play at one time, or a regular succession of flowers? If the former, lower the temperature of the house gradually, and run a thin canvas over the glass to create a slight shade. This will give the buds longer time to expand, and the flowers will be increased in size, improved in colour, and last longer. A continual succession of flowers may be obtained by removing the plants, at different stages of forwardness, to a house with a lower temperature, where they get the sun and air. It is plain that the time of flowering will be regulated by the temperature of the house; and plain, also, that the finest flowers will be produced if a moderate degree of heat be maintained. Has our treatment, then, guided, as in some measure it must be, by the state of the weather without doors, caused them to flower by the end of February, or is it March? Whichever it may be, here they are, delighting us with their gay and varied colours, and shedding around a delicious perfume. The Rose in bloom in winter, too! Truly, this is a charmed flower. Here is a pause in the process of cultivation; the Amateur has breathing time. He has only to see that his favourites do not suffer from drought, and all will go on well. But an active mind, which the cultivation of flowers usually engenders, will find plenty of amusement in attending to his plants out of doors. Besides, is it likely that a house of forced Roses should be known to exist without drawing the proprietor's friends, or some anxious connoisseurs, around him? And here is one charm hanging over the pursuit: not only does the votary of floriculture derive, from the purest sources, a calm and intellectual enjoyment, but he is at the same time enabled to exhibit the science, in its most pleasing dress, to those around him. When the flowering is over it is advisable to remove the summer bloomers. Do not take them at once from the forcing-house and place them out of doors, for the sudden change would prove injurious. Gradually harden them, by help of a cold house, if standards, or a pit, if dwarfs. When the summer kinds are removed, fresh plants, kept in reserve for the purpose, may, if the Amateur wish, be brought to fill their places. The autumnal bloomers may, however, be treated somewhat differently their shoots should be cut back to three or four eyes with good leaves, and they will give forth a second crop of flowers in grand perfection during April and May. At the time they are cut back, it is well to remove a little of the surface soil, replacing it with well-pulverized manure. After April, very little fire heat is required for the forcing-house: indeed, if the weather be warm and sunny, none is needed. After the second flowering, the admission of air should be gradually increased for a few days, when the plants may be re-potted and removed from the house. In the operation of potting it will be found necessary to shake away a portion of the soil, sometimes using larger pots, and sometimes others of the same size: the old pots should not be used again till they have been washed or well rubbed out. After potting, plunge the plants in an airy and sunny situation, where they may remain till required for forcing the following year. Having been early excited, they will be disposed to rest early; and thus are obtained specimens in the best condition for forcing. I have observed plants, which have been forced for several years in succession, cease growing about Midsummer, and shed a portion of their leaves shortly afterwards. If, from much rain, the bark and soil become thoroughly moistened, they are aroused, a second growth occurs, and the best wood is lost. To prevent this, the plants should be pruned so soon as the wood is matured, and the pots laid on their sides under a north wall or fence. The Autumnals removed from the forcing-house in May will, if suffered, produce flowers again in September and October. But this is working them rather hard; and if we are anxious to secure good plants for the next forcing season, the flower-buds should be nipped out so soon as formed, and all gross shoots stopped back or destroyed. It is the shoots formed after the first flowering that we are looking forward to for fine flowers the next year, and the eyes on them must be kept dormant. Roses thus treated will flower well forced several years in succession. It is not intended to be expressed that Roses newly-removed from the ground will not bear forcing. If worked on the Dog-rose, or any free stock, they do not absolutely require to go through the preparatory course recommended for plants on their own roots. If taken up early in September, they may be forced the first year with success, as far as regards the flowers, although they do not form regular and handsome plants. For several years past it has been customary here to place the new varieties in the forcing-house, to test their merit before offering them to the public, and some tolerable flowers are thus produced; certainly not in full and perfect beauty, though sufficiently good to form an opinion of their value. But this is treading on the very confines of the laws of nature, and is one of those things which may be done, and not what should be recommended. Small plants, established, are preferable to large ones newly-potted. In fact, the former, if in a good state, will produce flowers equal to those of larger plants: the difference will chiefly consist, not in quality, but in quantity. Plants of this description, after having been in the house for a short time, should be shifted into 32 or 24-sized pots, using a rich light soil, and taking care not to bruise the tender roots, or loosen the ball of earth in the operation. With regard to the description of Roses best suited for forcing, some varieties, which do not expand their flowers freely out of doors, are beautiful when forced; such are, Melanie Cornu, Prince Albert, and others. Some kinds, of rare beauty in the garden, are of little worth for forcing; such are, Comte d'Eu, Labédoyère, and most of this strain. A list of the best will be furnished hereafter. Many who might not have convenience or inclination for forcing Roses, would yet willingly appropriate a pit to secure a good bloom in April and May; and this may be attained without much trouble. Let the plants be pruned and placed in the pit early in November. Keep them as close to the glass as possible. Give air abundantly in mild weather, covering the glass with mats or fern of cold nights, or even during the day in the event of severe frost. CHAPTER X. REMARKS ON SUNDRY OPERATIONS IN THE ROSE GARDEN. CERTAIN branches of cultivation have been made the subject of separate chapters; but there are others, important in themselves, yet not of sufficient magnitude to require this such it is our intention to include in the present chapter. Let us run hastily through the year, commencing with the spring. The last operation performed in the Rose Garden has been pruning, and now, forking the beds over requires to be done. When Roses are newly planted, they need a little extra attention. They should be mulched and watered occasionally, if the spring or summer prove dry. As care in childhood and early life determines the constitution of the man, so attention at this epoch of a plant's existence establishes a vigorous and healthy subject. Unless it is the intention to supply the plants with manure-water during that part of the growing season which precedes their flowering, now is the time to enrich the soil. If the ground has been prepared the previous autumn, this will be unnecessary, but under all other circumstances it should be done. The manure should be well decayed, and a thick coating laid on the beds previous to forking, that it may be turned in in this operation. An annual forking is indispensable; and if the beds are also hoed with a Vernon hoe three or four times in the course of the summer, as the nature of the soil or the season may require, the plants will be largely benefitted. The latter practice is especially recommended for stiff and adhesive soils. Rose-trees require a careful looking over during April and May, to remove the Rose-grub, which, if allowed to pursue its ravages, proves most destructive to the early bloom. Tobacco-smoke, and tobacco-water, seem alike inefficient; soot-water is evidently disagreeable to them, but they survive it; and the only effectual remedy I know of, is to search diligently, in the early stages of the young shoots' growth, and draw the vagrants from their flimsy hiding-place. I believe the tom-tit frequently makes a meal off them, but his operations are too irregular to be relied on. The green-fly abounds everywhere; syringing with tobacco-water, or dusting with snuff and soot when the leaves are damp, that the mixture may adhere thereto, destroys or disperses it. It is also a good practice to smoke the trees with tobacco, using the fumigating bellows, first inclosing the head with some material that will prevent the escape of the smoke. In Standard Roses, suckers from the stock often shoot forth, and will impoverish the tree if allowed to remain. They should be watched for, and invariably removed so soon as seen if proceeding from beneath the ground, it is necessary to remove the soil, for which purpose a spade is best, and cut them off close to the stock whence they spring. If this is strictly attended to for two or three years, they will cease to throw suckers. On the specimen plants here, which are of some age, it is rare that a sucker is seen. At the same time that we are on the look out for suckers, it may be well to have an eye on the heads of the trees, to establish a regular growth. Besides the shoots produced at stated periods, in spring, and in summer immediately after flowering, it is not unusual, when a plant is in full vigour, for buds that have lain dormant even for a year or two, to burst into life, producing very gross shoots. If such proceed from the Summer kinds, they rarely flower, and, not ripening well, are of little use: if they arise from the Autumnals, a large truss of flowers is often produced, but their quality is quite mediocre. In both cases, by drawing to themselves the nutritive juices of the plant, they weaken the more moderate branches, which are calculated to be of service ultimately. But what shall be done with them? They are fine shoots, and it seems a pity to destroy them. But if the plant is already well furnished with shoots, it is certainly best to do so, by cutting them off close to their base, so soon as discovered. If, however, there are but few shoots, or a tree is ill-shapen, they may be turned to advantage. Under the latter state of things, pinch out their tops when they have reached an advantageous height, which the looker-on must determine, and thus they may be brought to fill up a scanty tree, or balance a mis-shapen one. But supposing, when such shoots arise, a Summer Rose has an abundance of vigorous shoots, or an Autumnal is scant of bloom, though at the same time in such a state of health and vigour as to warrant us in concluding there is a sufficient command of food to support and develope existing branches and anticipated flowers; this may render it advisable to allow such shoots their natural course of growth, when the Autumnals-and here we refer to the varieties of ROSA INDICA especially-often terminate with a large cluster of flowers. But remember, the most vigorous shoots in Summer Roses are least likely to flower; in Autumnals they do not produce the best flowers. We would treat these gross shoots in the same way when they arise on Dwarf or Pillar Roses. So soon as the flower-buds are formed, if we are seeking large flowers in preference to numbers, it will be well to nip out first those that seem imperfect, and afterwards such as are smallest and most backward. With the Damask Perpetuals and Hybrid Perpetuals, which bloom in clusters, it is well to break out the centre bud, as it is often imperfectly formed, and by its removal more room is made for the development of those which surround it, and they bloom finer. It has even been recommended to cut off the early flowers of the Autumnals, on the ground that there is an abundance of other Roses in June, and the practice causes a finer and more certain production in autumn. Truly we cannot depend on the Autumnals for fine Roses in June; and this is the strongest plea we can urge for the cultivation of Summer Roses. Yet we see no need for destroying the first flowers of the former. Let them bloom; and when the flowers drop, remove the soil an inch or two deep for a good space around each plant, placing a spadeful of manure there. Cover this over again with the soil, and water the plants twice or thrice if the weather continue dry. This treatment will induce a fresh and vigorous growth, ensuring, as a consequence, fine flowers. The secret of securing a good bloom of Roses in autumn exists in keeping the Autumnals growing during summer and autumn. Do this, and there is no fear of failure. The Autumnals perhaps give a better succession of flowers when grown on their own roots, than when budded, because their growth is less regular: shoots spring into life at shorter intervals. These are some of the operations necessary to be attended to previous to the flowering season, in order to secure the well-being of our favourites. Some of them may appear tedious, but to those who love flowers there is an interest felt in the simplest operations of culture; for he who plants a tree adopts it as his own, appoints himself its protector, and delights in administering to its wants. Every act of labour bestowed increases his attachment to it, and every stage of progress offers beauties to his sight. But as he wanders in the Rosarium, and sees the plants covered with flower-buds, what agreeable anticipations does he indulge in, heightened, perhaps, by the occasional recognition of a flower blossoming before its time. Every succeeding walk shews him an increase in the number; till at last he beholds them flushed with blossoms, yielding a rich harvest for the labour he has bestowed. Yes Annexed are engravings of two Standard Roses in flower. They are both vigorous growers, and have been submitted to Long-pruning (see Chap. V. p. 62). The habit of No. 31 is branching, that of No. 32 is erect: the latter has, by a little variation in pruning, been made to form a pyramidal head. What a delightful month is June for the lover of Roses! and what time is equal to the morning for inspecting the flowers? What floricultural enjoyment can surpass that afforded by a walk in the Rosarium at grey dawn, when The lamps of heaven grow dim, and jocund day |