680 



Plantation Fences and Rose Stakes. 



the blacksmith may adapt them, in point of height, to the trees. 

 When fixed in the ground, the ring at the top should stand 

 about an inch or two higher than the top of the stock. This 

 ring is fastened to the two iron limbs of the standard by nuts, 

 and is unscrewed, and hung on one of the limbs while the stan- 

 dard is fixed ; it is then raised to its place under the branches 

 of the tree. These standards should not be used until the tree 

 has a sufficient head to cover the top of them. The mode of 

 training I adopt is as follows : — In the spring, I select six or 

 eight of the strongest shoots, and tie them to the ring witli 

 tar twine; and if, from their length, this be not sufficient to 

 prevent their blowing about, I confine the end of these shoots 

 to pegs stuck in the ground. All the other shoots are cut 

 back in the usual way. I recommended this mode of training 

 the standard roses to some friends near London, and they 

 were told by their gardeners it would not answer ; that the 

 heads of the roses and other stems would become naked, and 

 produce flowers few in number and poor in character. They 

 have since had ocular demonstration to the contrary ; and I 



send. you an accurate sketch {^^. 148.), taken in 1831, from a 

 Bi/arre de la Chine, when in flower, which this season reached 

 nearly to the ground, (lowered most abundantly to the end of 

 its branches, and was truly a splendid object. This tree is six 



