384 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



stock does nothing of the kind, unless a stray bud 

 has been left on in dressing them, and then it 

 merely comes up close to the stem, and is easliy 

 got rid of, as they never produce stolons or un- 

 derground suckers. Another advantage is, that 

 it thrives well on light soils, where the briar will 

 not thrive at all; and this does away with all the 

 objections that some parties have to worked roses, 

 as all roses seem to do well alike on it — better, 

 in fact, than upon their own roots, and no doubt 

 they will bloom better. Besides, many roses on 

 their own roots are constantly throwing a quan- 

 tity of root suckers, and ultimately run wild. 

 The above is a faithful account of my success 

 with the Rosa Manettii as a stock for the gene- 

 rality of roses." 



The history of the Manettii stock is as follows: 

 Some 12 or 15 years since a Signor Crivelli, of 

 Como, attracted by an article in Loudon's " Gar- 

 deners' Magazine," wrote to me, offering to ex- 

 change some seedling Italian roses for choice 

 named varieties. I sent him a small collection, 

 and in return received from him some seedling 

 roses; among them were Rosa indica grandiflora, 

 and Rossa indica Manettii, two very small plants. 

 These he described as being Hybrid China Roses, 

 and most valuable roses for stocks in the dry cli- 

 mate of Italy. I soon found that although so 

 much alike in habit as scarcely to be distinguished, 

 they differed most materially in this respect ; the 

 former could only be propagated by layers, while 

 of the latter every cutting grew. I gradually in- 

 creased my stock of the latter, and now propagate 

 from 40,000 to 50,000 annually. As with" all 

 new articles in gardening. I had to buy some ex- 

 perience, for I found if I grew them in a rich soil 

 and budded them at the usual period, the buds 

 rotted ; they appeared to be drowned in the su- 

 perabundance of sap. At last I saw it was ne- 

 cessary to plant them in poor soils, and bud them 

 in September. 



I presume this stock has found favor in Ame- 

 rica, for the last season I received an order from 

 one house for 20,000. Thos. Rivers Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. 



Calla vEthiopica.— "Here, in our fragery (a 

 ditch so called,) this plant thrives amazingly under 

 the most primitive mode of culture. Indeed the 

 only secret connected with its most satisfactory 

 growth, seems confined to the protection of its 

 root from frost. The water in which it grows 

 may be sheeted over for any ordinary length of 

 time with ice of any reasonable thickness, so that 

 it does not actually reach the root; moreover, it 

 seems equally indifferent about the quality of the 



water, or description of soil in which it is located. 

 Some 20 years ago, I had four roots planted 

 amongst some other aquatics in the above named 

 ditch, with about 18 inches of water, supplied 

 from an artesian bore,* in one end of which the 

 mud was at least a foot deep; in this two of the 

 roots were planted. The other end was bare 

 gravel, so much so that we had to put stones upon 

 the two other plants, by way of anchor, to keep 

 them from drifting till they made a few roots to 

 hold themselves to the bottom. Three of them 

 are now large masses (the fourth was killed the 

 first severe winter after planting, the water not 

 being deep enough, about 8 inches, to keep the 

 frost from the root,) and grow and flower equally 

 free on the gravel and in the mud; and a splendid 

 appearance they have from five to six weeks 

 every May and June, having from 16 to 20 flow- 

 ers on each plant. Since first planted they have 

 been two or three times cut down to the surface 

 of the water (foliage as well as flowers.) at the 

 end of April or beginning of May, by frost, but 

 without receiving a permanent injury. By the 

 end of July they had completely covered their 

 elegant leaves; and although the second crop of 

 flowers was neither so large nor so plentiful as 

 those cut off, still they made a very tolerable 

 show in the August and September following, and 

 contrasted finely with the very different habit of 

 some yellow and white water-lilies, their neigh- 

 bors; indeed, I think it might be worth while to 

 cut one of the plants down every spring, for the 

 sake of the autumn flower. Jlichardia, Nov. 20. 

 — There are at present growing, in a small pond 

 in the kitchen garden at Castle-hill, two plants of 

 the .^Ethiopian Calla, which have been in their 

 present situation for at least seven years. They 

 were formerly standing in pots in the green-house, 

 and were removed to their present situation in 

 the same pots, merely sinking them to the bottom 

 of the pond. I may observe that since they were 

 removed to their present station they have in- 

 creased to a large size, and at present stand at 

 least 2\ feet above the water. They are occa- 

 sionally cut down to the water's edge during win- 

 ter, but never fail to produce abundant blooms 

 during summer. The pond, in which gold fish are 

 kept, is about 2\ feet deep, is formed inside of 

 brick, and supplied with water from a jet in the 

 centre. A. Saul. Castle-hill, Nov. 21. Ibid. 



* This water coats everything with rust in an incredibly 

 short time, and many plants we have occasionally watered 

 with it have died. Indeed, one very dry summer, we thought 

 to have our lawn greener than other people's, and used this 

 water very freely; the consequence was that the grass died 

 out in large patches, and yet these aquatics grow like willows- 

 in it. By thj way, some weeping willows planted by it canker 

 off in large branches. 



