THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION. —July 15,1856. 
j bed round each Rose-tree, a yard in diameter, and four 
inches above the level of the grass. Generally, when 
I standard Roses are thus planted, there is from a foot to 
i eighteen inches free from grass, and below the level of it, 
so as to take the watering. Now, and all my lifetime, 
I have been thoroughly convinced in my own mind 
: that this was only a rude and unartistie expedient, 
1 forced on us because Roses are so thirsty, that to raise 
them on circular mounds, as they do the fancy trees at 
the Crystal Palace, and, I hope, in all other places, 
would be little short of madness ; for then all the water¬ 
ing in the world would only prove what the Horticul¬ 
tural Society, in their daft experiments, proved in the 
first Rose-house at Chiswick ; that is, proved the death 
and destruction of every Rose so “ operated ” upon. 
Then, to get rid of the ugly hole for ever, and to be able 
to cultivate the Rose-tree on grass, as the Rose tree 
requires to be cultivated, wherever it is, the scheme of 
pincushion beds is exactly the “ balance of power ” 
I between good and bad cultivation ; between the rude 
attempts of the middle ages, and the present knowledge 
of “ common things and you have the flowers as the 
second bird down by the hit. 
The philosophy of the thing stands thus:—All the 
! cultivated Roses like a cool, moist bottom, but no standing 
l wet; and all the standard Roses on grass ought to get 
a good spadeful of right rotten dung every winter of 
i their lives, and as much water in summer as will keep 
’ the space occupied by the roots constantly moist. The 
i present hole in the grass system can only allow a make- 
1 believe in all those essentials, and no more ; but adopt 
| our pincushion bed round the Rose plan, and you are 
master of all the details of Rose culture on grass, for 
which Mr. Rivers will, no doubt, send a handsome con- 
i tribution to the “Experimental,” and pay carriage to 
j boot, or to London, if not right on to Surbiton, 
t The manner of doijig the thing is this :—The Itose- 
■ trees, perhaps, are planted on the grass already; but you 
may know, from the rusty-brown leaves, that they are 
three parts starved. Open the grass in a circle of a 
yard across round each Rose, then scrape off the soil 
carefully till you find the roots. When you find the 
roots, pour two large watering-pots full over those of 
each tree, supposing that you are doing the work as 
soon as this is printed; then put two or three inches of 
very rotten dung all over the roots; water again with 
the rose put on the spout of the watering-pot, and pat 
down the dung with the back of the spade. Now, the 
dung is just level with the grass, or nearly so, more or 
less, and you must keep it out of sight. Any good light 
garden-mould will do to cover the dung; let it be full 
J three inches deep, or rather more; and, to keep up the 
sides from the grass, you must use an artistic edging to 
! give dignity to the whole. What we use is the best and 
cheapest burnt brickbats, and whole bricks of a dark 
grey colour, such as are too much burnt in the making; 
S but stones would be as cheap, or cheaper in many 
places, and stumps of larch poles or of any other poles 
; would do if cut into six-inch lengths and sharpened at 
one end, to be driven down two or three inches close to 
i one another all round. The soil is as high as the top 
of the edging—ours is four inches high, and quite level 
on the top, or rather, with a hollow towards the stem of 
the Roses. Three nice Tom Thumbs, and three equally 
good Calceolarias out of about 48-sized pots, will fill one 
of these beds except the edging. As we do not go quite 
close to the Rose stem, Oenothera prostrata, all the little 
blue Lobelias, Campanula fragilis, Oarganica, and two 
or three more of them, and many more such “ tit bits ” 
will do for edgings. 
Again, Flouer of the Dag, all by itself, or Lee's 
Attraction, or Gain’s Attraction, or Mountain of Light, 
or Kinghorn’s Countess of Warwick, or Annie, both ex¬ 
quisites for pincushions; or, again, for a plainer col¬ 
lection, take Glowworm, or ILarkaway, or Baron Hugel, 
or Tom Thumb, and make one bed of any of them, 
and the opposite bed with the other, and see the 
difference without an edging; or, to come to the dandy- 
f cation, use only a selection of the best bedding Querci- 
folinms, Diaclematums, and such-like. 
If your garden is too dry, or too wet, or too heavy 
for this class, make the pincushion bed accordingly'. It : 
need not be more than three inches deep if your soil is j 
J very stiff and damp, and the compost may be poor or j 
i rich: it is just like making a bed inside a sieve or a tar I 
barrel. No dwarf plant that is at all suitable for beds 
will come amiss here; but they should all be very choice, 
1 and ought to be considered the cream of the place. 
Next winter, and every winter, when it is dry, empty 
out every one of these beds, and mulch the Roses afresh ; 
after that, let them always have it in winter. Mix what 
remains of the old dung with the top soil, and that will 
do for some years, as you only put it on, as it were, to 
| hide the dung, merely planting to hide the mulching. 
Very shallow flower-beds want much water in dry 
weather—the more the better for the Roses, as every 
watering gives them a fresh feast from the dung. 
Crocuses in spring, choice annuals in May, and late pro¬ 
pagated choice plants for summer; but the “ Chronicles” 
will enlarge on the subject. D. Beaton. 
SOIL FOR GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 
All hair-rooted small-leaved plants like heath-soil, 
kept open with good drainage, and an addition of pure 
: sand. Owing to a want of definiteness in terms, there 
| is often a mistake made as to the quality of this heath, 
peat, or bog earth. Properly speaking, bog or peat is the 
, astringent vegetable substance formed of decayed vege- 
; table matter under wnter, and generally used as fuel. 
Heath-soil is decayed vegetable matter, mixed with 
sand, disintegrated rock, &c., formed on high, exposed 
grounds, where the native Heath generally flourishes. 
; Most plants will rather like a portion of this, so far as 
mere growth is concerned. For many it would be too 
open; and a closer, denser soil is required, to cause 
i them to make short joints and to bloom freely. As a 
general rule, all hair, fine-rooted plants, and all those 
with fine, Heath-like, needle foliage, require this heath- 
soil and manure-water, but in weak and small pro¬ 
portions, and even this heath-soil kept open by pieces 
of broken brick, broken pots, and broken sandstone, 
and little bits of clean charcoal mixed with the com¬ 
post, and plenty of silver sand, to make the whole 
light and easily permeable by water. The hardier and 
stronger section of these hair-rooted plants will flourish 
according to their vigour, if they have from one quarter 
to one half of good fibry loam added to the heath- 
| soil. Many of the strong-growing Azaleas and Heaths 
will prefer this to heath-soil alone. Almost every plant 
cultivated in a greenhouse will flourish in such a mixed 
; compost of heath-soil and loam. Heath-soil, however, 
j is often difficult to obtain, and hence Geraniums, Cal¬ 
ceolarias, and the generality of greenhouse plants are 
frequently grown without it. The best substitute for 
I it are dried nodules of leaf-mould, or small pieces of 
old, hard cow-dung mixed with the soil, along with 
i pieces of charcoal, and enough of sand to keep all 
open. For common purposes, and in loamy districts, 
nothing answers better than the soil obtained from 
banks and ridges, thrown up by the sides of the high¬ 
way, consisting generally of the loam of the adjacent 
fields and the ground flint of the roads. All dung , 
used in compost should be old, dry, and well decayed. 
If not, and strength is required, it should be applied \ 
as surface dressings, instead of mingling with the com¬ 
post. Beginners will act most safely in surface dressing. \ 
