6

On the Culture of the Rose.

305

Roses are, however, usually propagated by cuttings, by suckers, by layers, or by buds.

Cuttings of some kinds, especially of the China roses, planted in the autumn, in a shady place, and if possible under a hand-glass, strike root very easily, and, in the following year, form good plants. But roses in general do not strike freely, and must, therefore, be propagated by one of the other methods. Suckers may be transplanted either in the spring or the autumn. Laying should be performed in the autumn, and one year, or, in some instances, two years, be permitted to elapse before the layer is detached from the parent plant. If some of the branches of a rose tree be layed, and, instead of removing the layers at the proper season, their shoots be layed around them, and the same practice be continued for two or three years, a considerable extent of ground, may be covered with a thick carpet of roses.

The most valuable kinds, and those which are the most tender, as, for instance, the white moss, and the sweet scented, are propagated by buds. The stocks may be selected from any free-growing kind which does not produce many suckers, and they may be inoculated in spring, though the best season for performing the operation, is in June or July : the precise time may be ascertained by the means mentioned in the "Visitor" for the last year. This method being attended with little trouble, and no expence, is that which I should recommend for the propagation of almost every kind of rose. Every hedge will supply the stocks, and surely no one would refuse to furnish a shoot of a rose tree; and, in one year, as many plants as the shoot contains buds,may be raised. The longest and the straightest shoots of the common dog-rose, afford excellent

**For the methods of laying and budding, see the Cottager's

stocks. Some of these may be inoculated close to the ground, others at the height of one, two, three, or even eight or nine feet; in the latter case the stem being tied to a small stake, and the branches trained so as to droop towards the ground, the tree, when in flower, will have a most beautiful appearance. Two or three kinds of roses may, also, be worked on one stock, which method is very generally practised in France, The suckers and shoots from the stock must always be destroyed.

With regard to pruning the rose, it is difficult to give any general directions. It may, however, be stated that the more freely the knife is used, the more abundantly will the tree blossom. In those kinds which do not grow very tall, and which produce many suckers, the whole of the old wood which has already flowered, should in the autumn be cut out close to the ground, and the suckers shortened to the length of two or three feet. If this plan be pursued, the trees will become more luxuriant, and the flowers grow to a larger size, than they otherwise would. Those kinds which attain to a considerable height, and produce but few suckers, must, on the contrary, have the greatest part of the offsets destroyed, and their branches a little shortened, where they spread too widely. Other kinds, again, as the Ayreshire, are too weak to support their own weight, and, consequently, require to be trained against a wall, or a trellis, which, in the course of a few summers, they will entirely cover.

E. W. B.-A NURSERYMAN.

Birmingham, May 6, 1825.

GEOGRAPHY.

THE COUNTY OF WESTMORELAND.

WESTMORELAND is enclosed by the counties of Durham, Cumberland, Lancaster, and York. From

the Irish sea it is excluded by the detached part of Lancashire; and only just touches upon the bottom of that wide sandy wash which separates the two parts of that county. The name of the county is descriptive of the nature of its surface; that is, the west moor land,-a region of lofty mountains, naked bills, and barren moors, called by the inhabitants, fells. The vallies in which the rivers run are tolerably fertile; and in the north-eastern and south-western parts of the county, there are considerable tracks of cultivated land: these parts are divided from each other by high moor lands. The soil of the mountainous districts is, generally speaking, a hazel mould. In its natural state, it produces little else than a coarse benty grass, heath, and fern. Formerly the farms in this county consisted chiefly of pastures, but the high price to which corn rose in the late war, caused considerable quantities of corn to be raised, and gave great encouragement to agricultural improvements;-as the enclosing of commons and the draining of land. The farms are, in general, small. The rents chiefly arise from the sale of cattle, sheep, wool, butter, eggs and hams. The hams are cured with Liverpool salt, and hung up in wide ehimnies and dried with the smoke of peat, or wood fires. Westmoreland is noted for its grand and picturesque scenery. Its lakes, so justly celebrated, attract numerous visitors during the summer season: Winander Mere, which lies between this county and Lancashire, is the most extensive lake in England. This county has no navigable rivers. Its rivers are, the Eden, which runs by Carlisle in Cumberland, and the Lune, which rises on the borders of Yorkshire; and the Ken, which flows by Kendal, and empties itself into the sandy wash of Lancashire. The scenery on the banks of the Lune is particularly beautiful. No coals are found in this county, and the metallic ores

tuated, as not to be worth working. It abounds with slates of various sorts, much used in covering the roofs of buildings. The best of them are either carried by sea to London, Liverpool, Hull and Lynn, or by land into Durham, Cumberland, and Northumberland. The different sorts of slates are distinguished from each other by the fineness of their grain; by the thickness into which they split; by their colour and their weight: the most usual colour is blue.

Appleby, which is the county town, is an inconsiderable place. The only commercial town is Kendal, long noted for its woollen manufactories. N. C. T.

May 6,

NATURAL HISTORY.

THE SPIDER.

THOUGH We are accustomed to attach nothing but ideas of dirt and discomfort to the sight of a spider, yet, upon many accounts, it is worthy of our attention and regard; and that web, which the tidy house-wife hastens to sweep away, displays wonderful proofs of sagacity and ingenuity, and carries our thoughts from the insect we destroy, to the hand which created it. The thread, which composes the web, is drawn from the spider's own body, and consists of a fine silk. About a century ago, a specimen of gloves and stockings manufactured from it was presented to the Royal Society; but though a curious experiment, it was not found at all likely to answer any useful purpose, as the silk could never equal that produced from the silk-worm: and, had it even proved of equal value, one circumstance would always have made it impracticable to raise spiders in large quantities, which is, that the large ones feed upon the small ones. There is one use, however, to which we may apply the web, which is not generally known; it is an excellent index of the

Saving Banks.

3093

weather. When the weather threatens wind or rain, they always make the principal threads of their web short and thick: and when fine and warm, much longer so that, when we see the spider extending his work to a great length, we may believe the weather is settled fair; and when we see him adding to his web, we may conclude however wet the weather may be, that it is about to clear up. Upon the use of the web to the spider, it is needless to enlarge; because it is so well known to be the means of securing its prey but the beauty and regularity of its workmanship, is well calculated to surprize and delight the curious eye. And, when we see such wonderful powers given to the meanest of his creatures, may we not presume to hope that man, the favoured work of God's hand, may, in like proportion, be enriched with all those blessings and bounties of his love, which he has so freely promised to bestow. T-a.

(To be continued.)

SAVING BANKS.

We have always been favourable to Saving Banks, as we are persuaded that they are calculated to be of great service to the poor. A man cannot any where else get such good interest for his money; and indeed, on small sums, it is not easy to get interest at all. And, there is perhaps no way of keeping money where it is more secure, than in a Saving Bank. We know that, in one or two instances, frauds have been committed by secretaries; but these have been very rare, and, even in these cases, we trust the depositors will not lose any of their money.

We are much obliged to "A Constant Reader," for wishing such of our readers, as have money