JOURNAL OP HORTICDLTTJEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 2, 1868. 



he, of the plant, and the two lobes instantly close up, the 

 bristly teeth interlock like clasped hands, and the unlucky 

 creature is crushed to death. That they have not the power, 

 however, of distinguishing the touch of an insect from that of 

 anything else is evidenced by the lobes grasping with equal 

 aridity the head of a pin when inserted between them ; but 

 the same want of judgment may be seen in the case of the Sea 

 Anemone, which, though possessed of animal life, will enfold 

 within its tentacles a small stone with as much eagerness as 

 it does a piece of the daintiest food. When the leaves of the 

 Dionffia begin to grow old, they by degrees lose their irritability, 

 and it is curious, almost painful, to watch one that is fast 

 passing into the " sere and yellow leaf," how it will feebly 

 clutch at a tly that has been put within its reach when the 

 power to kill is altogether gone. 



We can understand something about the various mems of 

 self-defence with which many plants are provided ; why the 

 Thistle presents at every point a threatening spear, and why 

 the Eose stands armed to the teeth with hooked spines ready 

 to lacerate the incautious hand which may try to pluck one of 

 her peerless flowers ; but when, instead of these, we find plants 

 fitted up with engines of destruction, seemingly for no other 

 €nd than to destroy, we are naturally not a little surprised. 

 The two described, together with a few more which present 

 somewhat similar characteristics, have often been commented 

 upon by botanists, without any very definite conclusion having 

 'been arrived at concerning their spider-like propensities. 



Yet why should they not be accepted for what they really 

 seem to be ? — instruments provided by Nature for helping to 

 preserve the balance of insect life. Our world is flooded with 

 vitality in innumerable forms, and " the reaper, whose name is 

 Death," uses weapons of diiifereut kinds to cut the strings of 

 life in every form which it assumes ; and having fluttered 

 "through a life-time — the length of a summer's day — is it not 

 better for the little fly or moth to expire in a cup of neetar, or 

 in the arms of a tiny flower, than to die by disease or starva- 

 tion ? No doubt the number thus destroyed must be very 

 small, compared with that of those which die from other causes ; 

 but that variety is the watchword of Nature is a truth illustrated 

 as forcibly by the varied means of death as by the myriad forms 

 and modes of existence. — AiESuir.E Gat.denek. 



where they get heat without the direct rays of the sun. How 

 beautifully are they blooming here under these circumstances 

 now ! If " C-vniL " hud these Eoses, or any of them, he will 

 be pleased with them. I believe I have here 4.50 plants of 

 Charles Lefebvre, Senateur Vaisee, Prince Camille de Eohan, 

 Jules Margottin, and W. Grifliths. One cannot have too many 

 of them. They never go wrong at any time, and charm every- 

 body. — W. F. Eabclyffe, Oh'ford Fitzpaine. 



ROSES SUITABLE FOR VARIOUS STOCKS. 



" Ctf.il " wishes to know the names of the best Eoses for 

 budding upon the "Dog Eose, some for Manetti stocks, also 

 for Celine stocks." 



Before I attempt to answer this, I must make a few obser- 

 vations. The Dog Eose is an excellent stock for unctuous clays. 

 It will do respectably in light, rich land, provided the owner 

 wiU go to the expense of mulching and watering copiously in 

 summer. It does not like its roots burned. For bad or mo- 

 derate-growing varieties it is the only suitable stock. For 

 those of strong growth, with the rarest exceptions, Manetti and 

 Celine stocks are adapted. Moreover, the Dog Eose likes strong- 

 growing kinds, and is kept healthy by the strong growth of the 

 Eose. Weak growers will in due time destroy the Briar. 



1. Eoses that succeed extremely well on a Briar, even in 

 light lands, on their own roots, and on Manetti stocks : — Gloire 

 de Dijon, Celine Forestier, and Triomphe de Eennes. These 

 are yellow Eoses of the highest excellence. 



2. Eoses that I know bloom and grow splendidly on Manetti : 

 — Brilliant Crivison or itn aliadrs. — Charles Lefebvre, Senateur 

 Vaisse, Lord Macaulay, Maurice Bernardin, Alfred Colomb. 

 Duchesse de Caylus, Madame Victor Verdier, Lady SuilJeld, 

 Baronne Adolphe de Eothschild, Madame Boutin, Jules Mar- 

 gottin, Globosa, and Man'chal Vaillant. Dark Maroons. — 

 Prince Camille de Eohan, Ssuveuir de Dr. Jamain, and Em- 

 pereur de Maroc. Darl: Crimsons. — Due de Cazes, Pierre Net- 

 ting, Vicomte Vigier, and Souvenir de Comte Cavour, superb, 

 but not quite full. Blush. — Caroline de Sansal, and Marguerite 

 de St. Amand. Rose Colour or its shades. — Baronne Prevost, 

 Comte de Nanteuil, W. Griffiths, Comtesse de Chabrillant, 

 Charles EouiUard, new and fine, and Duchesse de Morny. 



The above are here in abundance ; they are the elitf of the 

 Eose kingdom. There are others very good, but I could not 

 recommend them to any but experienced persons. Some are 

 only fit for first-class soils. Some are most splendid under 

 certain conditions — for instance, JIadame JuUe Daran and 

 Leopold Premier. The first loses colour under strong sun in 

 the early part of the year, and both open well in a shady place, 



A FEW HOURS' OUTING. 



Unless in particular cases, all visits to gardens at this season 

 should be confined to as short a time as possible, that the 

 time of the gardener visited may not be encroached upon. 

 By-and-by, when all is straight sailing, an extra hour will not 

 be of the same consequence as now. 'The four places I called 

 at have been already described in these pages, and, besides 

 shaking hands with old and new friends, my principal object 

 was to see how the dry weather had affected their gardens. I 

 will not enter into particulars, but chiefly confine myself to 

 that one point of observation. 



At Stockwood Pake, standing on elevated ground, there used 

 to be a great want of water in dry summers. Sometime ago a 

 huge brick and cement tank, or rather reservoir, was formed in 

 the park, and part of the park drained into it, and that has 

 never been dry since. Water from this reservoir can be con- 

 veyed to other parts of the park by pipes for the service of 

 cattle. I presume this cannot bo done in the case of the gar- 

 den, and I suppose could not be done unless the water was 

 first pumped into an elevated cistern. But for the labour of 

 carting, however, the garden is now well supplied. Except in 

 some cases, in order to apply it to the flower beds in the flower 

 garden, the water is not taken from the cart and used, for in 

 that case there is apt to be either a waste of horse power in 

 keeping the horse standing, or a waste of men's time in coming 

 and going to another job, so as to empty the cart as soon as 

 possible, and when this must be done considerable care must 

 be taken to have other work at hand that the time spent in 

 moving from one piece of work to the other may be as little as 

 possible. In most of the watering at the garden this is avoided 

 at Stockwood by having in the water barrel a large tap which 

 soon runs the water into tanks, and from thence one man may 

 pump and take it away in a small barrel as wanted. This plan 

 also permits of the watering chiefly being done towards the 

 evening, when it has greater eiiect than when done during the 

 day. when horse power can chiefly be obtained. 



Here, considering the season, the flower garden looked re- 

 markably well, and I could not help wondering where the 

 young gardener conld manage to keep such multitudes of strong 

 plants. Amongst the many of Mrs. Pollock Pelargonium I 

 was struck with fine beds of a bronze-leaved kind called Top6. 

 Some of your readers may recollect of a small enclosed flower 

 garden with glass houses on two sides. Here the beds have 

 been greatly enlarged, and well planted, but for want of being 

 able to look down on them, &c., they will seem too much like 

 one bed in Mr. Eobson's style, without showing the same unity 

 in arrangement. As to looking well, there can be no doubt, 

 only I think there would have been a more distinctive beauty 

 if the beds had occupied only some fourth of their present 

 ground. 



The weather, thanks to the watering, had not affected either 

 the Strawberries or the other crops ; the houses were very neat, 

 the fruit houses well supplied, and in excellent order ; and here 

 I noticed a simple thing worthy of record. In a Peach honse 

 the chimney passed through the back wall. Near the chimney 

 fruit was gathered some weeks earlier than from the same tree 

 further from the chimney, but the extra heat almost always 

 induced the presence of the red spider. To counteract this, 

 the wall was faced with wood as a nonconductor, and, in 

 addition, a semicircular wire trelhs was brought out a foot or 

 so from the chimney, and thus, though the wood trained over 

 it ripened earlier as before, it was not subject, as previously, 

 to the attacks of red spider. 



At Luton Hoo I did not see much of how the weather had 

 treated the flower garden, as this is made less a point than 

 formerly, and more efl'ort is concentrated on the kitchen garden, 

 fruit in-doors and out of doors, and house plants of all kinds, 

 hardy flowers out of doors, and fine shrubs and trees. The 

 park in some places seemed much parched, but there was no 

 , sign of such being the case in the garden. The whole of the 

 I houses, rich with rare plants, and attractive from the fine show 



