JOURNAL OF HOKTICtTLTtTEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ January S, 1865. 



page 411, from which we may all take a lesson; but I find I 

 am lUgressing, I will, therefore, proceed at once to answer 

 '• A Subsckibek's " inquiries. lu the iirst place, then, he will 

 observe in the thu-J piu'agr.aph, page 436, that I give the 

 preference to the Manetti stock budded and planted deeply 

 — that is, with the junction of the bud with the stock 

 2 inches or so under the sui-face. In the second place, the 

 only additional information I can give respecting the Eose 

 is, that it is generally known here under the name of the 

 " JIaiden's Blush." Should he not be able to find it under 

 that name, I have no doubt the description I have akeady 

 given of it will lead to its discovery in one or other of the 

 cottage gai'dens in his neighbourhood. I may, however, in- 

 form him, that I intend using this as a stock cautiously — 

 hasty conclusions are dangerous sometimes — it is all that I 

 have said of it, but I have since observed that the stem 

 does not increase in size in proportion to the head ; con- 

 setiuently, the bai'k may in time become indurated, and we 

 may, iu a year or two, find the beads beginning to assume 

 a sickly appearance, and ultimately dying oft' altogether. 

 If, however, it should turn out all right in this respect, I 

 am still of opinion it will beat the Briar. 



I will now describe the manner in whieli I treat my Eoses 

 generally, and leave "A Subscbibee " to judge for himself 

 as to whether such treatment may be suitable to his cir- 

 cumstances. First, then, I must tell him that nearly all 

 my dwarf plants are in two borders by themselves, the 

 second border is a continuation of the one I have before 

 described. I find that they contain just seventy plants, and 

 as many varieties. In other parts of the garden there may 

 be twenty or thu'ty more, but here let me state, that I do 

 not approve of gi-owing so many varieties iu a small collection 

 when not intended for exhibition purposes. A third of the 

 number in my opiuion would be quite sufficient, but I am 

 groping my way, and doing it in order to find out what are 

 most suitable to the climate, but to resume. About the 

 beginning of the present month, having received two or 

 three dozen fresh plants, I made a complete re-ai-rangement 

 of my borders, that done I staked each plant firmly, after 

 ■which I mulched the whole with pig manure, about 4 inches 

 thick, taking care to keep it an inch or two from the stems 

 of the plants. I then covered the whole with long heather 

 to the depth of about 1\ foot laid on very loosely, which in 

 my opinion is much better than fern for the purpose, as it 

 allows the air to eu-culate more freely which is of great im- 

 portance. The whole of the above are either on the Manetti 

 or dwarf stocks of the Dog Eose, although I certainly prefer 

 the foi-mer. Some of them do vei-y well indeed on the lattei-, 

 but it must be borne in mind that deep planting does not 

 suit this description of stock. My practice is to have the 

 crown fi-om 2 to 3 inches under the surface. Of standards I 

 have but few of last year's budding, in consequence of a 

 number of the buds having been destroyed by an insect. 

 They are all under bud this year and looking well, and I 

 hope, after the warning I have received, to carry them 

 thi'ough safely. I have each bud protected with a piece of 

 oiled paper (old newspapers brushed over with boiled oil and 

 allowed to get dry), contracted at ono end and tied firmly 

 round the shoot above the bud, leaving sufficient room 

 iinderneath. This does not, like hay or other soft material, 

 retain moisture, which in my opinion is more injurious to 

 dormant buds than frost. All these as weU as the dwarfs 

 are firmly staked and mulched, with a little heather placed 

 round their roots as woU. The heads of standards, especially 

 the moderate and dwarf-growing varieties, I protect by 

 placing around them and amongst the shoots a few branches 

 of heather, and tying the root ends firmly round the stake, 

 giving them the appearance of so many inverted brooms. 

 So much for protection, now for the removal of it. WeU, 

 about the beginning of March if the weather bo favourable, 

 I take off one-half of the heath and the remainder about 

 the middle of the month. I then in a few days afterv.'ards 

 lemove the manure from the surface to the kitchen garden, 

 that done I prune the whole, ti'im up tho borders, and make 

 all look tidy. I have now nothing to do, with the exception 

 of attending to them as occasion may require with weak 

 guano water, of which I have always a cask at hand, or other 

 liquid manure, but to watch the progress of the plants and 

 oamira their beauties when in bloom. 



Such is my mode of treatment, and if I am wrong in any 



particulai', I trust for the sake of others as well as myself, 

 that I may be put right by my valued instructors in The 

 Journal of Horticultdke. — Loch Ness. 



P.S. — A. hint as to the best way of stopping the insect, to 

 which I have alluded, from committing such havoc among 

 the buds, will oblige. 



J^^Jm-Tt/l 



TEENCHING. 

 I FIND that ground can be dug thus, at about one-third 



the expense of digging 

 aU the ground, and left 

 iu a much better state 

 for the action of fi-ost. 

 The land also remains dry. You will perceive that only one- 

 third of the ground is removed. — A Constant Eeadeb. 



[If exposing the soil to frost and other atmospheric in- 

 fluences is all that is requu-ed, the above plan is available, 

 but not if the objects ore either to deepen the soil, or bring 

 the lov/er stratum to the surface. — Eds.] 



PEAES ON THOKN STOCES. 



With reference to the communication with this heading 

 in your Number for 27th ult, I may mention that in the 

 garden at Preston Hall, near Dalkeith, in the county of 

 Edinburgh, there is an old Muirfowl's Egg Pear tree grafted 

 on the Hawthorn, now in perfect health, and which bears 

 fruit of excellent quality. 



The gardens at Preston Hall were laid out fully three- 

 quarters of a century since by the late Mr. Hay, who was 

 then gardener there, and who afterwards practised in Edin- 

 burgh with considerable success as a garden architect, and 

 the tree in question seems to be one of those planted when 

 the garden was formed. 



I may mention that I some years since sent a basket of 

 the fruit to a meeting of the Edinburgh Botanical Society, 

 and the members present declared them to be " excellent," 

 as well as " interesting." I have tried a good many Pears 

 on the Hawthorn stock, some of which are now more than 

 ten years old, and all have invariably done well. — William 

 GoEBiE, Bangholm, Edinlurgh. 



GARDENERS DURING ILLNESS. 



Aee there any rules for paying gardeners during sick- 

 ness ? I mean, is it a gentleman's duty to pay his gardener 

 when he cannot attend work through being sick ? I should 

 very much like to know. — E. B. 



rWe regret that we cannot give any definite reply. The 

 "duty" of a gentleman to pay his gardener when from 

 sickness unable to attend work, must ever remain a question 

 of principle and of feeling, rather than of right and duty. 

 Something will, no doubt, depend upon how a servant is 

 liired— domestic or out-door, and whether he is a yearly 

 weekly or monthly servant. To tho credit of our gentry, 

 the most of them, when a servant is ill, wUl pay for a time, 

 and may also secure medical help. We have known servants 

 accept all this as merely a matter of course, and not as a 

 subject to be grateful for, yet such treatment spontaneously 

 arises from generous and kindly feeling. If there should 

 be any legal right to such payment, that must be much 

 lessened in the case of out-door servants. In their case 

 the only appeal would be to kindness rather than mere 

 duty. Most employers of gardeners treat them kindlyon 

 such occasions ; but that is dillerent from a gardener setting 

 up any claim to it as a right. Wo have known cases, but 

 they are few, in which great cruelty was exercised, such as 

 giving a man notice to quit when unable to turn himself in 

 bed ; but in most cases much sympathy and kindness are 

 manifested, and this is sui-o to be an advantage to both in 

 tho end. Suppose a thoroughly good gardener to have his 

 wages stopped for a week's Ulness, though ho had served 

 his employer early and late, we know he would resolve_ to 

 stay with such an employer only as long as it suited him. 

 The very changing of eorvants, oven though tho old and 

 tho new might conscientiously do their very best, would 

 soon mate havoc, from the very change, with more than 



