Uarch 30, 1876. ) 



JOURNAL OP HORTIOULTURB AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



217 



or the elope of a green terrace ; also by the margin of a wind- 

 ing walk, with here and there open spaces, an embellishment 

 of this description would be appropriate. The following plants 

 and their mode of arrangement aro submitted aa suitable for 

 BcroU-shaped beds : — 



BED Q. 



1. ConvolvnlaB manritanious. — This is a fine plant for a 

 carpet. It will eoon covei the surface with its little trailing 



shoots, and produce an abundance of lovely mauve-coloured 

 blossoms all through the summer season. It may be wintered 

 in a cold frame, and is propagated by cuttings in the spring for 

 summer use. The cuttings root freely in a little bottom heat. 



2. Lobelia speciosa Brilliant. — Large flower, deep rich blue 

 with white eye. Very effective. 



3. Golden Pyrethrum. 



4. Alternanthera spathulata. — A rose-pink variety with long 



Fig. 73.— Bed Q. 



narrow leaves. It requires planting in poor soil, otherwise it 

 is apt to grow green. Another way to make it retain its colour 

 is to plunge the pots in which the plants are growing, and 

 the plants will then retain their colour. 



5. Alternanthera paronychyoides major. 



6. Alternanthera amoena speotabilis. 



7. Gnaphalium lauatum. — This is well known aa one of the 



most useful plants for edging purposes. It may be kept com- 

 pact and uniform in its growth, and may be trimmed to any 

 shape required, and the more it is cut the better it looks, for 

 the young shoots are almost white. Two or three old plants 

 kept through the winter in a cold frame will give a good 

 batch of cuttings. They should be placed in a little heat, and 

 the shoots that are made after will take root freely. 



Fig. 74.— Bed B. 



1. Ajnga reptana rubra. — This is a pretty dwarf-growing 

 plant. The smooth and dark glossy purple leaves are very 

 s uitable for a groundwork in a design and contrast well with 

 b right colours. It is quite hardy and will grow in any sitn- 

 ation. Propagate by cutting the plant up in small pieces as 

 soon as it has done flowering in April. 



2. Echeveria metallioa. — This is really the most striking 

 and ornamental of all the Echeverias, with its broad, fleshy, 

 S laucous leaves shaded with a rich metallic hue, rendering it 

 highly decorative either singly or in groups. The best way 

 and the easiest way to propagate it is by seed. 



3. Cineraria maritima compacta. 



4. Alternanthera magnifica. 



5. Stellaria gramiuea anrea. 



6. Leucophyton Browuii. — N. Cole, Kensington. 



EOSE STOCKS. 

 In your last number (page 227), appeared some remarks on 

 Rose stocks from the pen of a well-known amateur, the Eev. 

 J. B. M. Camm; and with due deference to so good a cul- 

 tivator, I must take exception to his wholesale condemnation of 



our old friend the Briar, and his advocacy of the Manetti. A 

 lover of Roses on any and all stocks, and a cultivator of many, 

 I certainly admire a bed of dwarf Roses carefully and cleverly 

 pegged down, or dwarf Roses grown and trained as pyramids 

 on lawns or borders, but I cannot agree with Mr. Camm in his 

 indiscriminate objection to the Briar. The expense is not so 

 very much, say from 6s. to 8s. per hundred; stakes, tar twine, 

 and matting are to be purchased at trifling cost. Budding is a 

 mo3t pleasing and interesting occupation. The excessive pro- 

 duction of suckers is the result of excessive stimulants. In- 

 sects can easily bs kept under by syringing (in favourable 

 weather), with water in which soft soap and aloes have been 

 dissolved. I grant the comparison to " mopstieks," but this 

 may in a great measure be surmounted by growing Ivy-leaved 

 Geraniums or slight climbers round the stems, and sowing 

 dwarf annuals in the circles at the base. 



Admitting the excellence of the Manetti under certain favour- 

 able circumstances of soil and situation, I must unhesitatingly 

 claim the palm for my friend Mr. Prince's seedling Briar, 

 which is immeasurably its superior, 



Mr. Camm states that he took a field of " poor but virgin 

 soil," and to start with manured it at the rate of 200 tons per 

 acre ! Could he be surprised that his Briars did little else but 



