414 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 29. 
every fruit ought to commence, at least, that change 
called 'ripening; and that such period varies in the 
i same kind, from different situations, and in different 
seasons. Many collateral circumstances effect this 
difference; such as the period of setting in the 
blossom ; comparative amount of rapidity in the first 
I swelling; position in regard of inseot enemies ; amount 
of light received by the proper foliage of the tree; 
1 aggregate amount of heat in the vicinity of the foliage, 
i &o. These, any or all, combined, will be sure to exer- 
I cise a warping influence, both on the period of ripening 
and the flavour, as well as the appearance. 
It will be seen by this, that the Pear question is 
a somewhat awkward one to grapple with, and as to 
quality in the fruit presenting many anomalies. But, 
to return to my text. I may here advert to Pear 
gathering as a matter of importance. We all know 
that to allow fruits to remain too long on the tree is 
to run the risk of a short period of use, and, perhaps, 
that condition termed sleepiness; and to gather them 
prematurely, is to risk deficiency of flavour and pre¬ 
mature shrivelling: between these points, then, we 
must steer our course. If we must, indeed, err, as to 
our superior keeping Pears, let it be, I say, on the score 
of over-ripeness, if such a tiling be possible with keeping 
sorts. Indeed, many of these, in our northern parts, at 
least, need to hang as long as frost will permit them. 
Easter Beurre, however, and the Altliorpe Crassanne, 
are exceptions, and so, above all, is Williams's Bon 
■Chretien, wbjch must bo gathered long before ripe. 
Table Apples should not hang long alter they have 
acquired their full depth of flavour and a mature 
appearance outside; they will lose in briskness if kept 
too long on the tree. Darkness in the room is a most 
essential thing, aiid the means for ventilation should he 
provided irrespective of light. R. Ebrington. 
ROSE-CUTTINGS. 
I met Mr. Lane and Mr. Paul together, one day, after 
I wrote so strongly about having Roses on their own 
roots; so, as there wore two of them, and no one with 
me at the time, I managed to keep on the other side of 
the way, lest they might he disposed to wage active war 
upon me. Not wishing them to believe, however, why 
I happened to he across the road at the time, when they 
nodded, I nodded too, and asked them plainly, “ What 
about the Roses now ?” One of them said “ All light— 
All right;’’ the other replied by saying, “ Go-a-head; you 
will have your own way.” 
So, I am quite safe from two of the heads of the llosc- 
growers, but my next door neighbour, the best Rose- 
grower in Surbiton, told me, soon afer this, that it was 
disheartening to him, as an amateur, to ho told that 
Roses ought to he on their own roots, after they had 
| made up their collections already so satisfatorily on the 
; different stocks generally in use. He spoke something, 
i also, about a communication on the subject for The 
Cottage Gardener. Of this I must put him in mind 
I again, for the subject is too good to lose an inch of it. 
; Last week, a carriage was announced at the door, and 
j after squaring myself a little, I went out, and had a long 
I consultation, which ended by one of the ladies saying, 
| that the purport of the visit was to know the exact time 
I when Rose-cuttings should be made in the autumn; 
that the Rose-cuttings which Johnny, the under-gardener, 
put in last October twelvemonths, at such a place, had all 
rooted and wore then in fine bloom, hut, that there were 
only half-a-dozen kinds; and that if October would do 
i for other Roses, as well, it would suit them better, as 
I they were going out for a while. 
1 said, the latter part of September, and all through 
October, was about tho host time; hut when one knew 
how to choose the right cuttings, any time, from the 
beginning or middle of August, was equally good; so we 
parted. A few days afterwards, I went down to see 
‘‘Johnny’s Ruses, and they were very fine, certainly, 
hut not too close together. They are William Jesse, 
Madame Luff ay, Souvenir de Malmaison, Geant des Bat- 
taillcs, and two other kinds, hut their names I could not 
read, with abundance of Gloire de Itosamene, which will 
strike in all seasons, in the dead of winter as well as in 
June. 
Now, it so happens that I saw “Johnny" making 
and putting in those very cuttings, and as lie hardly 
lost a single cutting out of the lot, his way must answer 
with all Johnnies, at least, and with others as well, if I 
am not mistaken ; for when I rang the bell, and in¬ 
quired about the Rose-cuttings which were planted at 
such a time, my lady’s maid, a pretty little black-eyed 
Susan, stepped forwards, and said, she ought to know 
best about these cuttings; that “Johnny” never put a 
foot into that garden from that day to this, and that she 
ought to have the credit of them, for she believed the 
old gardener never looked at them at all, and no blame 
to him either, for if Jie was not fit to make Rose-cuttings 
before a hoy like him, he was not fit for his place ; but, 
she added, with increased energy, “ I do not See why 
they make such a fuss about llose-cuttings, or Gera¬ 
niums either, for 1 am sure I could make them myself 
as well as Johnny; at any rate, if I was once shown, as 
he was; and I know I can do them after that without 
any trouble.” 
Well, I took the maiden at her word; made one Tom 
Thumb cutting to show her how, and one Rose-cutting 
also; planted both, and cut others, which she made and 
planted, then and there, out in the open border, and in 
a row along the side of the walk, that she might not get j 
on the ground when looking after them. No glasses, 
“ no nothing,” hut the hare border and tho open air. 
But will the cuttings grow ? I think they will, certainly, j 
Now, if this lady’s maid, who, as I have heard tell, 
was only a child till she was past fivo-and-twenty, ac¬ 
cording to her lady’s opinion, and “Johnny,” who was 
hut a “ mere hoy,” according to the new propagator's 
account, could, and can, grow Rose-cuttings at this rate, 
surely full-grown people need not hesitate to try their 
bauds at growing Roses from cuttings, and this is just 
the right season to begin ; for if any of the cuttings fail, 
it will be seen in time to try again and again before the 
season is out for planting such cuttings. 
1 rom tho middle to the end of September, I believe to 
he the best time to put in liose-cuttings on the follow- j 
ing plan ; hut I have put them in from the first of j 
August to the end of November, the first and the last 
being free-growing Bourbons. Those put in early in 
August would root before the winter, and the later ones 
not before the end of April; they would require protec¬ 
tion with houghs in the winter, and to he left in the ! 
same place till the following October or November. The 
early ones to be taken up and potted, and kept in cold 
frames as soon as they were rooted, hut sometimes not 
till the spring following. In that case they would need 
shelter in hard frost. 
Two things are essential to success for this way of 
growing Rose-cuttings:—Not to plant them on a north 
or shaded border; and not to place hand-glasses over 
them, unless they are under a north wall—even then, 
T should he afraid to use glasses, because they are so 
liable to cause damp. An east aspect is the best for i 
them, whoie the sun could reach them till ten or eleven i 
in the forenoon. 
To put glasses over any cuttings, in the sun, without 
hottom-heat under them, I hold to he tho very next ' 
thing to madness itself. Even a rooted plant suffers, in 
the long run, if the top-heat is kept at 20° above the 
bottom-heat—much more a cutting ; and that would j 
