2G4 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



to the end of the season all they want 

 is sunshine and water, and to be kept 

 in a cool frame or pit, or they may be 

 out of doors after the middle of June. 

 I prefer to keep them under glass, as 

 all these large-leaved Sedums get 

 injured more or less when put out. 

 They require no sticks, they make 

 stout stems, and in due time form 

 heads of bloom sis inches over, two, 

 three, or four heads to each plant, 

 and when packed close form an even 

 mas3 of rosy-pink blossoms, remark- 

 ably cheerful and pleasing. 



Chrysanthemums for plunging are 

 looking this season as I have seldom 

 seen them look before. They are 

 loaded with buds of more than ordi- 



nary plumpness for the season, and 

 the foliage is dense and as fresh as 

 spring verdure. No doubt there will 

 be an early bloom, and the quality all 

 that can be desired. Mine have stood 

 on cocoa-nut fibre all the season, and 

 have had abundance of water. For a 

 good show to follow chrysanthemums 

 I have, independent of potted conifers, 

 lots of Skimmia Japonica. Cotoneaster 

 Simmonsii, and Cotoneaster Hookerii, 

 the three best hardy berry-bearing 

 shrubs known, besides golden-leaved 

 Euonymus, variegated ivies, and 

 brightly-coloured miscellaneous ever- 

 greens innumerable, amongst which 

 the conifers you have often heard 

 about play an important part. S. H. 



EOSES IN THE COUNTRY. 



Numerous entertaining articles on 

 the cultivation of the rose in the 

 suburbs of London have appeared 

 from time to time in the Flokal 

 Would, which have not only been 

 useful to residents at a like distance 

 from " St. Paul's," but have also been 

 read with interest by many who dwell 

 beyond the '• Smoke Radius ;" and as 

 there are no doubt among your sub- 

 scribers a great number who possess 

 that advantage, a few notes of the 

 experience of such a one may per- 

 haps be found worthy of perusal. 

 Residing in a rural and pretty district 

 about fourteen miles north-west of 

 town, where the air is exceedingly 

 pure, and being an ardent admirer 

 of the rose, I have in my leisure 

 hours devoted myself successfully to 

 its cultivation. The situation of my 

 garden is very open, but rather ex- 

 posed and very cold in winter, facing 

 nearly due north, but somewhat shel- 

 tered from the east. The soil is strong 

 yellow clay ; the first thing done, 

 therefore, was to have it thoroughly 

 drained. Entering upon my tenancy 

 at the Lady-day quarter, I was the 

 first season, much against my wish, 

 compelled to put up with spring 

 planting, but selected plants worked 

 upon Manetti, which were afterwards 

 kept mulched and regularly watered 

 all through the summer; and although 



I was repaid with some fine blooms, 

 and suffered but few losses, I am con- 

 vinced that there is, after all, nothing 

 like autumn planting. Plants put out 

 early in November get well esta- 

 blished, and suffer comparatively 

 little from drought compared with 

 those planted in spring, which this 

 season has proved to me more fully 

 than ever; and no amount of watering 

 will make up the difference, and with 

 plants on the brier this is still more 

 perceptible. A great point in favour 

 of the Manetti is its great adaptability 

 to the exigencies of unfavourable sea- 

 sons, for I find that dwarfs on this 

 stock, from being planted so much 

 deeper than those on the brier, will 

 stand a continuance of dry weather 

 and hot sun long after others appear 

 quite burnt up ; besides which, from 

 its strong and late growth, the roses 

 often furnish blooms much later in 

 the season, if the weather is open, than 

 tliose worked on the brier. I am 

 aware that many amateurs object to 

 the Manetti, but believe it is fre- 

 quently from the practice, so often 

 condemned in your articles, of send- 

 ing out roses, particularly new sorts, 

 which are worked on little thin stocks 

 (barely rooted cuttings some of them), 

 and which have been stewed up in 

 heat, and forced into a weak spindly 

 growth, so as to get something to 



