3G7 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March 19, 1861. 
most suffocating. I have nothing to do with the paper prepa¬ 
rations of tobacco—saturated, in many cases, with treacle, I 
believe; at all events, susceptible of fraud, and injurious to 
delicate plants. 
I w iU hereafter, with your permission, describe my mode of 
fumigating standard Rose trees and other shrubs in the open 
air.—S. M. ^ 
DUMONT’S INSECT POWDER—STOCKS POR 
ROSES—STRIKING ROSE CUTTINGS. 
Dumont’s Powders I have tried on a very small scale, as, 
luckily, I could only find one Calceolaria and one Rose in my 
greenhouse that had aphis on them. The result was, all the 
aphides were found in a few hours apparently dead on the mould. 
The plants have not been syringed, and the leaves are perfect. 
The application is effected simply by pressing the ball with the 
hand, and dusting the plant with the Powder. 
In a former Number you mention Descartes as a stock for 
Roses. What Rose is this ? I have long used the Due de 
Cazes—a most vigorous Rose and an excellent stock. It has no 
thorns to interfere with budding, and answers admirably. Can 
my Due de Cazes be Descartes ? The flower is a light blush 
and a Perpetual. I had it many years ago from Garraway’s, at 
Clifton, Bristol, where it was much used. At all events, I can 
strongly recommend a trial of it as nearly equal to Celine. 
I quite agree with Mr. Rivers’ remarks on the Manetti, that 
it should be budded low. From my experience it answei’s then 
best, but not when budded much above the ground. 
You mention the forcing of Roses now in order to strike 
them. It would be of great service if you could name a few that 
bear forcing well. Are Tea Roses adapted for it ? 
Can you give any reason why two of the most beautiful Roses 
known are now hardly ever found in the modern catalogues— 
Joan of Arc, H.P., and Amandine? I suspect that the reason 
is, they are hard to bud, and so do not answer to the nursery¬ 
men ; but few, if any, of the modern Roses, in my opinion, are 
■superior to them. But amateurs making a collection should insist 
•on having them.— An Old Subscriber. 
, [All the Tea, China, and Noisette Roses, without one exception, 
may be gently forced in the spring to make young shoots for 
cuttings, just as was said of Rosa odorata, and the same as is 
•done now with Verbenas and other soft-wooded plants. Very 
young tops of all these Roses are now, and have been, made these 
forty years last past, and struck as freely as Verbenas, but not 
in quite so short a time. 
Two-thirds of the Bourbon Roses submit to the same ride 
and practice, and more than one-third of the Hybrid Perpetuals 
the same. All this, however, be it remembered, must be in the 
hands of good practical gardeners. A true Rose grower would 
consider his calling a libel on his fame and fortune if he could 
not force any Rose, and strike the young tops from cuttings. 
The old Rose du Roi, or La Perpetuelle, alias Lee’s Perpetual, 
is the hardest Rose to strike from cuttings in our books. But 
Mr. Burcham, the great Rose grower at Bungay, told us in 
1851, that if we and our friends would club together and order 
two thousand of that one Rose from him, he would undertake 
to strike them all from cuttings that winter and the following 
spring, to be ready to plant out in May on their own roots.] 
THE SCIENCE OE GARDENING. 
(Continued from page 288.) 
DEATH AND DECOMPOSITION. 
As in the animal creation the period of life varies from a few 
Rours in the ephemeron, to hundreds of years in the tortoise, so 
among the vegetable tribes, though it is circumscribed to a few 
months in some of our annuals, yet it extends to centuries in 
the Oak, the Chestnut, the Wellingtonia, and the Adansonia. 
But however varied in space, each has its limit of existence; 
and death, though its inroad may be delayed, finally effects a 
conquest over all. 
Now, what is the death of a plant? and though this query 
admits of the ready answer that it is a want of the power to 
vegetate, though the requisites for vegetation are present, yet 
one question more difficult of solution follows upon this reply— 
| What is that power of which death is the negation? and 
.although neither the chemist nor the physiologist has ever 
succeeded—probably never will succeed—in penetrating further 
than to an acquaintance with the phenomena of that power, yet 
these we have already seen are intimately connected with the 
gardener’s art, and the phenomena attending its absence are 
well worthy of his study. 
iSome of the phenomena of that power which is justly called 
vegetable life, have just been traced through the development of 
parts—the circulation of the sap, the progress of growth, the 
indications of sensation, and the inroads of disease. We will 
now trace the phenomena of the plant’s decline and final decay. 
The first symptom of that decline is a deficiency of the usual 
annual development of parts. A permanently lessened produc¬ 
tion of shoots, or leaves, or fruit, or all of these, becomes appa¬ 
rent ; and this non-production arises from a diminished power 
in the roots to imbibe, and of the vessels of the stem and branches 
to impel, the sap. 
Thus Hales always found that the two, three, and four-year- 
old branches of trees imbibed water with much greater force 
than those of greater age; and that young vigorous Vines 
usually exuded their sap with much greater force than the older 
and less robust. So we have found that our annuals, such as 
the Dwarf Kidney Bean, Mignonette, Clarkias, and others, im¬ 
bibed water with more than twofold rapidity when in full bloom, 
than other plants of the same species and size did in the autumn, 
though they were still growing and verdant. 
Now, what is the cause of this deficient power—this decline 
of vigour ? There appears little doubt that it is the exhaustion 
consequent upon the production of seed. Scarcely an annual 
exists which usually dies at the close of the season, after ripening 
its seed, but may be made to retain a vigorous existence if its 
inflorescence be removed as speedily as formed. Mignonette is 
a very familiar example; for this may be allowed to bloom, but 
if its flower-stalks be cut down before the seed-vessels are 
perfected, it becomes woody and shrubby, and will live and 
bloom for three or more successive years. If allowed to ripen 
its seeds, it dies the same autumn. The common Nasturtium is 
an annual; but the double Nasturtium, says M. De Candolle, 
has become a perennial, because its flowers, deprived of the 
faculty of producing seeds, do not exhaust the plant, and it is 
probable that every annual rendered double by cultivation will 
become a perennial. 
This explains why fruit trees are weakened, or rendered tem¬ 
porarily unproductive, and even killed, by being allowed to ripen 
too large a crop of fruit, or to “overbear themselves,” as it is 
emphatically termed by the gardener. 
The thinning of fruit is, consequently, one of the most im¬ 
portant operations of the garden, though one of the least 
generally practised. On the weaker branches of the Nectarine 
and Peach, an average space of nine inches should be between 
each brace of fruit, and on the most vigorous wood of the most 
healthy trees they should not be nearer than six inches. This 
enforcement of the importance of thinning fruit is not intended 
to be confined to the two trees specified ; it is equally important 
to be attended to in all other fruit-bearers, but especially the 
Vine, Apricot, Apple, and Pear. It should be done with a bold, 
fearless hand, and the perfection of that which is allowed to 
remain will amply reward the grower in the harvest time for the 
apparent sacrifice now made. But he will not reap his reward 
only in this year; for the trees thus kept unweakened by over¬ 
production, will be able to ripen their wood and deposit that 
store of inspissated sap in their vessels so absolutely necessary 
for their fruitfulness next season. 
The berries of the Grape Vine are best thinned from the 
branches with a sliai’p-pointed pair of scissors, care being taken 
to remove the smallest berries. This increases the weight and 
excellence of the bunches; for two berries will always outweigh 
four grown on the same branchlet of a bunch, besides being far 
handsomer, and having more juice as compared with the skins. 
The average weight of the bunches on a Vine may be taken, 
when ripe, at half a pound each, and with this data it is easy to 
carry into practice Mr. Clement Hoare’s excellent rule for pro¬ 
portioning the crop to the size of the Vine. 
If its stem, measured just above the ground, be three inches 
in circumference, it may bear 5 lbs. weight of Grapes. 
inches.10 lbs. 
4 . . . . • . ». 15 
....... 20 
5. . . . • . «. 25 
And so 5 lbs. additional for every half inch of increased cir¬ 
cumference. 
