242 THE COTTAGE GARDEN Eli AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 26, 1859. 
its flowers are pure white, large as an Anemone—larger, in fact, 
than any other species, and having, as the name implies, eight 
petals. It is a native of Peru, and was introduced some twenty 
.wears ago. 
Bat the Begonia has other recommendations of which we have 
not yet spoken—the exquisite beauty of its variegated foliage, 
and the facility with which it can be hybridised. It is only 
about three years since Hex astonished the world, and now it 
is to be met with in almost every garden you visit, either in Eng¬ 
land or on the Continent. It is a market plant, purchasable for 
a few pence in all large cities from Paris to Moscow, from London 
to St. Petersburg!!. By crossing, it has already given rise to an 
almost innumerable progeny of vegetable genus. To develop the 
beauty of these variegated Begonias to the utmost, three things 
are necessary—heat, moisture, and shading. Let us mention a 
few of the best of this class. 
!B, splendida , young leaves like crimson velvet,' but the plant is 
apt to become ugly as it reaches a large size. The variety called 
Ji. splendida argentea is not open to this accusation. It is really 
a magnificent tiling, a pink tinge shining through the silver of the 
foliage. 
-8. Griffithii (still called picta in some gardens), is one of my 
greatest favourites, the various zones of colour are so beautifully 
shaded the one into the other. 
JB, xanthia .Heichenheimii , green hands follow the principal 
Veins, the spaces between pure white. 
JB. xanthia lazuli , leaves copper coloured, shining with a 
beautiful metallic lustre. 
JB. xanthia pictafolia, leaves copper coloured, with distinct 
large white blotches. 
B. Queen Victoria, raised by Makay, the Belgian nurseryman, 
very delicate ; the leaf milky-white except a margin of green dots, 
ancl a few about the centre. 
JB. Prince Troubeizlcog, apparently a cross from laciniata, very 
distinct, the leaves dark in the centre, pea-green towards the 
margin ; footstalks and underside reddish. 
JB. argentea, the upper surface of the leaf quite white; ex¬ 
ceedingly delicate. 
JB. regina, only one stop removed from Hex, the bands of 
colour being rather more shaded off. In the same strain are 
Miranda, Madame Wagner, and argentea guttata, which are 
scarcely distinct enough from each other. 
JB. amdbilis, the bright banded leaves very glossy and shining. 
There are many others which have been raised more recently, 
of which the merits are less known, as only small plants are 
generally met with. Those most highly spoken of are nebulosa, 
Ajax, nobilis, Victoria (different from Queen Victoria), grandis, 
and others.— Kael, 
ALOES versus APHIS. 
The aphides are evidently in possession of the battle-field. 
I would recommend the vanquished to try a lather of soft soap, 
of sufficient consistency' to clasp round the entire column of the 
enemy, and stick upon them. 
Any belligerent had better experimentalise with it before using 
it to any extent ; as, if too strong, it kills the end of the shoot, 
otherwise only the insects. 
I took the idea from Millar years ago, who recommends soft 
soap for the American bug. 
It should be just dropped on the tip of the shoot with a 
feather.— K. 
[Try Gishurst Compound—2 ozs. to a gallon of water, and 
repeat the application.] 
the hildersheim rose. 
The following is an extract from a letter received by Mr. 
Rivers from a Leipsic correspondent 
“ Respecting the Hildersheim Rose bush, I was sorry to hear 
you were already over the corrections of your Rose book, as the 
material lately forwarded me by a Hildersheim bookseller is very 
interesting, though, as most German things, tremendously long 
and ponderous. Tho pith of the two poems and four pages 
(written) of descriptive matter reads thus :—When Charlemagne 
had conquered the territory belonging to the original Saxons, 
several foreign potentates hastened to show him marks of esteem 
and respect, and' amongst others the schoolboy’s old friend, 
| Master Ilaroun A1 Raschid (whom my poet designates Kaliph of 
the Persians on the Euphrates), who, as a slight token ot his ad- 
j miration, made Charlemagne present of the land of Canaan, and 
! as a symbol of his authority, forwarded to him by the ambassador 
a purple banner, on which were embroidered the arms of Canaan 
— six roses on a golden field. Charlemagne, however, instead ot 
being polite and thankful for Haroun’s friendly feelings, would 
not accept of Canaan, asserting that he wa3 not desirous ot merely' 
increasing his possessions, but more especially of re-establishing 
the faith, and rendering his subjects happy. What liappehed to 
the banner, or the ambassador, the poet has forgotten to say j 
l but he closes his lay by mentioning that Charlemagne planted a 
Rose on the spot (ground) to commemorate the event, and to 
| prove that this ground was always to be kept sacred and holy. 
“No efforts seem, however, to have been made to carry out 
Charlemagne’s intentions ; for my second poem informs us that 
Louis the Pious at a later period came to the district of Hilder* 
sheim on a hunting exclusion, and after having caught and slain 
his wild boars and other game, ordered mass to bo held in tint 
open air, at which all his hunting retinue were present. The 
officiating priest on returning to his habitation, and just as the 
court were commencing their repast, missed the holy iintigtS 
(most likely he means here the cross) ; and after searching in vain, 
proceeded on his way back to the place where the open-air mass 
had been held. It was becoming dark, and in his hurry and fear 
he seems to have partly lost his way ; when lo! his eye lighted 
upon the cross resting on the branches of a wild Rose bush, 
lie immediately hastened forward to regain it; when, wonder of 
wonders, the cross stuck to the Rose bush, and eluded his grasp ! 
After several ineffectual clutches, the priest felt sure that some 
heavenly power had been interposed, and he (the priest) there¬ 
fore forthwith ran to the court, and roused up the pious Louis 
to visit the wonderful sight. Tlie-whole court rushed forth, and 
on approaching the Rose bush, and without daring to touch the 
cross, fell on their knees and gave thanks to God for His greatness. 
Moreover, Louis the Pious ordered the present cathedral of 
Hildersheim to be built over the same Rose bush, and ever since 
the organ has borne the burthen of the Almighty’s praises, and 
the choir upheld the memory of the pious Louis’ name. 
“ The two preceding legends are referred to by many German 
writers; and the second one is pointed out by the brothers 
Grimm and Dittmar, ns also several other notabilities. Be this, 
however, as it may, Dr. Grashof,- of Hildersheim, adds the fol¬ 
lowing remarks :— 
“ ‘ The roots of the Rose tree are buried in a sort of coffin- 
shaped vault under the middle altar of the crypt, which said 
crypt is proved by known documents to have been built in the 
year 818, and to have survived the burning of the other parts of 
the Hildersheim Cathedral on the 21st of January, 1013, and 
the 23rd of March, 1046. It is remarkable that the chronicles 
of the town and chapter make no mention of any harm having 
befallen this Rose tree, which for centuries has been considered 
one of the lions of the district. The vault itself is open to the 
entrance of wet from the outside, and this is put down as a proof 
that the Rose bush could not have been planted after the ca¬ 
thedral was built. 
“ ‘ The trunk of the Rose tree, eleven inches in diameter, is 
conducted through an opening in the wall (the wall being five feet 
thick), and then reaches outside some inches above the surface of 
the ground, from whence two older branches (almost two inches 
in diameter), and three younger arms spread out, and with their 
twigs and leaves cover a space of twenty feet in height, and 
twenty-four feet in width, being arranged on to a sort of iron 
railing on the eastern round side of the vault. 
“ ‘This Rose tree has been an object of especial attention to the 
chapter from the erection of the cathedral; and botanists attri¬ 
bute its present size to the fact of its being sheltered from frost 
and storm amongst the different buildings and cloisters of the 
cathedral, and from human touch by trellis work. Bishop Hepilo, 
1054-—1079, had the Rose tree carefully spread out on tho outer 
wall, built by him, and placed in the archives a record of this, ns 
also a description of the massive vault built under the high altar 
in the crypt for the reception of the roots. The opening in the 
wall through which the trunk passes was made about 1120, 
when the former plain wall was rounded. This tree was in such 
esteem in the thirteenth century, that a statue of the Yirgin 
Mary wa3 commenced (but not finished) of pieces of the stem ; 
and before this, which was destined for the high altar itself, tho 
vassals and servants of the bishopric were obliged to pay homage 
to the newly-endowed prelate.’ 
