238 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, January 6, 1857. 
PRUNING THE LAMARQUE ROSE AND WISTARIA 
SINENSIS. 
“ ‘ A Constant Subscriber ’ will be obliged by answers to 
the following queries :— 
“ 1. On the south wall of my house I have a Lamarque 
Rose planted. It is five or six years old, and two years ago 
was nearly killed by the stupidity of a man, who cut it down 
to within three feet of the ground; but, although it appeared 
almost dead, I took it in hand myself, and have succeeded 
in saving it by means of soap-suds and liquid-manure twice 
a week, so that now I have the satisfaction of seeing six or 
seven fine shoots, three of which reach nearly to the top of 
the house, being from twenty-five to thirty feet in length, 
the remaining four being about ten or fifteen feet long. 
Should these shoots be left their whole length or shortened? 
and if so, how much ? A hint as to the future management 
of the tree when the shoots send out laterals will be very 
acceptable. 
“ 2. On the same wall, at its south-east corner, I have, a 
Wistaria planted, which has been trained, if I may so call it, 
espalier fashion, that is to say, the shoots have been trained 
horizontally along the south and east walls respectively, the 
main shoots being about eighteen inches asunder, and 
numerous laterals emanating therefrom. Will you kindly 
instruct me as to the pruning of this climber? Should the 
laterals be cut back to two or three buds to form spurs ? or 
how should they be managed ? 
“You will also oblige by mentioning the best time for 
pruning both the Rose and the Wistaria.” 
[1. “ The stupidity of the man” ought most certainly to 
be written in gold letters, and in so many sets as would 
supply every potting-shed in the three kingdoms, where the 
feat could be seen by the rising generation. We have said 
a thousand times over, that the world is now so learned that 
you can hardly meet with a man who does not know 
how to treat a climber for the first half dozen years of its 
life. But look here, and you will see that a Lamarque Rose, 
four years old, was cut down to the length of three feet from 
the roots because it did not run up fast enough, and in 
two years after it “ran” the distance of from twenty-five 
to thirty feet, and liquid-manure gets all the credit instead 
of one-sixth. The whole secret is as plain to us as anything 
can be. Had this Rose been “ cut” in the more usual way 
it would not be so high in seven years, if all the sewerage in 
the world was given it. A correspondent, some years since, 
had a whole Ivy wall, from which the Ivy parted in a gale, 
after clinging to it half a lifetime. He was recommended 
by the philosophers to “ hook it up.” He wrote to 
The Cottage Gardener, and we said, “ No, not for the 
world; cut it right off to the ground.” So he did, and in 
a couple of years it was finer than ever. The way to manage 
this Lamarque Rose for some years is to allow the longest 
shoots their full length, except about thirty inches to be cut 
off the ends about the first week in April, and to cut in the 
side brauches from these twice a year, at the beginning of 
July and any time in the spring. Cut them according to 
their strength from thred to six and to ten inches. All 
but two or three of the shortest shoots at present to be cut 
on your Lamarque this next April, and after that to keep 
only one of the lower main shoots on this system, the 
object being to keep the lower part of the wall furnished. 
2. You are quite right; that is exactly the proper way to 
train and prune the Wistaria, the only difference between 
it and a Pear-tree being the greater distance between the 
horizontals. Any time from October to March will do to 
prune it.] - 
GETTING RID OF FLIES. 
“ The verandah in front of my house is covered with 
rough plate glass, and has a southern aspect, and during 
the last autumn attracted swarms of flies, which became a 
complete nuisance, and I could not get quit of them. On 
inquiry I was told that branches of Walnut-trees hung up 
would drive away the flies, as they dislike the scent of the 
leaves. I have accidentally found a passage in ‘ Doctor 
Antonio,’ p. 1<J9, which appears to meet my case. He says, 
4 A complaint from the same quarter of flies being intolera¬ 
ble, he caused large bundles of a common viscous plant 
( Erigeron viscosus, Linn.), dipped in milk, to be hung up in 
all the rooms and the balcony, which attracted all the flies, 
and freed her at once from one of the plagues of Italy.’ 
I cannot, however, find this plant named in The Cottage 
Gardener’s Dictionary, and shall feel obliged if you can 
tell me whether it can be procured, or if it is likely to effect 
my object, or if any remedy can be applied.— Dibindale.” 
[Erigeron vicosus is the same as Inula viscosa, under 
which name you will find it in The Cottage Gardeners 
Dictionary. Miller says it is used to drive away fleas and 
gnats, the strong scent, as some suppose, being disagree¬ 
able to those insects ; but it is probable that they are caught 
by the clammy juice of the leaves and stalks. The old 
English names of this plant are the Great Sweet Fleabane 
and Great Fleawort. Gerarde says that “ the lierbe burned 
where flies, gnats, fleas, or any venemous things are, doth 
drive them away.”] 
THE HOLY THORN. 
“ A young lady of my acquaintance, a native of Hereford¬ 
shire, has lately been poking fun at me. She affirms, and 
stoutly maintains, that there are in that county certain trees, 
called Holy Thorns, which possess the peculiar property of 
opening their blooms on the night preceding Christmas-day, 
and at no other time. No matter whether the weather has 
been mild or severe, this wonderful plant always flowers 
true to the time. Now, I have been for the last seven years 
constantly engaged in different gardens, and have never 
noticed that any miraculous suspension or counteraction of 
the laws of nature has taken place in the case of any plant, 
and, consequently, am very much inclined to doubt the truth 
of this statement. I hope to obtain reliable information upon 
the subject from some of the contributors to The Cottage 
Gardener.—B. Bincoft.” 
[Surely you cannot have been in gardens for seven years 
without having heard of the Glastonbury Thorn, said to 
have sprung from the walking-staff of Joseph of Arimatliea, 
and which became a tree where he struck it into the ground 
when he rested on the ground where Glastonbury Abbey 
was subsequently raised. You may give credence to as much 
of this narrative as you please, and we will not contradict 
the young lady who poked fun at you ; but we will say that 
we never knew a Glastonbury or Holy Thorn which opened 
its flowers punctually on Christmas-day. We have seen 
many in bloom about the time of that holy anniversary, but 
they were retarded or advanced by the variation of the season. 
The Glastonbury Thorn is only a variety of the common 
White Thorn, and is called by botanists Cratcegus oxyacantha 
pracox. We believe that the Christmas-blooming Thorn 
was a comparatively recent invention of the monks of 
Glastonbury. It is not mentioned by any of the Saxon 
chroniclers, although they minutely enter into the history 
of the Abbey. The first writer on plants who refers to it is 
Turner, and he speaks of it uncertainly. In the second part 
of his “ Herbal,” published in 1562, he says, “ In Summerset 
shyre, about six myles from Welles, in the parke of Gassen- 
berry, there is an Hawthorne which is grene all the wynter, 
as all they that dwell there about do stedfastly hold.” He, 
therefore, did not know accurately the habit of the tree. 
Even Gerarde, some years later, was incredulous; for he 
says, writing of the White Thorn, “We have, in the west of 
England, one growing at a place called Glastonbury, which 
bringeth forth his flowers about Christmas by the report of 
divers of good credit, who have seen the same, but myself 
have not seen it, and, therefore, leave it to be better ex¬ 
amined.” Parkinson, in 1640, writes more certainly as 
follows:— 44 It grows at Glastonbury Abbey, and in High 
Street, or Whey Street, in Romney Marshes, and near unto 
Nantwiche, in Cheshire, by a place called White Green, 
which took the name, as it was thought, from the white 
bushes of Thorns, which there they call greenes.”] 
TIME TO BEGIN FORCING THE SECOND CROP 
OF STRAWBERRIES. 
“ When would be the proper time to bring the second or 
next lot of Strawberries into the forcing-house, say we began 
on the 1st of December to force the first lot? We have put 
twenty-five of the Sir Harry. Do you think them plenty at 
a time ? Our family is not very large, there being only five 
