RINGING, PROPAGATION BY. 426 



ROCK-WORK. 



in the pot in which the parent plant stands^ 

 or in separate pots properly supported. 

 The layers should be watered occasionally, 

 whether in pots or in the open ground. 

 The autumn is the best season for the 

 removal of well -rooted layers. 



Ringing, Propagation by. 



Loudon says : " The Chinese method 

 of propagating trees by first ringing, or 

 nearly so, a shoot, and then covering the 

 ringed part with a ball of clay and earth 

 covered with moss or straw, is evidently on 

 the same general principle as layering, and 



is better effected in this country by draw- 

 ing the shoot through a hole in the pot, 

 ringing it to the extent of three-fourths of 

 its circumference near the bottom or side 

 of the pot, and then, the pot being sup- 

 ported in a proper position and filled with 

 earth, it may be watered in the usual way. 

 Some plants difficult to strike, and for 

 which proper stocks for inarching are not 

 conveniently procured, are thus propagated 

 in the nursery hothouses." 



Roads. See Garden Paths, &c. 



Rocket (nat ord. Cmcif'erae). 



Very pleasing early - spring - flowering 

 hardy annuals, biennials, and perennials, 

 with deliciously fragrant flowers ; grow 

 freely in any soil The flowers of the 



rocket (Hesperis) are mostly purple or white 

 in colour. Propagation is effected by seeds 

 in the case of annuals, and by division of 

 the roots for perennials. 



Rock-work. 



Few ornaments of a garden have a better 

 effect than rock-work properly disposed ; 

 while at the same time it is also very useful. 

 By means of it, not unfrequently, an ugly 

 corner may be turned to very good account, 

 and very many plants will be found to 

 flourish and do well upon rock-work which 

 can hardly be kept alive elsewhere. Some- 

 times, when the garden or pleasure ground 

 is very extensive, a piece of rock-work may 

 appear, to be needed on its own account, to 

 form a break in the scene ; in which case 

 it will be desirable that the work be con- 

 structed of the stone of the country, to give 

 to it as natural an appearance as possible ; 

 but, in a general way, for rock-work which 

 is intended to be covered with plants, any 

 material that comes most readily to hand 

 may be made use of. The flint stones 

 from the chalk and marl pits, where they 

 can be had, form excellent rock-work ; and 

 so, of course, do the different spars of 

 Devonshire and Derbyshire also. As a 

 general rule, rock-work should never be 

 raised on grass, but on gravel, or on a con- 

 crete foundation. It is also well placed 

 around a pond or water-tank. In the 

 centre of a square gravelled plot, a tall 

 piece of rock-work is a very pleasing 

 object. 



The spring of the year is the best season 

 for making rock-work, since the soil will 

 have time to settle, and the stones to 

 become fixed in their position before the 

 next winter's frost. Almost every county 

 in England has some material natural to i* 

 from which rock-work can be formed 

 even the larger stones of the gravel-pits 

 may be used for this purpose ; and, in the 

 absence of anything else, blistered clay from 



