December 11, 187a J 



JOOKNAIi OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



467 



specimens prodaoed under the influences of an English 

 autumn. 



The plant may be left in the ;borders thronghont the year, 

 in favourable situations, upon a dry subsoil ; but, as a general 

 rule, we would advise the same precautions as suggested for 

 several other plants previously figured — protection from long- 

 continued rains in autumn, and a covering of ashes, sand, or 

 dry fern leaves during the winter mouths. But even with these 

 precautions, plants thus exposed will rarely present so favour- 

 able an appearance as those which have been preserved in a 

 cold frame or dry cellar. When dug-up and potted, the tops 

 should be allowed to remain uncut whilst they continue green ; 

 and so long as the soil does not become quite dry but little 

 water will be required during the winter. It will be found to 

 succeed best in peat ; but, as a substitute, when this is not 

 procurable, sandy loam, with a considerable portion of tho- 

 roughly decayed leaf mould, may be used. In either of these 

 soils its growth is rapid, an abundance of suckers being 

 generally produced, which, if taken off and struck on a mild 

 bottom heat, will make flowering plants the same season. It 

 may also be readily increased by division of the roots in spring, 

 abont the period they commence their growth. 



As a pot-plant its cultivation is remarkably easy. We have 

 observed that it may readily be preserved in any convenient 

 place, in a half-dry state, through the colder months of the 

 year. When it pushes in spring it should be repotted ; and it 

 the specimen is largo it should have a second removal as soon 

 as the first pot has become fiUed with roots. Beyond these 

 attentions nothing will be needed but free suppUes of water 

 and a few supports for its slender flexible stems. 



Without indulging in extravagant encomiums of this plant 

 as a window ornament, it may yet be said to be of great value 

 on account of the bright blue tint of its flowers, which con- 

 tinue in perfection for a longer period than when exposed in 

 the open borders. 



Although we haVo placed at the head of this notice the 

 name by which the plant is best known, it is proper to state 

 that Plumbago Larpentie is described under two other names 

 which, strictly speaking, have priority in their favour — viz., 

 Valoradia plumbaginoides and Ceratostigma plumbaginoides. 

 The latter generic name refers to the curiously-formed stigma, 

 which, under the microscope, presents a highly interestiug ap- 

 pearance. The plant was introduced to cultivation as long ago 

 as 1845. — (IT. Thompson's English Flower Garden, Revised by 

 the Author.) 



KOSES IN EXPOSED SITUATIONS.— No. 1. 



I WILL not attempt to interest those who grow Roses as pets 

 in the success of this flower in exposed situations — they will tell 

 us that such positions are not suitable ; nor, indeed, is it any 

 part of my present purpose to gainsay the necessity of afford- 

 ing shelter without shade to the rosery. Some of us have no 

 option as regards the site of the intended rosery, and are 

 martyrs to circumstances. All have not sheltered positions, 

 and many persons are consequently under the necessity of 

 growing Roses in an exposed position and at a great disad- 

 vantage. The only advantage, as far as I have experience, in 

 growing Roses in an exposed situation, is that they are never 

 smothered with aphis nor so subject to mildew as those culti- 

 vated in a sheltered and very often confined place ; the latter, 

 I am persuaded, is far more unsuited for healthful Rose cul- 

 ture thaYi a bleak situation. Want of air, full sun, and nourish- 

 ment are the surest forerunners of plagues of plant lice and 

 fungi. 



Than ours there is probably no more bleak and exposed 

 position in the kingdom where gardening is practised or Rose 

 culture attempted, for it is at an elevation of upwards of 

 500 feet above the sea level. Exposed to the east and west, 

 the breezes from those quarters experience no check in their 

 coarse. Mile after mile in one direction is moor that knows 

 no cultivation except in the distant vales or dales, and in the 

 other direction miles of ocean. It is truly wonderful how free 

 the plants are of aphis and mildew, how vigorously they grow 

 and bloom, to what a size the blooms attain, and what their 

 snbstauce of petal is as compared with Roses coddled in corners 

 and warm nooks, and the lifa starved out of them by the roots 

 of the sheltering subjects. 



The soil is a strong loam with a moist clay subsoil, but 

 stagnation of water is prevented by deep drainage. Sedges 

 formed a part of the natural herbage. The ground was trenched 

 two spades deep, the top spit with its turf being placed at the 



bottom of the trenches, and on this was put a layer of fresh 

 cow dung 6 inches thick, mixing it with the soil beneath, but 

 not a great deal. The bottom spit was then turned on the 

 dung roughly. It is astonishing what an effect bringing up 

 fresh soil has on after-fertiUty, especially in the case of lands 

 long under tillage or alternate husbandry. The surface, from 

 frequent manuring and the decomposition of the roots and 

 herbage of the annual crops, becomes rich in vegetable matter 

 as compared with the amount of miner.al or inorganic sub- 

 stances ; but by bringing to the surface soil that has not been 

 moved before, we increase, often double, the proportion of 

 these, and ameliorate the soil, and the inert understratum is 

 by exposure altogether changed. 



The Roses were planted as soon as the ground was ready. 

 It was indeed in a rough state for planting, but to wait until 

 the surface was mellowed by frost would have been to have lost 

 a season. The plants were put in, the holes filled up with 

 some light rich soil — about equal parts loam and manure. 

 Being dwarfs on the Manetti stock they were planted so that 

 the union of the stock and bud was about an inch above the 

 level of the surrounding ground, and the rough soil of the bed 

 was put round so as to cover the junction about a couple of 

 inches. They were therefore on slightly raised mounds. No 

 mulching was applied ; to have done so would have defeated 

 the object of bringing up the under soil, as for its amelioration 

 the influence of the atmosphere must be felt, and to have 

 mulched would have shut out the air and made the surface a 

 soapy mass, almost as close as the lower bed of soil. Mulching 

 was reserved until spring, immediately after pruning, which was 

 not performed until the upper part of the previous year's shoots 

 had broken ; some would be an inch long, and the strong 

 shoots were cut to three or fom- eyes, the moderately vigorous 

 to two, and the weak to one eye. The mulching almost hid 

 them. By-and-by came the tender shoots, which, with the 

 leaves, fell a prey to hares and rabbits. Two-feet-six-inches- 

 bigh wire netting kept them off. Two-feet netting is prac- 

 tically useless against hares. 



After this disaster came the worm in the bud — caterpillars 

 that curl and hide in the leaves, which succumb to crushing 

 between the fingers. Aphides innumerable appeared. Soft- 

 soap solution, 2 ozs. of soap to the gallon, disposed of these. 

 Whence came the caterpillars and aphides unless with the 

 plants ? Vigorous shoots were made, carrying magnificent 

 foUage and large flowers with thick leathery petals, which 

 stood sun and rain bravely. Mildew did not put in an appear- 

 ance, except on some weak growers worked standard high on 

 the Briar, which are about as useless in an exposed position 

 as anything can be conceived. Their heads are so liable to 

 breakage, and the foliage and buds to damage from rubbing 

 and brushing each other, as to take away any beauty of foliage 

 or flower. 



November came, and with it winds that blew off the heads 

 of many of the Roses, and those which escaped had many — in 

 fact a majoritj', of the best shoots broken oft' at their origin. 

 It was also manifest that some of the kinds, from their weak 

 growths and not flowering, could not long survive in such a 

 position, and the winter destroyed many of these. To have 

 mulched early in winter might have prolonged their existence ; 

 it is hardly to be expected it would have done more. Besides, 

 if the kinds were too tender to withstand an ordinary winter 

 without mulching, it is plain they were totally unsuited, even 

 with mulching, for standing a severe season. 



So much for the first year's experience. The weeds were 

 kept down, there being few owing to the mulching, and in 

 autumn the beds were pointed over with a fork. A bad be- 

 ginning, says the old adage, makes a good ending, and there 

 is no school whose teaching is so sound as that of ex- 

 perience. — G. Abdey. 



THE FEBNS OF THE WORLD. 



Ferns are the most graceful group in the vegetable kingdom. 

 From the pigmy Woodsia "> inches high to the Dicksonia that 

 towers up to 30 feet, aU are elegant, and all are refreshingly 

 tinted. In some respects they are the most popular of plants, 

 for many species are long-lived anywhere — in the window of 

 the town-artisan's room as well as in the fernery of the wealthy. 

 Moreover, they are easily cultivated ; they require no manure, 

 their only demands being moisture about their roots and 

 fronds. 



They are the world's plants. We have about fifty species 

 natives of this country. In Brazil they abound on the moun- 



