1871. ] 
PICEA BRACTEATA. 
75 
cultivator will grow roses very well on either stock, provided with the Manetti 
he exercise constant vigilance to keep in check the shoots of the stock, which 
are ever springing into life. On poor dry soils where roses on their own roots and 
on the dog-rose are kept in condition with difficulty, the Manetti stock has some¬ 
times been found a boon. 
Two feet apart is a good distance at which to plant Dwarf roses, whether 
in beds or rows ; some few of the very strong-growing kinds may require more, 
and some of the weak-growing kinds, less room. Dwarf budded or grafted roses 
may be planted with advantage either in autumn or spring ; I should consider 
the former season generally preferable. 
In exposed situations Dwarf roses are preferable to standards, because being 
close to the ground, the leaves and flowers are not so likely to be torn by the 
action of the wind; in this form, too, they are more easily protected from both 
wind and frost. There is nothing special in the cultivation of the Dwarf rose. 
The general remarks on the Standard or Tree-Rose (Chapter II., May, 1870,) are 
equally applicable here.— William Paul, Pants Nurseries , Waltham Cross , N. 
PICEA BRACTEATA. 
[LTHOUGH we have had this magnificent Silver Fir in cultivation for a 
good many years, a healthy free-growing specimen is seldom met with. I 
do not state this merely from my own experience, for I have frequently 
heard cultivators say, “ Picea bracteata is difficult to manage : we cannot 
do anything with it.” Certainly if we look around us, we find much to give force 
to this conclusion. At first it was imagined that suitable soil and a warm situation 
were the only conditions necessary to command success—a fatal mistake. Ac¬ 
cording to these notions, we had it planted in a low situation fully exposed to 
sunshine, and well protected against cold sweeping winds, the very worst place 
that could have been chosen, simply because the plant begins to grow so early, 
earlier than any Picea with which I am acquainted, unless it be P. Webbiana. 
The buds are at all seasons very prominent, and the bracts being large and fleshy, 
they retain during damp weather no inconsiderable amount of water, consequently 
the frost destroys the point of the shoots year by year. This successive nipping 
prevents the formation of a leader, and keeps the plant within a few feet of the 
ground, more like a stunted furze-bush than anything else. For several years 
we found no amendment, till one day I happened to visit Coombe Wood nursery, 
in company with the late Mr. James Veitch, when I mentioned this circumstance, 
and he at once replied, u No Conifer grows more freely than Picea bracteata 
when properly treated ; give it a high situation, no shelter of any kind, no coddling, 
expose it to every blast, and success is certain.” At the same time, he pointed to 
a plant situated at the highest part of his Nursery, which confirmed all he had 
said. As soon as the season would permit, we had our plants removed to a very 
exposed situation, the side shoots were cut back, and the best trained as a leader, 
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