Marc 6, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
195 
example of a strong garden wall, suitable for any position and per¬ 
fectly safe undtr any exposure.—E dward Luckhurst. 
(To be continued.) 
ROSES N1PHET0S AND SAFRANO. 
Being under the impression that Niphetos was one of the most valu¬ 
able Tea Roses grown I was greatly surprised at Mr. Bardney’s abuse of 
it (page 104). We find it free-blooming and as strongly scented as any, 
and being white it is of more value than any other variety, unless we 
except Mardcbal Niel. One good bloom of Niphetos is worth four 
Fig. 42. 
Safrano buds. To prove this I send blooms of Niphetos, Catherine Mer- 
met, and Safrano, the former at the present time being, as you will find, 
as sweetly scented as any of them.—W. Iggulden. 
[The blooms of Niphetos are quite as sweet as the others and much 
finer, but we cannot regard any of them as particularly fragrant. There 
Fig. 43. 
are more blooms of Niphetos sold in London at the present time than of 
any other Rose.] 
ECHEVERIA RETUSA. 
This useful free-flowering winter plant is of easy culture, and 
propagates freely from offsets taken with an inch or two of heel 
when the plants have flowered, and inserted singly in GO-size pots 
filled to the rim with an admixture of nearly three parts light loam 
and one cf leaf mould, with a dash of sand. They will root freely 
if then placed on the staging over the front pipes in a vinery and 
damped oveihead two or three times a day with the syringe when 
the house is being damped, which, the plants being succulent, will 
be sufficient to keep them fresh until they have emitted roots, when 
they should have water in the usual way when necessary. When 
the plants have partly filled the cutting pots with roots they should 
be shifted into 48’s and stood on silted coal ashes in a frame in a 
warm aspect, and kept close for a few days, being syringed on bright 
afternoons, until the plants have made fresh growths, after which 
the frame should be ventilated freely on all favourable occasions, and 
sashes tilted a little at night. About the middle of July remove them 
altogether, which will not only afford the p'ants head room but also 
cause them to make a sturdy growth ; moieover, the plants as they 
increase in size should have more room given them in the frame. 
Upon the approach of frost they sheuld be removed to a pit or 
house where they could have plenty of light and air and a minimum 
temperature of 40° or 45°, which, with a rise of 10° or 15° during 
the day, would enable them to commence floweiing about Christmas, 
and continue in flower for three or four months onwards. The 
plants, however, may be had in flower if necessary five or six months 
by introducing a small batch into the forcing house in October and 
at short intervals till Christmas. 
From the time the plants commence throwing up their flower 
spikes they should have liberal supplies of weak liquid manure three 
or four times a week to the roots. The Eeheveria under this notice 
is a valuable house and conservatory decorative plant, as it is also 
to cut from, inasmuch as the flowers, which are of a deep orange 
colour, Hyacinth-like in shape, and borne in trusses on the top of the 
spikes, owing to the nature and substance of the footstalks, keep 
fresh in water for several days after being cut. Specimens from 15 to 
20 inches high and nearly a foot through, and which have been 
grown in the manner indicated in this paper, are at the present time 
round the edges of the staging in the conservatory very effective 
intermixed with Primulas, Cinerarias, Hyacinths, Cyclamens, and 
Ferns.—H. W. Ward. 
HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 
Grafting .—Many sorts of Pears so often prove worthless owing to 
some defect of soil or climate that the planting of a given list of sorts 
that answer well in another locality frequently causes much vexatious 
loss of time. The stations are prepared, the trees planted, trained, 
pruned, and brought into condition for bearing fruit, which after all is 
unfit for anything but stewing. In all such instances do not destroy the 
trees, but re-graft them with some sort that has answered well in your 
garden. This may be done as soon as the sap is in motion, with wood of 
last year’s growth that has been kept plump and fresh for the purpose by 
being thrust into soil on the north side of a building ox wall so as to keep 
the buds dormant as was advised a month ago. This grafting is to be 
done upon the branches and not on the stems, each branch being shortened 
to a foot or less from its base according to its position. For example, the 
lower banches of a pyramid sheuld be left twice as long as those near the 
top ; but the branches of a standard or bush are reduced to an uniform 
length. One scion is inserted into each branch either by cleft or whip 
grafting, the first being preferable for large, and the last for small 
branches. Any favourite method may be followed if only due care is 
taken to make the inner bark of the scion and stock meet, to bind them 
together securely, and to exclude air from the point of union by covering 
it with grafting wax or prepared clay. By thus grafting upon the 
branches a tree is brought into full bearing in half the time required for 
the development of a new stem and branches. Old trees in a state of 
barrenness, wfith stem and branch intact, and with thick, soft, healthy 
bark, become wonderfully fruitful if the branches are shortened mode¬ 
rately and a graft inserted in each of them. The best guide in shortening 
the branches is to remember that the growth of the scion is required 
solely for the production of fruit, and therefore it must be kept well out 
in sunlight and air away from the interior of the tree, which forms an 
admirable support and foundation for it. There are few more pleasing 
sights in fruit culture than old trees so rejuvenated. We have had such 
complete success with the plan in cur own practice that we heartily 
commend it to the notice of our readers. Grafting young nursery 
stock is so clearly a matter apart from the duties of a private garden that 
it is unnecessary to explain the process here. 
FRUIT-FORCING. 
Peaches and Nectarines. —Earliest House .—The fruit having set 
