108 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



week is a real gain. The best way for an amateur to procure a 

 stock would be to purchase a few plants at a neighbouring nursery, 

 unless he can beg them from a gardener who has them to spare. 

 This plan will save considerable trouble, although it is not at all 

 difficult to raise a stock from seed. The seed must, however, be 

 sown without a day's delay, and to get it up quickly, sow in small 

 pots, and put one seed in each, and place them on a shelf where 

 they will be exposed to the full blaze of the sun, and water with 

 tepid water. After the plants are up they must not be so fully 

 exposed, but they must have the advantage of the warmest corner 

 the greenhouse affords. 



After the plants are put out, keep the temperature as near as 

 possible to 75 D by day, but as no fire-heat will be used, the heat 

 must be regulated by the ventilators. The house must, however, 

 be shut up early in the afternoon, even if the thermometer rises to 

 90^, so as to husband as much heat as possible for the night. The 

 foliage should be syringed rather heavily once a day at least, and 

 the soil not allowed to become dry at any time, or the growth will 

 be checked, and the foliage quickly become infested with red spider. 

 The water used, both for syringing and applying to the roots, must 

 be tepid, and the supply for morning use should be put in the house 

 over-night, and that for the afternoon placed in the full sun in the 

 morning. 



The directions given for training melons will apply with equal 

 force to the cucumbers, excepting that the fruit laterals should be 

 stopped at one or two joints above the fruit when it is about one or 

 two inches in length. To avoid the necessity of having to remove a 

 large quantity of the growth at once, a judicious system of stopping 

 must be practised, and the shoots not likely to be wanted should be 

 pinched off when a few inches in length. It will, however, be 

 necessary to cut out a portion of the old wood occasionally, to 

 maintain a supply of bearing wood. 



The best sorts for an amateur to grow for the table are, Sutton's 

 Berkshire Champion, Bollison's Telegraph, and Master's Prolific, of 

 the white spine class ; and Godfrey's Black Spine, and Kirklees Hall 

 Defiance, of the black spine section. 



THE CULTIVATION OF THE EOSE.— No. VI. 



HOW TO PRUNE ROSES. 



OME people prune their roses with a knife and fork ; 

 that is a practice I strongly object to. Some do not 

 prune them at all, and that modus I approve of gene- 

 rally, for a rose not pruned will be sure to flower, and 

 a rose badly pruned may have all the flower-buds cut 

 out of it. If it is a toss-up, I cry for no pruning, because Nature 

 intends that roses should flower, and will accomplish that without 

 our help, but judicious pruning is to be advised, both for the regula- 



