470 
JOHNSON S DICTIONARY OF MODERN GARDENING. 
find we should not have been left without this 
information in the Dictionary. 
We make these remarks in no unfriendly spi- 
rit, but with the hope that in preparing a second 
edition Mr. Johnson will, without favour, consult 
really the best, and in all cases that he can, the 
original authorities, for it requires but little to 
render his work a most useful book of refer- 
ence to all who are engaged in gardening. 
The arrangement of the Dictionary is good, 
and the getting together from different authors 
much of their best writings is after the fashion 
of the Encyclopaedia of Gardening ; but the 
alphabetical system is so far superior, that it 
makes almost the entire difference between useful 
and useless. Let us quote a bit from theRose: — 
" Cuttings are made to succeed by the fol- 
lowing treatment : — 
" Take a cutting of a this year's shoot, re- 
moving all but one leaf, and cutting off the 
upper part of the shoot above the leaf, and 
reducing its entire length to six inches. The 
cutting should be planted on the north side of 
a wall, under glass in a small frame, on a 
newly prepared hotbed, and in a soil of leaf- 
mould, eight inches deep, well soaked with 
water, and covered over with sand. Water is 
to be given, and air abundantly, for the first 
four days, lessening its admission daily, until 
rooting is completed, which will be in about 
three weeks. In the fourth week the cutting 
may be potted. 
" By Suckers. — Roses send up many suckers 
annually, which may be taken up in autumn, 
winter, or early spring, with some rootlets 
attached ; and the strongest may be planted 
out finally, and the weakest in the nursery for 
a year or two or longer. They will readily 
grow, and will most of them produce flowers 
the following summer. 
"When rose-trees have grown into large 
bushes, with many suckers, the whole may 
be taken up and slipped, or divided into sepa- 
rate plants. The moss, and some others, 
furnish suckers but sparingly. 
" By Layers. — To obtain shoots for layer- 
ing, a quantity of rose-trees should be planted 
for stools, which, being headed down low, will 
throw out shoots abundantly near the ground, 
in summer, lor layering in autumn or winter 
following. They will be rooted by next 
autumn, and fit for transplantation in nursery 
rows ; though sometimes the moss-rose and 
some others require two years before they are 
tolerably well rooted. But of these sorts you 
may also try layers of the shoots of the year, 
layered in summer, any time in June. They 
will probably root a little the same season. 
The layers of all the sorts, after being pro- 
perly rooted, should be taken up in autumn 
and planted in the nursery, to have one or 
two years' growth. 
" Soil. — All the cultivated roses, and espe- 
cially the double-flowering kinds, require a 
rich loamy soil, inclining to clay rather than 
sand ; and they require also, like most 
double flowers, plenty of moisture when in a 
growing state. 
" Manures. — The best is a mixture of one 
part guano, three parts charred turf and 
earth, and six parts cow-dung. A thin dress- 
ing pointed in every spring. 
" Pruning. — Mr. Glenny gives these very 
good and full directions : — 
" ' Suppose we have a standard, with only 
one branch from the bud, which is always 
stronger and better than if there are two or 
three — the first season we should cut that 
to within two eyes of the ground, if a rose 
on its own root, or within two eyes of the 
stock, if it be a budded one. These two 
eyes would, the very first year, send out two 
blooming branches, which would grow a con- 
siderable length. The next season we should 
cut both of these into within two eyes of the 
short branch they started from ; and this 
would make each of these two branches start 
out two more ; and unless to get the tree, or 
the dwarf bush, into any particular form, we 
should never omit cutting down shoots, and 
often cut out old lumps of wood and branches 
to thin the tree, which must never get 
crowded. By the same rule we should always 
cut away all the spindly shoots. China roses, 
and all constant bloomers, which require con- 
tinued attention, should have only the old 
wood and the weak shoots cut away, because 
any violent pruning would throw the plant 
out of flower for a considerable time ; while 
carefully removing the seed-vessels, and taking 
away weak wood to make room for the 
stronger, will keep them constantly flowering. 
This is especially requisite with climbing 
roses, where the favourable aspect, and other 
circumstances, may set the seed of almost 
every bloom. The swelling of their seed- 
vessels will take all the nourishment from 
the shoots that would otherwise continue to 
grow and bear flowers ; and the seed will 
often complete its growth and ripen before 
there is anything like a general bloom 
again.' 
" ' A very good time for performing the 
operation is immediately after the bloom is 
over; cutting out old exhausted wood, shorten- 
ing shoots which have flowered to a good 
bud accompanied with a healthy leaf, but 
leaving such shoots as are still in a growing 
state untouched till October. 
" ' Where very large roses are wanted, 
all the buds but that on the extreme point 
of each shoot should be pinched off as soon as 
they make their appearance, and the plant 
liberally supplied with water. 
