I 
33G 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 4 . 
man of those days. These were suffered to grow freely 
the whole summer, and at the next winter’s pruning 
were, according to nursery technicality, “ spurred-in,” 
that is to say, they were all, except the head, pruned 
back to a single eye or so; the head formed out into 
about four shoots, as nearly as possible at right angles, 
these shoots being shortened to some four or five eyes. 
I well remember having a debate with our ground- 
foreman about the propriety of the practice. In my 
youthful conceit, 1 could not get rid of the idea that it 
would strengthen the tree to prune all side-shoots away. 
I was, however, met with the answer, that they were 
left one year longer to strengthen and give consistence 
to the stem; of which fact now I cannot possibly hold a 
doubt. Now, why not apply this doctrine to the tree 
Rose? I have seen it sometimes practised, and am 
willing to promote it myself, but surely such does not 
generally obtain. And, if a promoter of strength in the 
main stem, is it not a promoter of durability of consti¬ 
tution also? 1 think it a safe and certain inference. 
My opinion is, that much of the shortness of life*, com¬ 
plained of occasionally in the tree Rose, is chargeable 
here. No sooner is a stem produced than it is made a 
mere vehicle, before half solidified, for the transmission 
of juices between the root and branch ; and 1 do think 
that our fear of this spurring system would invest this 
stem with very superior powers in regard of durability 
of constitution. 
We sometimes meet with miffy Hoses, and not in one 
or two sections alone; that is, Roses which cannot be 
induced to make wood freely, and which will, neverthe¬ 
less, push wild shoots, in a free way, from the head, if 
suffered so to do. Doubtless, it is customary to prune 
these clear away; but I have found that, in many cases, 
it is good practice to suffer the wild shoots to grow un¬ 
molested until past Midsummer, when they may be 
pruned. These wild shoots possess much greater re¬ 
storing powers than the lean and debilitated old head 
which it is sought to restore; and I have found this 
practice good enough to recommend in severe cases. 
It is almost unnecessary to advise that all suckers be 
constantly kept under. R. Emungton. 
BANK GROVE. 
This mansion is near Kingston; and when I called 
here, last April, to see the extensive collection of 
Camellias in bloom, and more particularly the finest 
plant of them in the world, Camellia reticulata, I was 
so struck with, the Rosary, that I asked permission to 
call again at the proper time to see the Roses in bloom, 
and to report on them and other things which I could 
not then compass. This was readily granted by the 
kind and liberal owner, W. Byam Martin, Esq. Bank 
Grove was celebrated for Roses in Sir John Broughton’s 
time ; and for specimen plants of them, it is, perhaps, 
now the first Rose-garden in England. I never saw 
such pillar Roses before, or in such profusion, or better 
bloomed. What would you say for a pillar Rose sixteen 
feet high, clothed down to the grass, where it is eight 
feet in diameter, as regular in outline as a pyramid, 
and flowering from top to bottom, as regularly as if the 
Ruses w r ere put on by hand; every leaf in a whole 
rosary as green and shining as could be, and not a fly 
or blight to be seen on a surface that would cover some 
acres, if that surface were reduced down and divided to 
the dimensions of plants in an ordinary rosary! Coupe 
de Hebe, perhaps the best of all Roses for a pillar, is 
here in abundance, at from eight to twelve feet high, 
and that is generally the common height of scores of 
pillar Roses, both in the regular rosary, which is in 
circular beds on the grass, and in avenues along some 
of the walks. In these avenues the pillar Roses stand 
five feet from the walk, and twelve feet between pillar 
and pillar, and in each case the pillar looks as if the 
particular Rose was growing on its own roots; and there 
is another form of pillar Rose that I never saw before, 
and I believe was never yet mentioned in print; but now, 
after seeing how Roses have been managed here, it is j 
difficult to believe that the Rose world, so to speak, has | 
gone on so long without adopting the plan generally, j 
T think the introduction of the strong-growing hybrid ! 
Chinas must have been the origin of this style. We j 
all know how difficult it was, at first, to get these to J 
bloom freely; if they were pruned, they flowered not; , 
when left alone without pruning they went out of 
shape,.or there was no known shape into which they 1 
could be trained so as to give the full complement of j 
flowers. At last, the great rose-growers themselves j 
suggested that they should not be pruned at all, farther i 
than cutting-off mere points, and thinning-out old wood 
with the very strongest and the weakest shoots; and 
something to that effect is a standing annual paragraph 
in the Rose catalogues. Well, instead of this, these 
hybrid Chinas, and all the other very strong-growing 
Roses that were brought in on tall standards, have 
been given an original cast, and trained up as standard 
pillars, which is the right name for them. Now, a j 
standard pillar Rose will not come in appropriately in j 
every situation, nor, generally, in any situation, 1 be¬ 
lieve, except one, and that one is often repeated in this 
garden, and the thing is managed so well, that I am 
almost sure it will come to be universally adopted in all 
good rosaries as soon as it is made known. 
Eirst of all, let us suppose a standard of the strong¬ 
est of all hybrid Chinas, Blairii, No. 2. The stem 
is from four to five feet high; and what is to be done 
with it after two or three years? Nine people out of 
ten say it cannot be grown as a standard at all—it 
is too tender, and must have a wall; or it is too some¬ 
thing else, or double that, and more to the bargain ; 
but, somehow or other, it is in a bad plight in very 
many places, and a short liver in others. Here, how¬ 
ever, it is the healthiest of Roses; does not require a 
wall or fence; and lives as long as any of them; it is 
also the highest pillar Rose in the garden, being just 
sixteen feet above the grass, and in magnificent bloom; 
and as a standard—that is a pillar standard—it is as ma¬ 
nageable as a Spong’s Rose. Now, if this Blairii can be 
grown thus as a standard, and so live as long as other 
Roses, and also look as healthy as it did in 1830, when 
it first came out, surely no one need fear trying any 
of the hybrid Chinas, or any other strong grower just in 
the same way, and that way is in the centre of a circle 
bed of Roses; ten feet ought to be about the diameter j 
of the bed; the height of the stem, or Wild Rose, is, 
say five feet from this; a regular pyramid Rose may 
lawfully rise up to just twenty feet if one chooses; but ' 
any height will do. 
Here, where the subject has been studied with 
great care, under all forms and governments for j 
some years, they have come to a final settlement ! 
on the heights and diameters of pillar Roses ; the \ 
height., they say, must be governed by individual taste, 
by the nature of the soil, and by the constitutional 
habit or strength of your Rose, and may be anything 
above eight feet; but there is a law to govern the 
diameter at the bottom, and that says, whatever the 
height of the Rose pillar may be, the diameter of it at 
the bottom should be as nearly as possible one-half the 
height; then, on that principle, a bed ten feet in 
diameter, as above, will carry a pillar Rose twenty feet 
high. The circular beds in this rosary that are devoted , 
to this kind of pyramid are chiefly nine to ten feet in 
diameter, and planted thus—a tall standard in the 
centre, the head of it trimmed up as a pyramid, and the 
highest of this class is twelve feet high; then four or 
