Etna — i.e., the rubbish -heap *? Certainly not. 

 He may do us good service, kindly treated, and be made to look most 

 imposing in our gardens, holding a fair bouquet of Roses in each of 

 his hundred hands. I mean that the vigorous Briars, from 6 to 8 feet 

 in height, may be converted into 



WEEPI^^G ROSE-TREES, 



which, properly trained, are very beautiful. Buds of the Ayrshire 

 and Evergreen Roses, of Amadis and Gracilis, Boursaults or of Blairii 

 2, Hybrid China, should be inserted, in three or four laterals, at the 

 top of such standards as have been selected for their health as well 

 as their height. Closely pruned the following spring, they may be 

 transplanted from the nursery, or from the private budding-ground, in 

 the autumn, and the removal must be effected with every possible 

 care and attention. I would advise that these tall specimens be 

 moved somewhat earlier than the usual time for transplanting, so that, 

 when firmly secured in their place, and freely watered, they may be 

 induced to make roots, and gain some hold of the ground before the 

 winter begins. A strong iron stake, set side by side with the stem, 

 and surrounding it just below the junction of the buds with a semi- 

 globular framework, the whole apparatus resembling a parasol with a 

 quadruple allowance of stick, will be the best support for the tree 

 (fixed deeply in the ground, of course, as directed for the Pillar Roses), 

 and mil enable the amateur to dispose the branches at regular intervals, 

 so that they will finally form a fair dome of Roses — such a floral foun- 

 tain as may have played in the fancy of our Laureate, when he wrote 



" The white Rose weeps, she is late." 



And now we have passed through the Rose-clad walls — through the 

 Rose-wreathed colonnades and courts of the outer palace — into the 

 anteroom of that presence-chamber where we shall see, in brilliant 

 assemblage, the beauty and the chivalry of the Queen of Elowers. 

 "We will pause awhile that we may arrange simultaneously our nerves 

 and our court costume, the former troubled by a horrible suspicion 

 that every eye is gazing derisively upon our black silk legs ; and then 

 let us enter to make, if that abominable sword permit, our loyal and 

 devout obeisance. S. Reynolds Hole. 



