230 
FLORA AND SYLVA 
and scarcely one has failed, among them 
being kinds extremely slow and diffi- 
cult on the Brier. The few nursery- 
men in France and England who have 
these Roses on their natural roots de- 
serve every encouragement, but the best 
of all ways is to strike the Roses for 
oneself, avoiding entirely the regula- 
tion soil of the catalogues. 
The simplestwayistotake a favourite 
Rose — say Edith Gifford or Madame 
Hoste^ both of which are unsatisfactory 
on the Brier — and put the cuttings in 
where we wish them to grow,thus avoid- 
ing removal; that is to say, select the 
spot where the Roses will be welcome 
in all ways and put in enough to make 
groups of a kind, with a little silver sand 
round the cuttings, and if there are any 
hand-lights or cloches about, put them 
over as it makes the " take" a little more 
certain. When the Roses begin to grow 
in the spring do not let them flower 
but pinch all the buds off" as they come, 
and so strengthen the plants. By per- 
severing in this way we have graceful 
clean plants full of healthful vigour in 
the time stated. Another way is to strike 
the cuttings in pots, so as to ensure 
transplanting without a check. Insert- 
ing feeble cuttings is almost certain to 
end in failure. The plan advised is so 
rapid in its results that we see that the 
plea of the trade growers that in graft- 
ing we gain time — the main use of the 
Brier — does not hold. With plants 
grown in this way also we at once get 
rid of the need for plastering the soil 
with manure every year — assuming that 
the ground is well prepared and dug to 
begin with. We also avoid the risk of 
frost, which so often destroys such Roses 
when grafted as standards or half- stan- 
dards, because the root is protected in 
the ground and if the frost does cut the 
shoots down to the level they will still be 
quite safe. We also ensure a more grace- 
ful and vigorous growth, which is often 
absent when these things suffer on the 
Brier. The Tea Rose plants bought in 
the usual way are in some cases so weak 
that a good cutting cannot be got from 
them, and some perish wholly with me, 
as is the case with Charles Rovelli. 
* * * 
THE CALIFORNIAN PITCHER- 
PLANT {Darlingtonia calif ornicd). 
Amongst the insect-trapping plants of 
the world none is more remarkable than 
the Darlingtonia, found beside streams 
and in marshy places at an elevation of 
i,ooo to 6,000 feet in the mountains 
of California. Being exposed at such a 
height to severe cold and heavy snow 
during winter, it is one of the hardiest 
of the larger pitcher-plants and so vig- 
orous as to hold its own against great 
tufts of the Common Rush and other 
water-plants with which it is found 
growing. The plants grow in colonies, 
the rounded yellowish hoods which 
cover the mouths of the pitchers stand- 
ing out in clusters with a peculiar effect, 
which has earned the name of " Calves' 
Heads" from the local mountaineers 
and has been compared by one traveller 
to bunches of mellow jfargonelle pears 
set on end at the waterside. Another 
quaint fancy is expressed in the com- 
mon English name of Cobra-Plant, the 
domed top of the pitcher with its strange 
appendage suggesting the raised head 
