278 



JOURNAL Oe HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ April 2, 1874. 



require dividing every season, or the long, white, fleshy roots 

 will so coil round and fill up the bottom of the pot that it will 

 be impossible to remove them without injury. The better to 

 aooomplish this, a disc of tile or slate should be put at the 

 bottom of the pot before placing in it the ordinary fragmeuts 

 employed to ensure draiuage ; and when it is desired to turn 

 out the tubers, this may then be easily effected by pushing up 

 the tile by applying the finger to the orifice at the under surface 

 of the pot. 



AlBtriimeria aurea is another species which may be recom- 

 mended to those in quest of perennials of easy culture. It 

 is of taller habit than the preceding species, and retains its 

 foliage longer. It is, however, of such free growth that when 

 once thoroughly established it is apt to encroach unduly upon 

 its neighbours, and, like the camel iu the fable, dispossess them 

 altogether, unless kept within bounds. The singular resupinate 

 foliage of this, as well as other species of the genus, can hardly 

 fail to arrest the attention of the least observant cultivator ; 

 and it is also worthy of remark that iu A. chilensis, and pro- 

 bably in other species, the stamens, being longer than the style, 

 are at a certain stage of their growth curved upwards and in- 

 wards in succession, so as to bring the pollen into close cou- 

 tiguity with the tliree-cleft stigma. — {IV. Thompson's English 

 Flower Garden, Revised by the Author.) 



for £5 us. ; Dendrobium thyrsiflorum from £2 10s. to £9 10s. 

 Vanda csarulescens from £2 to £7 7s. 



A CHEAP AND DUKABLE GREEN PAINT. 



The season for painting being at hand, and the time of 

 "doing-up" small gardens being very commonly taken ad- 

 vantage of to do a little painting in the shape of renovating 

 with a fresh coat the rails, gates, doors, garden sticks, &o., it 

 may be acceptable to your readers to be put in possession of a 

 formula for a paint which shall not only bo less costly but 

 infinitely more sightly and serviceable tlian ',the vile abomina- 

 tion which ordinarily does duty imder these circumstances. 

 The stuff usually supplied when green paint is inquired for is 

 almo.st invariably that which is known as " Brunswick green," 

 a colour that has no "body" in itself, but requires a good 

 coating of lead colour as a foundation, and even then it changes 

 tint so rapidly that this is noticeable when using it, while 

 after a few months' exposure it becomes a leaden grey, and 

 seldom lasts more than a season. It is a splendid colour 

 to look at in the can, which makes it very tempting, but, un- 

 fortunately, this is about the best thing that can be said in its 

 favour. 



A very cheap and durable material may be obtained iu 

 the following manner : — Procure an old 4 or G-lb. Australian 

 meat tin, have it thoroughly cleaned with boiUng water, and 

 then, when dry, take it to the colourman's, and have half a 

 pound of black paint weighed into it, and also half a pound of 

 ground yellow ochre (Oxford ochre if you can get it), for both 

 of which I pay id. a-pound. Let these be well stirred together, 

 and an olive green will be produced varying in colour according 

 to the quality of the yellow ochre; but a little more either of 

 the black or of the yellow may be added to produce either a 

 deep ivy green or a lighter shade up to the palest Aucuba leaf. 

 When satisfied with the colour, ask for a pennyworth of 

 " patent dryer," and mix this thoroughly in, and the compound 

 will then be ready to dilute for use ; but it may be preserved 

 for a considerable time by being kept in a cool shady place, 

 and with 2 or H inches of water over it. 



When required for using, take a small portion out into a 

 pipkin, and thin with equal parts of raip linseed oil and tur- 

 pentine ; a half-pint bottle filled in these proportions will be 

 ample to provide at first. On no account use boiled oil, as 

 this only dries on the surface while it remains soft within, and 

 is very liable to blister when exposed to the sun. One coat of 

 this will be found to cover very fairly, but it is always best to 

 lay-on the first coat very thinly, and let it become thoroughly 

 dry and hard before completing with a second coat. When 

 leaving off, let the brush be rubbed dry, and not left in the 

 paint, but immersed in a vessel of water ; and on no account 

 piit water over the paint that has once been mixed for use, as 

 the latter plan renders it far less durable. I once had a 

 board fence that had been painted thus, and after seven years' 

 wear it was in good condition when r:!moved. It is a colour 

 that harmonipes well with foliage, and is in no way obtrusive 

 to the eye.— W. Kenedy Bbidoman. 



S.\LE OP Orchids. — Mr. Stevens sold 340 lots on the 2oth of 

 March, which realised about £700. Cypripedium Parishii sold 



THE HISTORY OF THE ROSE.— No. 2. 



It is singular that Pliny has not mentioned the twice-blow- 

 ing Eoses of Pn:'stum, so often referred to by Eoman poets. Is 

 the Praenestine or the Campanian Eose to be regarded as the 

 Pffistan Eose, or a species of it ? If so, is it not probable that 

 Pliny would have noticed them more particularly ? Of the 

 PiBstan Rose we unfortunately possess no detailed accounts. 

 They appear to have been extremely beautiful and fragrant, 

 and to have grown very abundantly at the place from which 

 they took their name. Virgil, Martial, Ovid, and Propertius 

 constantly allude to the Psestau Eoses, speaking at one time of 

 their abundance, at another of their fragrance and colour. 



But there is a Eose which still blooms amid the ruins of 

 Pastum, and it is thus noticed by Mr. Swinburne in his " Tra- 

 vels iu the Two Sicilies:" — "The Pffistan Eose, from its 

 peculiar fragrance, and the singularity of its blowing twice 

 a-year, is often mentioned with predilection by the classic 

 poets. The Wild Eose, which now shoots up among the ruins, 

 is of the small single Damask kind, with a very high perfume. 

 As a farmer assured me on the spot, it flowers both iu spring 

 and autumn." The Pffistan Hose, according to most authori- 

 ties, appears to have been of a deep red colour; yet Pomponius 

 Fortunatus, in his notes upon Columella, says it was almost 

 white ; he further observes that it flowered in May and Sep- 

 tember. 



Of the ancient rosaria, or placos set apart for the cultivation 

 of Eose trees, no account has reached us as to the manner in 

 which they were laid out. Pliny and Columella mention March 

 and April to be the months during which the rosaria should 

 be dug-up, and otherwise prepared for the reception of plants ; 

 but Palladius recommends an earlier commencement. He says, 

 " We are to plant beds of Eoses this month (February), which are 

 to be set in very narrow furrows or in trenches, either suckers 

 or seeds. The seeds of Eoses are contained in integuments, 

 which they produce, which become ripe after the vintage ; 

 and their maturity may be known by their dark brown colour, 

 and from their softness. If there are also any old beds of 

 Eoses, they are stirred at this season with weeding instruments 

 or pickaxes, and all the dry wood is cut off. Now, also, those 

 places that are not well supplied, are to be recruited by means 

 of layers. If you wish to have Eoses more early than usual, 

 you are to dig round them at the distance of two palms, and 



to water them twice a-day with warm water Although 



beds of Roses are to be planted in February, we may, however, 

 make plantations of Eoses in November; which, if being iu 

 want of plants you wish to be well supplied with, you ought to 

 cut the young shoots with their joints, and to set them in the 

 same manner as a Vine is propagated, and to cherish them 

 with compost and watering. When they are a year old you 

 are to transplant them a foot distant from each other, and 

 thus to fill the ground which you destine to this sort of planta- 

 tion." Neither Columella nor Palladius mentions by their 

 names the kinds of Eoses which were cultivated in these plant- 

 ations. This omission may, perhaps, be attributed to the 

 kinds of Eoses used for wreaths, chaplets, <tc., being generally 

 known, since we learn that none but those so employed were 

 planted in the rosaria. The most celebrated of these Eose 

 plantations were at Piestum. It may here be mentioned that 

 the custom of rearing large plantations of Eose trees still 

 exists in the East and in Russia, as appears from the follow- 

 ing extract from Van Halen's account of his journey in that 

 country: — "On the following morning we left our place of 

 bivouac, in the vicinity of Kuba, with the rising sun, and 

 proceeded through picturesque fields covered with Eose trees. 

 The exquisite fragrance emitted by them, and which the morn- 

 ing dew rendered more fresh and grateful ; the varied warbling 

 of a multitude of birds, who had their nests in these delightful 

 bowers ; and the sight of several cascades, whoso playful waters 

 leaped from their steep summits, produced on every sense an 

 indescribable feeling of delight. One of the nobles belonging 

 to the suite of Asian Khan made me a present of a small 

 flagon of oil extracted from these Roses, and which, when 

 some months after I compared with the best otto of Eoses of 

 Turkey, surpassed it in fragrance and delicacy. Beyond these 

 woods of Eoses spreads an extensive forest." 



Roses, according to Theophrastus and Pliny, were raised, in 

 some cases, from seeds; but they say that the growth of the 

 plant when so propagated was slow, swing to the seed being 



