144 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND OOTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ February 24, 1870. 



on the chalk formation), just before the Potatoes are planted — 

 would be more likely to produce twenty-five tons of first-rate 

 tubers to the acre than double that quantity of dung on the 

 " universal" system of " H." would be to produce fifteen tons 

 of inferior Potatoes, and the land would be left in excellent 

 tilth for Wheat by the former practice. 



" Novus Amicus " has " 3 lbs. of new sorts of Potatoes," and 

 he wauts to make the most of them. He supposes they ought 

 to be cut into " two or three pieces each." He wants to pro- 

 duce as much seed as possible from them for planting another 

 year, therefore I advise him immediately to plant the Potatoes 

 whole about 3 inches deep, with every eye and shoot intact, 

 in the centre of a square yard of ground. Let him watch 

 carefully for the foliage appearing, and as it grows, bear the 

 stalks or haulm gently outwards, and keep them so with a 

 pressure of the soil, as one would prevent young Cucumber 

 plants from crowding too closely in a hill. Keep on doing so, 

 and moulding up and overhead with fresh soil till the second 

 week in May, when all danger from frost is over, and then no 

 more mouldings, but continue to spread out the haulms to 

 benefit by the sun and air, and till they equally cover their 

 allotted surface of 1 square yard, or even half as much again 

 in the case of the Queens and Paterson's " new white Kidney," 

 which I presume to be Paterson's Victoria. The tubers will 

 produce in this way the greatest quantity of Potatoes with the 

 greatest certainty. " Novus Amicus " intends to plant also on 

 soil which has been previously a grass field, and subsequently 

 for two years under Potato crops. He has spread rather 

 thickly over it a largo heap of soil, chiefly of decayed vegetable 

 matter, which he has been two years in collecting. Very gocd. 

 Let me ask " Novus Amicus " if he has a night-soil pit ? If so, 

 let him have it emptied on the first fine night, and well mix 

 with it during the operation surface soil from the garden, as 

 dry as it can be had, or road scrapings ; and in two days or so 

 afterwards have it turned over again along with more dryish 

 soil, end the drier the earth the better for the purpose, as it 

 absorbs the smell all the sooner. This compost should be 

 wheeled by degrees to the ground whilst it is being half- 

 trenched in the manner I have pointed out in page 57, and a 

 few days before planting apply quicklime as set forth in page 

 58; and as the land is "alight loam, and looks exceedingly 

 good," I would give it a trial by planting half of it on the flat, 

 and the rest on the ridge-and-trench system. I should ex- 

 pect to raise better Potatoes on the latter than on the former 

 plan, which " has not hitherto produced very floury ones." 

 There would not be much difficulty, I should think, in procur- 

 ing from the list I gave at page 58 Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, and 13. I 

 see No. 11 is advertised, and for the rest I fear those desirous 

 of obtaining them will have to wait and watch for their being 

 advertised. — Roeebt Fexn. 



DWARF HYBRID PERPETUAL ROSES— THE 



MANETTI stock. 



I have threescore of the above on the Manetti stock, planted 

 in soil originally very poor, but improved by good manure and 

 marl. I had some good blooms last autumn, but due, I am 

 afraid, to the potting soil in which the plants were bought. 

 The coming season will show if my endeavours to improve 

 the soil have availed me anything. 



I am now desirous to know what advantage Hybrid Per- 

 petuals on the Manetti stock have over those on their own 

 roots. I have read your Journal since the beginning of 

 October last— say from page 219, but have not been able to 

 gather why I should have all my Roses on the Manetti. Is it 

 to the interest of Rose dealers to recommend Roses on the 

 Manetti ? 



Charles Lefevbre and Horace Vernet have not grown well 

 with me, but John Hopper, Senateur Vaisse, Duke of Welling- 

 ton, M.Doncenne, Madame de Cambaceies, and Prince Camilla 

 de Rohan have done well. — H. C. 



[The first great advantage that Roses budded on the Ma- 

 netti stock have over those on their own roots is that at least 

 two seasons are gained, as the bud is inserted in a Manetti 

 cutting which has been struck two years, and by the time the 

 Rose is sent out from the nurseryman the roots of the stock 

 are three years old. The Manetti, also, as a rule, strikes 

 more freely than most Roses, is very hardy, and a surface- 

 rooter, and has this great advantage over the Dog Rose, that 

 it never sends out root suckers. We know there aie'some 

 amateurs who complain of suckers, but these always come 



from dormant eyes in the base of the stock, which eyes ought 

 always to be cut out with a sharp knife when the Roses are 

 planted, and it is the result of carelessness when any are left ; 

 but even if a few escape the eye of the planter, they are very 

 easily removed whenever they grow. Another advantage of the 

 Manetti stock is that when Roses on that stock are planted, 

 the union of the Rose with the stock is, or at all events ought to 

 be, placed from 2 to 3 inches under the soil, and after the 

 first season the Rose establishes itself on its own roots, as well 

 as on those of the Mane ti. This inclination of the Rose to root 

 from the junction of the bud and the stock is much increased 

 if a small nick is made with a knife in the wood of the Rose, 

 near to its junction with the stock, at the time of planting. 

 Another advantage which the Manetti stock has (as pointed 

 out by one of our correspondents in vol. xvii., page 33C), is that 

 it enables nurserymen to meet the demand for new kinds of 

 Roses, and send out new Roses much sooner, and at a much 

 less cost than they otherwise would be able to do. If nursery- 

 men had to depend upon cuttings from Roses, or if amateurs 

 insisted upon having new sorts of Roses on their own roots, 

 it would take a much longer time before a sufficient stock of any 

 new sort could be obtained. 



The Manetti stock is more suited for light soil, or ordinary 

 garden soil, than the Dog Rose stock ; and on the other hand, 

 wherever the soil is strong and heavy, the Briar ought to be 

 used ; but in general, where a bed in an ordinary garden is 

 especially prepared for Roses by a liberal supply of manure 

 and deep trenching, &c, there is no better plan than having 

 all the plants on the Manetti stock, and planted deeply, choosing 

 the tall-growing varieties for the centre, and the dwarfer sorts 

 for the outsides of the bed. 



As the Roses which you have planted did well last year, we 

 do not think the improvement is owing to the soil in the pots 

 in which the plants were bought, but to that in which you 

 planted them. 



It is certainly to the interest of dealers to recommend the 

 Manetti stock, but it is to the interest of the public aB well. 

 Many of the strong-constitutioned Roses, however, do very well 

 on their own roots, such as Gloire de Dijon, General Jacque- 

 minot, Charles Lefebvre, John Hopper, &c. ; and you would 

 do well to strike some of these varieties yourself, and make a 

 separate bed of Roses on their own roots. 



You will find full instructions for pruning Roses in the Rev. 

 S. R. Hole's book upon Roses, and also in one published by 

 Mr. Cranston, of Hereford.] 



ELMS SEEDING. 

 If " G. N." means the Elm commonly growing in our woods, 

 hedgerows, and pastures, I say that it both fruits and brings 

 its fruit to perfection, for I have gathered seeds from Elms 

 so growing; from Elms growing as young trees, pollards, &c. ; 

 also from Elms forming as fine trees as one could wish to see. 

 I have helped to sow these seeds, and attended to the young 

 plants raised from them until they have been planted out in 

 the same woodlands where part of the seeds were gathered. 

 There are plenty of trees here in woods and pleasure grounds 

 that fruit every year, though in quite another part from where 

 I have gathered the seeds. — J. W. K., Yorkshire. 



THE LENTISCUS OF CICERO. 



Is there any ground for the statement of Cicero (" De 

 Divinatione," lib. i. ch. ix.) that the Lentiscus (said to be the 

 Pistacia Lentiscus, or Mastich tree, producing the gum MaBtich 

 of commerce), flowers three times in the year, and produces 

 three crops oi fruit, marking by its flowering the three seasons 

 of ploughing ? I have searched many botanical works in which 

 I have found the tree described, but no mention of this pecu- 

 liarity.— C. W. D. 



[We have no doubt that the Lentiscus mentioned by Cicero 

 is ihe Pistnehia Lentiscus, and certainly in no place of its 

 growth dees it ever bloom thiice, and, consequently, never 

 bears tbiea crops of berries annually. The Lentisc is men- 

 tioned by Cato, Varro, Columella, Palladius, and Pliny, but by 

 no one of them is a description of the shrub or its habits given. 

 Their notices are confined chiefly to the resin it yielded, and 

 its uses. We think Cicero did not intend saying that the plant 

 yields three crops of berries annually, and he certainly says 

 nothing about its flowering. His words are, " Vera semper 

 viridis, semperque gravata Lentiscus, tiiplici solita est grand- 



