384 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 18. 
for the rose, to grow it to the highest perfection ? Extra 
pains are taken with the soil for vines, pines, peaches, 
&c., to cause them to grow strong, and produce large 
quantities of blossom, and to swell off the fruit. Now, 
though the fruit of the rose is comparatively of little 
consequence, yet the same attention must be paid to the 
soil as though fruit were required. The rose gardens in 
Hertfordshire have a soil naturally favourable to the 
growth of the rose; and the soil has a deep, rather 
! strong loamy texture. The consequences are, this 
i flower thrives there better than in any other county in 
England. This is a fact indisputable. The doctrine is 
true, that we ought to observe the circumstances that 
attend plants in places where they thrive well, and 
endeavour to imitate those circumstances; therefore, 
] if the rose thrives well in the deep loamy soil of Hert¬ 
fordshire, we ought, to ensure the same success, to 
imitate it. If the soil be thin, poor, and light, remove 
it entirely, and replace it with good sound loam from a 
meadow, at least to the depth of eighteen inches, or 
even more, if possible. Then, in addition to this sound 
strong loam, add a good dressing of well-rotted cowdung. 
Turn the soil over, and mix the dung with it thoroughly. 
This should be done about the month of September, or, 
at the farthest, by the middle of October it ought to be 
finished. This gives a little time for the soil to con¬ 
solidate by the time the trees are ready to be planted— 
that is, when the leaves begin to turn yellow. 
Planting. —The season for this operation depends in 
a great measure upon the mildness of the autumn. 
Numbers of perpetual and hybrid varieties continue to 
grow and flower till a severe frost puts a stop to them. 
It is a very good plan, where practicable, to go to 
a nursery when the roses are in bloom, and, whilst 
there, to mark the trees intended to be purchased at the 
taking-up season. By so doing, good, handsome trees 
will be secured, as well as the best-formed and highest- 
, coloured flowers. In choosing them, regard must be 
had to the intended mode of planting, and the way they 
; are to be arranged. If a garden of roses be formed in 
! the manner described in our last, the trees will be 
i planted in three rows on each side of the walk. The 
row on the north side should be the tallest—say five- 
and-a-half feet from the ground to the place where the 
bud has been inserted. The row next to that should 
be a foot-and-a-half lower, and the front row a foot lower 
than the centre one. The three rows will then be 
respectively five-and-a-half feet, three feet, and two feet. 
Then the rows on the south side of the walk should be, 
the first, three-and-a-half feet; the second, two-aud-a-lialf 
feet, and the third ; one-and-a-half foot. The reason for 
having these rather lower than the others, is to admit the 
rays of the sun more freely to the whole, which woidd 
not happen so well if the south side trees were so tall as 
those on the north side. As nurserymen work their 
roses of various heights, the required sizes may be easily 
procured in any quantity. 
The trees having been fixed upon, let them be taken 
up as soon as the wood is ripe, and carried home, 
securely packed (the roots in damp moss, and the tops 
tied well together), as quickly as possible. Unpack 
them, and if tire roots have become dry, dip them in 
puddle. This is made of fine earth and water mixed 
together, to the consistence of batter, in a hole in the 
garden. Dip three or lour together in this puddle, and 
them lay them in the earth by the heels till they are 
planted. Take only a few out at the time, and expose 
the roots as little as possible to the parching winds. 
Stretch a line, five feet from the hedge, the whole length 
of the back row, and with a spade mark the place for 
each tree, leaving a space of seven or eight feet between 
each, then bring the trees, four or five at a time, lay 
one to each place, and dig a hole large enough to allow 
room to spread the roots equally out on all sides. Do 
not, by any means, plant them deep, that is, only 
cover the roots nearest the surface about two or three 
inches with soil. If it is thought desirable to mix the 
colours, attention must now be paid to that point; 
also, let summer roses and autumn roses be judiciously 
mixed; this will give a show of bloom in every part of 
the garden through the season. Paying due attention 
to these points as the planting proceeds, let the work 
go on as quickly as possible till the back row is finished, J 
then stir up the soil that has been trampled upon a few 
inches wider than the next row, stretch the line again, 
six-and a-lialf feet from the back row, and proceed with 
the second ; plant the trees in this row exactly opposite 
the centre of the space between the trees in the back- 
row. Do the same with the row next the walk, and 
then plant the south side. This will complete the ope¬ 
ration, excepting staking. Stakes are needful, especially 
the first year or two, till the trees are firmly established. 
T. Appleby. 
( To be continued .) 
ON SEEDS AND THEIR GERMINATION. 
If we take a leaf out of that most instructive of all 
books, the Book of Nature, we shall see that our treat¬ 
ment of seeds is, in many cases, at variance with the 
practice there given; so that the successful result of our 
labours is more due to other circumstances than to the 
mode we treat the seeds. But, to make our meaning 
more clear, let us examine a wild plant (say a weed), 
luxuriating and flowering with all that vigour and 
beauty which none but a botanist can see; let us 
witness that flower fade — the pod or capsule protects 
the seeds until they have arrived at that degree of 
maturity necessary to enable them to nourish another 
plant while in its infancy. Now, this same seed-pod, or 
other receptacle, continues its services up to the time the 
seed is shed on the ground, which is generally done in 
dry weather, and the first rain usually sets the future 
crop in motion ; or, if that ground should happen to be 
moved, so that the seed which at first was deposited on 
the surface becomes now buried, perhaps several feet in 
the earth, still that seed retains its vitality there, and a 
re-exposure to a position favourable to its development 
witnesses it start into life. 
We all know that pertinacious weed, Charlock, is no¬ 
where to be seen when the farmer ploughs his land, and 
sows his “Lent corn,” but a walk over the fields in April 
displays this pest luxuriating in all its vigour, though 
then it may perhaps be a little behind the corn in ap¬ 
parent size, but its more rapid growth soon puts it on a 
footing with the more legitimate crop; so that the mid¬ 
dle of May finds it displaying its gorgeous flowers in 
triumph over its more useful neighbour. Well then, if 
no means be taken to eradicate this encumbrance, (and 
it is difficult to do so entirely) it ripens its seed so. But, 
be it remembered, a considerable part of this seed clings, 
with a pertinacity common to such things, to the pods or | 
stems which produce it, and sutlers itself to be carried 
and deposited elsewhere, and what does fall on the 
ground does not always vegetate if it be dry, but is often 
buried by the first ploughing after harvest, vegetates 
the following season, when the plough again brings it 
near enough the surface, but, it is true, a part of those 
so self-sown vegetate at once, if the season and other 
things suit them. But “nature” provides a second 
sowing in those seeds which still adhere to the parent 
plant, and which are so kept in reserve as to just be 
sown in time to perpetuate the crop of the following 
year. So well does the attentive farmer of some of our 
southern counties know this, that in fallowing his land 
in the early part of summer, he rather wishes for moist 
weather to “ start this pernicious weed into growth,” 
