The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-03-05 00:00:00

MISCELLANEA.

Remarks on Rose Sfocks.—The dog rose (rosa canina)
is the kind of stock which is so extensively employed for
roses in the nurseries of this country. It is almost exclu-
sively used for standards and half-standards, and to an
unlimited extent for dwarfs. All things considered, it is
greatly superior to any other stock ; with the exception
of a few, which shall be hereafter noticed, most classes
will grow well upon it. Provins, Gallica, Moss, Hybrid
Provins, Alba, Hybrid China, Hybrid Bourbon, Damask,
Austrian, damask perpetual, Hybrid perpetual, with many
of the free-growing Bourbon and Noisette kinds, will
grow vigorously upon it. Many of the delicate varieties
in the two latter classes, as well as a few sorts scattered
through the others, will, however, not succeed upon this
stock. The Manettii stock claims attention next. It
stands at the head of all cultivated stocks (not, of course,
including the above), and is very superior to the crimson,
Boursault, Celine, &c. Its good properties consist in
its free, vigorous, and continuous growth ; in this latter
property it is superior to every other stock, continuing to
grow until it is stopped by the winter's cold • it also ripens
its wood well, becomes hard, firm, not subject to decay,
nor are the shoots gross and pithy. The Crimson Bour-
sault stock should be used with caution. I am aware
that some growers speak highly of it, and have used it
extensively, but it is nothing more than a good nursery-
man's stock • namely, one on which delicate roses will
grow beautifully for a time, but on which they will soon
perish. Celine is a very vigorous growing Hybrid China.
Mr. Rivers considers it to be the best stock for the Cloth
of Gold, and it suits many others equally well. Duc
Decazes is a vigorous-growing Hybrid Bourbon, having
many good qualities to recommend it; namely, free
growth, firmness, and solidity of wood.—John Saul in
the Journal of the Horticultural Society.
The Wild Rose.—Wedelius, in a treatise " De Corona
Christi spinea," has honoured the wild rose, or Rose
canina, by supposing it to be the plant with which Christ
was crowned ; and also that it composed the bush in
which Abraham caught the ram, and that in which the
angel of the Lord appeared to Moses as a flame. See
" Physics Sacra." Sandys found the wild rose growing
plentifully near Jerusalem ; and Chandler saw no other
tree or shrub within the walls. The dog-rose had, by the
instruction of an oracle, the honour of pointing out the
site for the city of Locies. See " Hillier's Hierophyticus."
—Gardener's and Farmer's Journal.

Berberis Asiatica for Hedges.—About eighteeen years
ago I received a packet of seed of Berberis asiatica, from
which I raised about one hundred plants. After keeping
them two or three years in the nursery, I planted them
out singly in different situations, both at Kellerton and
Holmcote. The plants grew vigorously, were allowed to
take their natural growth, and in a few years in the latter
place began to seed. Being near the sea, the late spring
frosts did not kill the blossoms ; and from those plants
we have now for several years obtained many pounds of
seed, the plant being upwards of fourteen feet high, and
as many in diameter. From the commencement of their
ripening with us the seeds have been sown annually in
drills, or broadcast in beds, in the open ground, about the
first week in March, in a light soil, letting them remain
in the above situation until the spring after. I then plant
them out in the nursery in rows, about fifteen inches from
row to row, and about six inches from plant to plant. In
two years they make fine strong bushes for permanent
situations. Finding the plants to be free growers, nearly
evergreen, and very strong, and raising many thousand
per year. I began, by the desire of my employer, to plant
them out for hedges, and they succeeded particularly
well, either planted on banks or on the bare surface. The
latter I can highly recommend for dividing allotments in
cottage gardens, the berberry being free from mildew, and
it can be kept clipped with shears or shorn with a reap-
hook to any width required. When planted on a bank it
makes a beautiful hedge, by cutting out with a knife the
very luxuriant shoots about twice a-year to within an inch
or two from whence they grow, allowing the side and weak
growth to form the hedge. I have a hedge at Killerton
so treated, which has been planted upwArds of 12 years,
and at this time it is not more than four feet high, and
about the same width ; and with the same treatment it
can be kept to the same size. I should recommend, in
planting hedges, to keep the plants a foot apart, and, if
the hedges are to be kept shorn, in a single row ; but if
to be kept in the more natural growth, plant two rows,
not more than one foot apart, and the plants the same,
but put in alternately. When strong, this berry is proof
against any cattle. Last spring I planted a stout bush
in the deer-park, without protection. They have battled
it with their horns, but they have not killed it. It can be
planted nearer a fence, where cattle have access, than any
shrub I know.—Mr. Craygs, in the Journal of the Hor-
ticultural Society.—[This is a very valuable suggestion.]

OPERATIONS FOR THE WERE.
Stove Conservatory, 10.—Most of the stove plants will
be benefited by a timely examination, and, if necessary,
a good shift, using a good .fibrous compost of heath soil
and hazel loam. Many greenhouse plonts are now bloom-
ing, and should be brought forward in the conservatory,
so as to increase the show of blossoms as much as possible.
Flower Garden.—lf not already done, go over the bor-
ders, and remove all the dead flower stalks left from last