THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 8. 
174 
never been beaten by any one yet; ancl although be 
sells thousands of worked Roses every year, he is too 
cautious a man to venture on a public competition with 
worked Roses; at all events, no one with worked Roses 
has been able to surpass him with unworked ones. But 
the first grand refutation of Rose-stocks which came 
under my own eye, was when listening to a gardener 
and a private grower, in a dispute as to whether a pillar 
Moss Rose before us was ten or twelve feet high ; it was 
neither; for on measuring it with a twelve foot rod, it 
proved to be just over eleven foet, and it was four feet 
across at the surface of the ground, and in full bloom 
down to the grass. And the very last assurance 1 had 
that stocks are worse than useless for some Roses, if not 
I to Moss Roses, was on seeing the Souvenir d'un Ami in 
I Mr. Lane’s collection at the show, when I could not 
! believe him, or my own eyes, but what the plant was 
! worked all the way up on side-branches of the Dog 
j Rose, and then trained as a Pyramid, like a Pear on the 
Quince ; and I had to scramble up on the stage, to get 
| hold of the shoots before 1 could be convinced tliat the 
plant was growing on its own roots. If all the world 
were to make up its mind not to buy more worked 
Roses from this day, such united strength could not 
carry out that resolution. Hard cash is a stronger 
agent than all the strongest minds put together. Here 
is how the thing would go ; all the worked Roses now 
on sale would be a dead loss to the dealers, and bv the 
time they could get up afresh supply on the Roses’ own 
roots, what with time and war taxes, they could not sell 
them under double the price now charged. 
We must work our way into unworked Roses by 
degrees. I began the system, last spring, for the first 
time, by asking Mr. Jackson to get me two particular 
Roses, for a gentleman, on their own roots, that they 
must be established in 32-pots, and not less than three 
years old; the gentleman being quite willing to give 5s. 
each for such two Roses. Well, Mr. Jackson could not 
find them among all the trade with whom he dealt. I 
then got hold of Mr. Lane’s Rose-grower and manager, 
at one of the meetings in Regent-street, and he told me : 
that five guineas might get such two plants, but he could 
! not be certain. They were to be Devoniensis and 
j Souvenir d'un Ami , and they were for the gentleman 
who thinks so well of Pius the Ninth, for upholding the , 
ancient practice of budded Roses. 
! In every order for dwarf Roses, let so many of them 
be asked for on their own roots, aud we shall soon hear 
from the advertisements, and from the Rose catalogues, 
where to go to shop. This is better than forcing on a 
resolution all at once. 
Summer Rose-cuttings. —The summer is the best of 
all seasons for out-door cuttings of all Roses. That 
kind ot cutting which Mr. Fish so earnestly recom¬ 
mended is by far the best—“ little stnbby shoots,” or ! 
side-shoots from the main branches, almost four inches 
long, and with a heel. For summer work, I like the 
| joint between the last and this year’s growth, as much, 
or better than a hard heel. The old authors seldom 
j speak of cuttings without mentioning “ a joint of the i 
last year's wood;” so that my preference comes in 
i between the old and the now practice of merely cutting 
under a joint. The cuttings must be trimmed and 
planted two inches deep, in very sandy compost, and 
with a little sand on the top, for tidiness. They must 
be put in very firm, and be well watered at once, and in a 
few hours after that cover them with the glasses, and 
they do not require very much water for a long time, 
although they may appear dry on the top. It is good 
practice to give them very slight waterings about twice 
a-week, to keep the air moist about them, and the sun 
must be kept from them very carefully ; but I do not like 
a perfectly shaded place for Rose-cuttings; it is better to 
J use paper capes for the glasses at first. D. Beaton. 
A FEW THINGS TO BE NOW THOUGHT 
ABOUT. 
AZALEAS. 
“ My Azaleas have finished blooming; what should I 
now do with them? I have no pit nor forcing-house." 
The first thing is rather a tedious job. You must bring 
activity and patience alike into exercise. Get a man 
regularly initiated into the love of doing the necessarxj 
among plants, and, however sanguine his tempera¬ 
ment, a patient perseverance will, ere long, become 
an article of his creed. The plants, no doubt, have 
flowered in dense profusion, aud from each of these 
flowers there will be, if not previously removed, the 
juttiug-out parts of fructification, unless you wish to save a 
few seeds—which, however, as a general rule, you had 
better leave to nurserymen, and the raiser of new kinds— 
every one of these must be closely removed from their 
base, so as to leave no portion of a withered leaf, and as 
little as possible of the flower-stem. A sharp-pointed 
pen knife, or a small-pointed pair of scissors, such as 
is used for thinning Grapes, will answer admirably for 
this purpose; then every withered and decaying leaf 
should be removed. Little of the syringe should be given 
to the plants whilst in bloom, as, if the water was not 
particularly limpid and pure, however gently the bloom 
was dewed, a discolouring of the delicate colour would be 
apt to take place. Now, each plant should be lashed by 
the syringe without stint. Do not, however, soak the 
roots, but lay the head in a reclining position, so that 
the water may run off, turning the pot round and round, 
that not a part of leaf, or stem, escape the washing. 
Then, if your plants are thoroughly healthy and clean, 
you may use for this purpose the cleanest water you 
can procure. 
The thrip is the great enemy of the Azalea, aud if 
there is the slightest trace of its appearance-—seen 
at once by a glazed whitish look on parts of the under 
side of the leaf—I would recommend a lashing, fre¬ 
quently repeated, of clear soot and lime-water, which 
you can easily brow, by putting a quart of soot and a 
quart of new lime into a barrel, adding to it a gallon of 
water, working all into a paste with an old scrubby j 
broom, and then adding from tw r enty to thirty gallons 
of water to the decoction, and waiting a day or so, 
when, after removing the scum at the top, the whole 
would be as clear as the most beautiful triple X, or the 
nicest sherry. To err on the safe side—if there was no 
sign of thrip, I would advise using this several times, , 
as a measure of prevention, performing the syringing in 
the evening, and to be followed with clear water the 
following morning, unless the plants were kept in the 
shade. If the thrip should have uumistakeably made 
its appearance, or if there was the smallest appear¬ 
ance of the red spider, then I would advise a stronger 
application, such as recommended some time ago for the 
Vine mildew, but to be used with caution. By referring 
to a previous volume, the minutiae of preparation will 
be found. For the sake of fresh readers, I will here 
simplify its main features. Take a pound of flowers of 
sulphur, and a pound of quick lime powdered, add them 
together, with sufficient water to make a paste, add a 
gallon of water, put the whole in an iron kettle, and 
boil twenty minutes, stirring all the time. Then take 
the pot off the fire, and allow the contents to settle, 
and pour off the clear liquid into a bottle, alias \ 
“greybeard,”—and mark it, that no one may mistake 
it, in a hurry, lor brandy or rum. Boil the residuum 
again, if you like, with a similar amount of water; but 
the second decoction will be less strong than the first. 
About half a gill or quartern will be sufficient to place in 
a pot with three gallons of water, and at this strength it 
becomes a valuable wash for all plants troubled with 
thrip, spider, and other insects; and, if not given i 
