108 REMARKS ON THE PECULIARITIES OF ROSES, ETC. 



be dead, to see whether they can find any seed on or about them. It 

 has already happened that some unique specimens in Europe have 

 been saved by carefully collecting and sowing both the remainders of 

 the plants and the dust and dregs of the box. 



For sowing, small pots are used, filled with a loose sandy mould, 

 watered previously to sowing. The seed is then strewed over the 

 surface, and either sparingly covered, or not, with some very fine 

 mould or sand ; then covered with a pane of glass, and placed either 

 in a hot frame, or below a sloping light in a warm situation. Cactus 

 seeds retain their vitality for several years, and spring generally in 

 about ten or fourteen days after sowing. As soon as the young plants 

 appear, they must be secured against too burning heat of the sun, and 

 potted as soon as possible, either singly or from three to four together, 

 in very small pots. The most dangerous enemies to them are the 

 woodlice, which are very partial to the young and tender plants. In 

 their haunts I have poured boiling water ; this speedily exterminates 

 the race. When red spider attacks, a sprinkling of common sulphur 

 settles with them ; and, when the brown scale infests them, a sprink- 

 ling over with a strong infusion of chamomile destroys them. 



ARTICLE VI. 



REMARKS ON THE DISTINGUISHING PECULIARITIES OF THE 

 VARIOUS CLASSES OF ROSES, 8cc. 



Rosa damascena, Damask Roses. — This section, and the Albas, 

 contain some of the finest light roses, or blush roses, grown. The 

 true Damasks may be generally known by their rough spiny shoots 

 and leaves ; the capsules, or seed-vessels, are mostly very rough or 

 spiny, and the flowers are very sweet. 



Rosa centifolia muscosa, Moss Roses. — An elegant family, a 

 division of the section Centifolia, or hundred-leaved, being only a 

 sporl from it, the moss being the criterion ; blooms once in the season. 

 They require a light rich soil when grown on their own roots, in cold 

 soils worked on the Dog Rose, and close pruning. 



Rosa centifolia, Provence, or Cabbage, of the English, Cent- 

 feuilles (100 leaves) of the French. — The term one hundred-leaved 

 does not refer to the foliage, but to the petals of the flowers. The 



