January 22, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
73 
essence, and the more plain to us does it become that even man’s 
physical life itself falls into line with the universal life. 
And what is our proper attitude ? Is it not one of constant 
and earnest endeavour to cultivate those conditions and surround¬ 
ings that best promote our growth and health, physically, men¬ 
tally, and spiritually? Is it not, in short, an attitude of simple 
obedience to the law of our being ? Every plant has such a law. 
Give it its required conditions of light, air, soil, moisture, and 
shelter, and it thrives by an infallible law which never fails. 
Man in like manner thrives if he respects the law of his 
being; if he so governs and regulates for himself (as he of all 
living things can best do) the little drama of his life in accord¬ 
ance with this law; if he will be diligent he will not want the 
necessaries of life; if he will be temperate and self-denying he 
will enjoy health of body; if he will cultivate the intellectual 
part of his nature he will have enjoyments that will compensate 
for the toil of life; if he will he may take the domestic and other 
cares of life as opportunities for learning fortitude and courage; 
if he will he may by courtesy and good feeling get rid of the 
friction of life; and if, above all, wisely putting from him the in¬ 
soluble problems of the future, he will confide the final issue of his 
life to Him who called it into being, he will have a contentment 
which nothing can ta’^e away. If he practise this diligence, 
if he enjoy this health of body and of mind, and if he possess 
this contentment, then may we fitly speak of man in the old 
Hebrew figure as “ a tree in the garden of God.” 
ROTATION OF CROPS. 
As you have been good enough to publish my article for the guidance 
of an “Ex-Foreman,” I wish to add a few remarks to it. I would 
strongly advise an “ Ex-Foreman,” as a beginning at any rate, to number 
all the quarters and borders in the garden, noting their aspect and 
position, and at once take an account of the crops standing in them, and 
when they are likely to come off, also the different plots of vacant ground. 
If possible also note the sort of crops that have been taken from them 
during the past summer, then set out a regular plan of cropping for the 
coming season. This will enable him to vary the cropping so as to avoid 
in a great measure a repetition of the same crops. Keep a diary of the 
treatment of the soil, whether trenched or only dug, and when manured, 
and how the crops turn out. This will be found a most reliable guide for 
future operations, and enable an “Ex-Foreman” to make his kitchen 
garden what I always maintain such a garden should be, one of the 
principal features in a private establishment.— Thomas Record. 
REVIEW OF BOOK. 
The Itosarians' Year-Booh. London . Bemrose & Sons, 23, Old Bailey 
and Derby. 
This welcome annual, edited by Rev. H. Honywood D’Ombrain, has 
been approvingly referred to by a correspondent, “ J. A. W.,” than 
whom few persons are better competent to estimate the merits of a work 
of this nature. Our opinion of the edition is that it is the best and most 
useful of the series that have yet appeared, and it may be perused with 
advantage both by the amateur rosarian and the general gardener who is 
expected to grow Roses well in common with other flowers. If informa¬ 
tion is good, no matter from whence it comes, it is accepted readily by 
receptive minds. Gardeners have on many points imparted instruction 
that has been gladly received even by expert amateurs and specialists ; 
and in return the latter are in a position to teach soundly on those sub¬ 
jects of which they have made a “ life study.” As Mr. Homer can give 
valuable hints on Auricula culture, so the contributors to the “ Rosariaus’ 
Year-Book” can and do convey useful information, and withal in a very 
pleasant entertaining manner. The subject of pruning Roses, both as to 
manner and time, is exhaustively treated by gentlemen who have proved 
their competency by their success—namely, Messrs. G. Baker, E. R. Whit- 
well, and T. B. Hall, and their experience is the more general interest since 
it has been gained in widely separated districts ; indeed, a special feature 
of the work is the wide geographical and climatal field that it covers. 
We are taken from the sunny valleys of Kent to a cliff that is so “ fine 
and open” that after a gale the “ Cabbages lie roots upwards ” in Mr. 
Biron’s garden ; and from Liverpool and Durham to a tour on 
“ precipicing” for Roses in Lisbon, Madeira, and the Azores so agreeably 
described by Mr. Gray. Mr. George Paul tells us which are the best and 
—what is not les3 useful—which the worst Roses as bedding plants and 
for pegging down. The Editor, fittingly and ably, gives a review of the 
Rose and National Rose Society in 1884, and Mr. Edward Mawley 
reviews the weather of the past Rose year, and continues to make such 
an old-fashioned subject as “ the weather” interesting and suggestive. 
We take one extract from Mr. Baker’s paper because, as the author 
says, it bears on a subject that has been much debated—namely, the 
merits and demerits of that fine specimen flower, A. K. Williams : — 
“ I have,” says Mr. Baker, “ grown this Rose from its first introduction 
and have probably now about sixty plants. I have had plants from various 
nurseries on the Manetti, Briar cutting, and seedling Briar, but the last- 
named stock I prefer for this Rose. I confess, on two occasions—the 
autumn of 1831, and again of the same season of 1882—I was most un¬ 
fortunate with the plants I then received. They all died, although to out¬ 
ward appearance strong and vigorous, yet, on closer examination, proved to 
have suffered severely from the effects of fro3t, before they came into my 
possession. With this experience, I budded the Rose on some seedling 
Briars grown in my own garden. They made excellent maidens, and 
bloomed grandly, and made strong growth, many of 5 feet in length. They 
have since done wonderfully well as cutbacks, and are now certainly most 
satisfactory plants. I have also some plants that were budded on the seed¬ 
ling Briar received from Mr. Prince, one year old from the time of budding. 
These were lifted in October, pruned and potted at that time, and kept with 
some others in a cold frame during the winter, and indeed, until about the 
middle of May following, when they were planted out. I have all these 
plants now. Every one turned out well, and have given me, this summer, 
the choicest blooms. 
“ I have bought from nurserymen several plants, nearly all of which have 
grown favourably and bloomed with great luxuriance, making growth 4 to 
5 feet in length. Although I cannot say that I consider it exactly a hardy 
Rose, I am sure it may be easily and successfully cultivated, and, with the 
care usually bestowed on moderately strong Roses, will afford satisfactory 
results. As a specimen of the true and perfectly imbricated type of flowers, 
and the splendour of its colour, it should be freely shown in every garden ; 
but, in my judgment, it is constitutionally stronger on the seedling Briar 
than on any other stock. In the Journal of Horticulture, some rosarian friend 
has advised this being moved and planted in the autumn, after being budded 
in the summer. I have not made any such experiment ; but with other 
Roses that I have so tried the check received so soon after budding occa¬ 
sioned a most lamentable failure.” 
We commend this very neat, useful, and entertaining work to all who 
are interested in the cultivation of the Rose whether for exhibition 
purposes or garden adornment. 
INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 
One of the great distinctions between plants and animals which was 
formerly held was that plants lived on inorganic, while animals lived on 
organic food. That distinction, however, breaks down in various ways ; 
for instance, the very large group of plants known as fungi live ex¬ 
clusively upon organic matter. It was also said that animals were capable 
of consuming solid food, while plants were not ; this is also incorrect. 
Animals take solid food into the mouth and stomach, but before it can be 
assimilated it must first become liquid. Insectivorous plants have the 
power of taking solid food into a structure which we are justified in calling 
a stomach. The principal families in which there are plants possessing 
this remarkable power are the Nepenthaceai, Sarraceniacese, Dioseracem, 
and Utricularias. 
THE NEPENTHES OR PITCHER-PLANT FAMILY. 
This consists of over thirty species, besides an increasing number of 
hybrids. They are half-shrubby climbing plants, natives of the hotter 
parts of the Asiatic Archipelago, from Borneo, which is their headquarters, 
to Ceylon, with a few outlying species in New Caledonia, in tropicaL 
Australia, and in the Seychelle Islands. The pitcher of Nepenthes, 
which is its most striking feature, is an appendage of the leaf, developed 
at its apex, and is furnished with a stalk, often a very long one. This 
stalk, in the case of pitchers formed high up on the stem, has, before full 
development, the power of twisting like a tendril round neighbouring 
objects ; and thus the plant climbs sometimes to a great height in the 
forests. In some species the pitchers are of two forms, one appertaining 
to the young, the other to the old state of the plant ; the transition being 
gradual from the one to the other. Those of the young condition are 
shorter and more inflated than in the old, where they are long and funnel- 
shaped. In all cases the mouth of the pitcher is furnished with a 
