THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 351 



Roses on Manetti Stocks. — Acidalie asks if the Boxirbon rose Acidalie 

 requires any particular kind of pruning, for during three years that this rose has 

 been grown on the Manetti stock it has never given a single flower. " Acidalie" 

 ■writes from one of the best parts of Devonshire, where roses grow almost as luxu- 

 riantly as in the south of France, and adds this startling statement : '' Some of the 

 shoots on Acidalie, this season, are six feet long, stout, and well ripened, so that I 

 cannot understand the cause of its failure." We really believe we can explain this 

 cause in a word, that our correspondent does not possess Acidalie at all ! Such is 

 our conviction, and an explanation may be of some interest to many of our readers. 

 Let us suppose that some plants of Acidalie on Manetti stocks were planted three 

 years ago, that the Mancttis formed suckers, that the suckers rose up and mixed 

 with the shoots of Acidalie, and by degrees overpowered and killed them ; what 

 would be the result in such a case .'' Simply the conversion of bushes of Acidalie 

 into bushes of Manettis. Now, we fully believe this to be the case, for Acidalie 

 is one of the most freely-flowering roses known. It seems impossible that it 

 should grow freely in South Devon, and give no flowers during three years. Nor 

 are we hazarding a merely inventive supposition. "We have seen roses change to 

 Mancttis scores of times, have watched the process through all its stages, and we 

 can call to mind a case which occurred not far from where this is written. An 

 amateur put himself to considerable expense to plant a bed of the newest roses, all 

 of them being on Manetti stocks. He pruned and tended them according to the 

 best of his ability, but in the course of three years he found the leafage to be alike 

 all through the bed, and there were no flowers. An experienced ciiltivator hap- 

 pening to see this bed, and hear the story of its decline, laughingly summed up the 

 matter with the words, " Why, you have nothing but Manetti here ; do you not 

 observe that the leaves and shoots are all alike ; there is not a purple shoot or 

 reddish leaf in the whole bed, but pale green and bluish green leaves, the leaves of 

 Manetti, and nought else." It is a moot question whether Manetti will make 

 suckers if the buds are carefully cut out before the cuttings are planted ; but it 

 is no moot point whether roses on their own roots are not far preferable, even at 

 four times the price of the same sorts on the Manetti stock. One of our principal 

 objects in publishing the *' Rose Book" was to promote the propagation of own-root 

 roses in place of roses budded or gi alted on any kind of stock, and now it is becom- 

 ing known amongst amateurs generally, that every rose worth growing may be 

 obtained on roots of its own. If this explanation of " Acidalie's" case is the cor- 

 rect one, the only safe mode of procedure is to buy and plant again. 



Thrip ox Greekhouse Fehns. — S. E. — The first step towards eradicating 

 thrip is to cut off and burn the fronds that are most afl'ected ; this gets rid of quan- 

 tities of eggs. The next step is to fumigate with tobacco. This must be done 

 with care, and should be entrusted to a person experienced in such matters. If 

 you cannot obtain the aid of a person who can be entrusted to fumigate, you must 

 resort to the use of tobacco water. Use the best shag tobacco, to one ounce of 

 which add a gallon of boiling water. When cold, add one ounce of black sulphur, 

 stir it up, and when clear apply it with a camel's hair pencil, taking care to wash 

 it off with the syringe two hours alterwards. Repeat these proceedings till you 

 are free of thrip. To prevent vermin getting a hold upon ferns, keep the atmo- 

 sphere of the house constantly moist, and avoid as far as possible a high tem- 

 perature. Excess of heat and deficiency of moisture tend to promote all kinds of 

 vermin amongst plants. 



Virginian Cheeper.—^. B. — One plant is sufficient to furnish strong rods 

 every four feet over a breadth of a hundred feet of wall. "We have such a plant 

 in our care ; it is i)lanted on a wall which is w^ell furnished with ivy, and the 

 upright rods are trained up at every six feet, and at the present time the whole 

 extent of the wall is sheeted with red leaves on a dark green ground. The an- 

 nexed scheme of printer's lines will indicate the relative positions of stem and 



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 branches. So your variegated elder is really beautiful ? "We have seen several 

 but Jilways thought them ugly. 



BoKDEK FOR RosES. — A. B. S. — Your border, with wall four feet high, shel- 

 tered from north and east, and in the delightful climate of Torquay, is just the 



