July 10.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
227 
altogether, as there is no chance of its getting ripe 
enough in time. With this management, and by keep¬ 
ing clown the fly, the Banksians will bloom as freely as 
any other roses that are good-established plants. Like 
most of our fruit trees, these roses require to be four or 
five years old before they bloom much; indeed, it is not 
a good sign that they flower much the first or the second 
year after they are planted, as that must be the effect of 
a weak, stunted growth the year before they were planted. 
Any of the strong evergreen climbing-roses make better 
stocks for the Banksian than the dog-rose, and as these 
will grow well on light soils, where the clog-rose could 
not hold up its head, they are more suitable in many 
places. The roses, Madame Laffaij and Mrs. Elliot , 
on their own roots, with me at this moment (1st July), 
are the most luxuriant, and the heaviest cropped roses 
I ever saw or heard of. The plants are four years old, 
standing in rows in a piece of nursery ground, outside 
the kitchen garden. This ground was taken from the 
park six or seven years since, and was little better than 
drift sand, and at twenty inches below the surface a bed 
of pure white sand lies to the depth of ten or twelve 
feet. Since then, the garden has been drained, and, 
perhaps, six inches deep of clayey subsoil, from the 
bottom of the drains, was spread all over the rose-nur¬ 
sery in the course of four years. The dog-rose will 
hardly carry a leaf in this ground, and yet all the strong 
hybrid perpetuals grow away in it like weeds, and on 
their own roots too. But there is another feature in 
the story which I am desirous of calling attention to, 
and it is this; we count from six hundred to one thou¬ 
sand rose-bushes in and about the kitchen-garden, re¬ 
serve grounds, nurseries, &c., independently of the 
flower-garden rosary; and among them are roses of all 
the classes, except climbers. Last season about this 
time, I made up my mind for an experiment on a large 
scale with these, our reserve roses, and the result has 
delighted me, and all about the place; for none of us 
ever saw so many, and such fine roses before in these 
gardens or any where else, from the same number of 
plants. The experiment was a most simple one, indeed; 
the knife never touched any of the plants for the last 
eighteen months, that is, they were pruned in October 
and November, 1849, and all the growth they made in 
1850 they were allowed to carry on to 1851, and the 
result is just what I have stated. How I intend to deal 
with them now, and for this coming autumn, I shall 
tell next week. Meantime, it will be sufficient to say, 
that as early as the beginning of last April, we could 
plainly see that the unpruned roses would come sooner 
into flower than those in the “ rosary," which were close 
pruned last November, and that they would not break 
from the bottom: that is, the bottom buds would not 
grow; Rose de Roi, or crimson perpetual, being the 
most likely to have the greatest portion of naked shoots 
below. Before the first shown roses faded, however, the 
bottom eyes began to push, and now they form a com¬ 
plete succession of flowering shoots, from an inch to six 
inches long. D. Beaton. 
GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
Another Faggot of Trifles. — Watering. — The 
superior manner in which many plants are grown in 
cottage windows, is generally owing to the treatment 
they receive from the female brandies of the family. 
Simple though it seem, the mode of applying the water 
1 pail has more to do with success, and the want of it, 
than is dreamed of in the philosophy of the take-it-easy 
I folks. If examined and looked into, four out of every 
| five cases of death and disease among plants, where the 
attendant circumstances necessary to health are come- 
at-able, are owing to an improper use of the water-pail. 
In places of any magnitude, where the gardener can¬ 
not pot and water everything himself, he is in this j 
respect, to a great extent, at the mercy of his assistants. | 
Good talents they may possess, studious they may be, j 
regular in their habits, young philosophers in their j 
lodgings; for without something of these, respectable 
men would scarcely employ them; but with all these 
omens of hopefulness, as presages and signs of the 
bright days coming, the most experienced among them 
will be the first to allow, that simple though it seems, 
nothing requires more judgment and experience than 
watering a plant when it wants it, and passing it over 
when it requires no supply of moisture. The rule has 
often been given, and the reasons for that rule fully 
explained, “ water a plant thoroughly when it needs it.” 
Let the moisture reach every rootlet fibre, then wait 
patiently until your services are again required, and 
then repeat a similar application. The mode of apply¬ 
ing the water must be regulated by the nature and 
circumstances of the plants. Thus, for tender and 
small plants, we would use a fineish rose, or a spout 
applied very gently, covering the surface of the pot 
with water, as nearly as possible in a horizontal 
position; the finer the soil, and the finer the rootlets, 
the more indispensable would this appear. Again, for 
larger plants, coarser soil, and larger rooting things, we 
would use a coarser rose, or send the water from the 
spout of the pot upon a tile or potsherd laid on the sur¬ 
face, to prevent the soil being torn up into fissures and 
gullies. But look now, and behold this specimen of a 
rose waterer; which we hope, ere long, will constitute a 
curiosity in an antiquary’s museum; though not so 
very long since he, and such as he, might have been 
studded in rows by the dozen. He has a great aversion 
to using the spout, or even a large-pierced rose on any 
ocaasion. He has been told, and quite rightly we admit, 
that the finer the drops of water, the more atmospheric 
air will a certain quantity carry down into the soil, and 
among the roots of plants;—it is quite a treat to 
observe the gusto with which he watches the descending 
dew drops, though you may note that, blinded by his 
transcendentatism, he sees not that by never moving 
his hand, these drops, however small, are making where 
they fall, a hole in the soil, upon the principle that the 
dropping fluid wears away the hardest rock,—thus I 
providing not only for an under exposure of rootlets, j 
but next to guaranteeing that one side of the pot shall j 
receive a better supply of water tlian the other; and not ! 
only so, but the veiy time required for watering large, | 
vigorous plants with such a fine-pierced rose, allowing 
that the waterer is quite aware of what he is about, 
is apt to make him pass by such large specimens with 
an undue supply, and the consequence is, that with J 
two or three inches of wet soil on the surface, the rest j 
of that in the pot, as well as the roots, might as well have | 
been in the deserts of Libya, as honoured and petted ■ 
in a greenhouse or window. On the other hand, there I 
is that reckless, dashing, spout-watering gentleman;— * 
Stand pondering over the droppings from that dewy j 
rose!—no, not lie; dispatch is the order of the day. j 
Except for things in which he may feel a spice of enthu- j 
siasm, you might imagine the railway whistle was ever j 
vibrating on bis ear. Be the pot large or small, long , 
]lotted or fresh potted, the plant rough or smooth, ; 
strong or tender, possessed of thick fleshy roots, or 
fibres finer than a lady’s hair, with straight back, 
and head erect, and spout of pot from twelve to thirty 
inches from the soil; down descends the liquid stream, j 
like a jerked avalanche from the Alps, or a run- j 
away streamlet from Niagara. True, the soil may be 
tossed out, and made to adorn the sides of pots lately | 
fresh washed; holes may be made as if a ploughshare j 
