THE FLORIST. 133 



However good the character may be which you have of this 

 month from various renowned sources, and however bland, and 

 smiling, and warm he may actually become as he basks in the 

 advancing sun, I entreat you, ladies, not to trust him until he 

 has the mature age of twenty days ; for at any earlier period he is 

 apt to be a deceiver. Often has he taken the precious favourites 

 of the gardener, and promised to cherish them, and speedily to clothe 

 them with floral beauty ; but instead of this, he has left them to the 

 charge of a night frost, and come laughing next morning at our 

 disfigured pets, and at our easy credulous folly. We can trust him 

 in the day, but not at night ; and therefore, unless prepared to afford 

 protection to all tender things committed to the ground, during the 

 hours of darkness, we had better wait until his twentieth birthday 

 is accomplished. 



All plants in pots intended to adorn the parterre at the right 

 time, should be carefully looked over occasionally, to see that they 

 do not become pot-bound ; for if they do, they will be probably stunted 

 and otherwise injured in their future growth. Growing shoots 

 should be pinched off, to make the plants more compact and bushy, 

 and every thing done to forward the flowering ; so that, as I men- 

 tioned in a former paper, the beds may be really adorned by them 

 when they are turned out. Aphides should be looked for, or rather 

 got rid of, for unfortunately in this month they do not require seek- 

 ing. The sudden manner in which Rose-trees, &c. become covered 

 with caterpillars leads superstitious people to snuff up the east wind, 

 and talk learnedly of blight : I hope my readers will pursue the 

 more rational course of studying entomology, so as to know how to 

 guard against such unwelcome intruders. 



The Bury, Luton. Henry Burgess. 



BUDDING ROSES. 



Amateurs who provided stocks, and planted early, will find some 

 of them pushing shoots all up their sides ; these should be removed, 

 with the exception of two or three growing in opposite directions 

 near the top ; these shoots should be allowed to grow without being 

 stopped, — for if they are checked, it prevents the bark from rising so 

 freely at their bases where the buds are to be inserted. 



The art of budding is so well known, that it is unnecessary for 

 me to do more than say, that a good sharp knife is indispensable, and 

 that the sooner the buds are inserted after the wood is removed from 

 them, the better. The nostrums sometimes recommended, such as 

 dipping them in lukewarm water, and milk and water, should be 

 avoided. I have sometimes found stocks which make rapid growth 

 form shoots long enough, and sufficiently hard, by the middle or end 

 of May and beginning of June, to bear the knife ; they may then 

 be budded, if you are desirous of forcing the buds to break the same 

 summer. This practice is not generally recommended, and it may 

 not answer where Roses are cultivated by the acre ; but with the ama- 



