April  2,  19C3.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
295 
phases  of  public  life,  and  has  for  several  yeaa-s  been  chairman  of 
the  Ecclesall  Board  of  Guardians,  ■  but  through  failing  health  is 
about  to  resign  that  position  to  the  regret  of  all  who  know  him. 
Next  week  we  hope  to  deal  with  Hollv  Court  Gardens. — W.  L. 
Plant  Propagation  Among  the  Romans. 
The  frequent  reference  made  to  gardening  operations  in  the 
Latin  classics  will  always  be  an  inducement  to  the  young  aspirant 
to  make  himself  acquainted  with  tlie  language.  No  translation 
is  more  adapted  for  his  purpose  than  that  which  he  makes  for 
himself.  Indeed,  too  often 
the  greater  number  of  ,  \ 
translations  into  our  Ian-  V 
guage  are  too  florid  and  ' 
poetical  to  convey  the 
sufficient  reality  and  prac¬ 
ticableness  they  were 
meant  originally  to  serve. 
Though  the  student  shall 
not  necessarily  add  any¬ 
thing  new  or  startling  to 
his  already  acquired  fund 
of  profes.sional  knowledge, 
he  shall,  notwithstanding, 
learn  that  which  he,  per¬ 
haps,  but  very  inade¬ 
quately  understood  be¬ 
fore — the  Romans  to  be 
in  many  things  horticul¬ 
tural,  equally  as  far  ad¬ 
vanced  as  himself.  They 
were  earnest  and  enthu¬ 
siastic  gardeners,  and, 
moreover,  loved  those 
gardens  with  ardour  and 
devotion  perhaps  not  sur¬ 
passed  by  the  most  zeal¬ 
ous  Saxon.  There  appears 
to  be  no  doubt  whatever 
surrounding  that  point. 
They  were,  in  fact,  zeal¬ 
ous  cultivators,  whether 
in  the  garden,  the  field, 
or  the  woods,  to  all  of 
which  much  of  their  time 
and  attention  was  set 
apart. 
Their  implements  were 
however,  less  applicable 
to  the  several  duties  for 
w'hich  they  were  designed 
than  are  those  of  our¬ 
selves,  with  the  result 
that  much  that  we  appar¬ 
ently  excel  over  them 
was  an  impossibility  with 
them  to  achieve.  In  a 
word,  the  Romans,  though 
being  alive  to  the  main 
principles  of  the_  arts  of 
gardening,  farming,  and 
arboriculture,  lost  much 
of  the  success  that  follows 
our  operations  in  each  or 
all  of  these,  simply  on 
account  of  their  modes  of 
operations,  which  neces¬ 
sarily  w'ere  regulated  vei’y 
much  by  the  nature  of  the  Jastninum 
implements  then  in  prac¬ 
tice.  Good  tilth,  for  in¬ 
stance,  could  not  be  so  well  ensured  as  now,  and  though  the 
energy  expended  may  have  been  not  a  whit  less  than  that  by 
ourselves  in  aiming  at  certain  results,  the  returns  must  have 
been  in  a  proportional  degree  less. 
That  the  art  of  propagation  was  early  understood  among 
such  an  enterprising  and  industrious  people  wdll  be  cause  of  little 
wonderment  to  any  who  claim  a  knowledge  at  all'  of  Roman 
customs.  This  art  must  have  forced  itself  upon  their  attention 
at  an  early  stage  of  their  industrial  civilisation.  That  it  was 
borrowed  from  the  Greeks,  like  that  of  most  other  subjects,  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe.  They  divided  plants  into  three  great 
classes,  viz.,  Arbores,  Fructioes,  and  Suffructioes — trees,  .shrubs, 
and  herbs.  These  were  propagated  very  much  after  the  fashion 
practised  by  ourselves,  by  seeds,  suckers,  layers,  cuttings,  graft¬ 
ing,  and  budding.  Pliny  says  that  the  x>rinciple  of  the  layer  was 
first  discovered  in  the  habit  of  the  Bramble  or  some  type  of 
that  family  “ex  rubo.”  Cuttings  were  inserted  sometimes  in 
the  form  of  large  branches. 
Such  branches,  however,  bore  knotty  protuberances  at  the 
point  of  section,  from  which  roots  in  a  short  time  sprang  out. 
This  practice  is  still  in  force  in  many  rural  gardens  for  increasing 
Apple  trees.  We  have  seen  a  case  where  a  new  garden  w'as 
equipped  in  this  manner  wdth  ready-made  trees,  as  it  were. 
Possibly  the  Romans  brought  this  little  art  into  Britain.  The 
Romans  held  very  peculiar  views  regarding  the  theory  of  grafting 
and  budding.  Both  Virgil  and  Columella  firmly  hold  that  these 
operations  can  be  practised  indiscriminately  regardless  of  species 
or  genera.  Modern  experience  cannot  support  such  an.  idea.  Yet 
a  similar  idea  was  not  infrequent  among  the  rural  people  of  Scot¬ 
land  at  no  very  distant  period.  We  knew  an  adept  at  grafting 
who  maintained  that 
Alder  made  a  specially 
good  stock  for  certain 
sorts  of  Apples.  Sorry 
there  now  exists  no  means 
for  proving  his  assertions. 
The  modes  of  arbori- 
cultural  propagation  were 
with  the  Romans  prac¬ 
tically  as  used  among  our¬ 
selves,  mainly  by  seed. 
The  Olive  tree,  however, 
was  divided  into  lengths 
of  12in  or  so,  and  inserted 
thus  in  cuts  into  the  soil, 
when  they  soon  sprang  up 
into  ti'ees.  (Virg.  G.  II. 
30).— D.  C. 
Jasminum  trimulinum. 
— This  is  a  new  hardy 
shrub,  which  has  re¬ 
sisted  16deg  of  frost  in 
Messrs.  J.  Veitch  and 
Sons’  nursery  on  a  north 
wall.  It  is  a  Southern 
(Yunnan)  Chinese  plant, 
evergreen  in  character, 
with  far  larger  flowers 
than  J.  nudiflorum ;  in¬ 
deed,  larger  than  a  half- 
crown,  and  will  doubtless 
be  very  free-flowering 
when  plants  become 
established.  It  was  one 
of  the  first  plants  sent 
home  by  Mr.  E.  H.  Wil¬ 
son.  As  a  pot  plant  for 
the  winter  garden  it  will 
have  a  place,  seeing  that 
its  habit  in  pots  is  dwarf 
and  bushy,  the  glossy 
dark  stems  being  amply 
-v  studded  with  the  flowers 
\  of  which  our  illustration 
from  a  drawing  gives  a 
very  good  likeness. 
Messrs.  James  Veitch 
and  Sons,  Limited,  of 
the  Royal  Exotic  Nur¬ 
sery,  Chelsea,  have  shown 
groups  of  this  newcomer 
at  a  few  of  the  .recent 
Drill  Hall  exhibitions  of 
the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society,  where  it  has 
unanimously  received  un¬ 
tinted  approbation.  They 
have  had  this  subject  for 
some  years  ;  long  enough, 
111  fact,  to  prove  that  it  is  a  vigorous  grower  and  hardy. 
Being  of  an  evergreen  character,  it  is  absolutely  certain  to 
become  a  favourite,  and  may  possibly  be  planted  in  preference 
to  the  well-known  J.  nudiflorum.  The  Floral  Committee  of  the 
R.H.S.  have  awarded  it  a  First  Class  Certificate. 
rl- 
primulinum. 
in 
Rhododendron  Conntess  of  Haddington, 
The  splendour  of  this  well-known,  handsome  greenhouse 
Rhododendron,  when  grown  to  a  large  .specimen,  is  most  worthily 
illu.strated  by  a  plant  at  present  in  bloom  in  the  well-kept 
gardens  at  Ha.v  Lodge,  Trinity,  a  delightful  suburban  resi¬ 
dence  near  Edinburgh. 
On  the  invitation  of  Mr.  “Sandy”  John.stone,  the  enthusi- 
