274 
BIGSONIA EADICANS. 
or on the dry and parched soil of a bank. 
Upon this stock, tens of thousands of finer 
varieties are annually grafted or budded ; 
and, strange as it may seem, standard 
roses, on this account, if removed without 
dung to the roots, flourish any where and 
every where. The fact is, that the stock 
governs the bud ; and, if a bud of a Rose 
of any kind, however rich it may require 
ground for its own roots, were to be united 
to one of the common briars growing well, 
in the worst situation and soil that could be 
found, and the remainder of the briar be cut 
away, the Rose would flourish in spite of both 
the disadvantage of the situation and the 
poverty of the soil ; so that any owner of 
a common hedge-row, in which there were 
plenty of briars, could in a single season have 
all the finest varieties of roses growing on 
the briars instead of the simple Dog-rose. 
Thus could be changed, in one year, one of the 
most common of all common hedges into a 
splendid plantation of the first flowers in the 
world, of all colours, sizes, and habits of growth ; 
and nothing would be better worth a gardener's 
or a gentleman's attention than that of treat- 
ing all his internal hedges after this fashion. 
The Arabian spices could hardly impregnate 
the air with more delicious fragrance. No 
bloom in the whole collection of European 
flowers could be more beautiful ; and the 
very roses which, when growing on their own 
roots, require the nicest attention to the rich 
and strong quality of the soil, would be found 
luxuriating on the sap of their aboriginal 
brethren. It is only necessary in such case 
as inoculating a complete hedge that the re- 
mainder of the briar be prevented from grow- 
ing ; not a new shoot of the old stock should 
be allowed to flourish ; every bud as it comes 
should be rubbed off, until the new Roses 
take, as it were, possession of all the strength, 
and vigour, and appropriate the growth to itself. 
A healthy briar might have twenty different 
sorts of roses budded on it ; and if the habits 
were similar, they would all flourish though the 
stock were growing on a common w in a 
desert. The principal subject to remark upon 
here, is the different nature of plants to the 
stocks they thrive upon. It is clear, that the 
soil should be made to suit the stock, therefore, 
and not the Rose ; for Roses that would 
linger and die in the dry miserable soil of a 
hedge-row, grow in perfection on the very 
Dog-rose that lives there. Not that we are 
to be understood to infer, that the briar would 
not grow stronger in a rich soil, or, that Roses 
growing on them would not flourish more 
vigorously when on stocks so circumstanced ; 
but, Roses may be grown too strong, and by 
such growth be prevented from blooming so 
freely : indeed, in many places where standard 
Roses have been planted, the great strength 
of the growth has frequently militated against 
the elegance and well-being of the plant. In 
many instances we have seen a standard Rose 
more like a loose bundle of willow-sticks than 
anything. Their extreme length, the growth 
upwards, and the unmanageable nature of the 
wood, in any attempt to form or to provide 
for a handsome head, all show the necessity 
of limiting in some degree the quality of the 
soil in which a plantation of standard Roses 
is to be made. These, however, are mere 
general remarks relative to the claims the 
Queen of Flowers has upon our taste and our 
pride. To say nothing of its being our national 
emblem, it possesses so many high qualities, 
so many advantages over any other of our 
floral beauties, that all ranks admire it. In 
all other flowers there is a vast variety of 
isolated claims. The Tulip, the Dahlia, the 
Hollyhock, have their devotees, but they have 
also their enemies ; and the first thing these 
nose admirers cry out is — " They have no fra- 
grance!" The Tulip and the Dahlia are 
gaudy, the Auricula is delicate, the Carnation 
and Picotee are pretty, the Camellia splen- 
did ; all have their peculiar admirers; — but 
they all love the Rose. 
BIGNONIA EADICANS. 
This beautiful climbing plant is not grown 
one half so generally as it should be, for 
besides being hardy, and capable of covering 
any height of wall or building, the brilliant 
scarlet flowers coming in bunches at the end 
of every shoot, make a splendid show; and 
few things are more gay during the season of 
bloom. It is a North American plant, and 
was introduced about or before 1640. The 
early cultivators complained of its not bloom- 
ing, and Parkinson says, " This never bore 
flowers with me, nor any other that hath it in 
our country." The truth is, that it will not 
bloom until the plant has acquired maturity. 
It was raised from seed, perhaps, at one time, 
and a seedling plant requires five or six years 
to grow before it flowers ; potted plants that 
have been raised from cuttings bloom much 
earlier. It is a deciduous plant, and will in a 
few years reach to the top of the highest build- 
ing, for which reason it has been always recom- 
mended as a handsome subject to cover un- 
sightly walls, houses, or other ugly-looking 
objects. There are many plants raised from 
imported seeds, but they rarely ripen in this 
country. The plant throws up suckers, which 
should be taken off and planted out young in 
the places in which they are to flower. Layers 
strike freely as well cuttings. The only 
pruning they require is to cut out all the 
weak little shoots, and leave nothing but the 
