168 THE FLORIST. 



Batailles,* which, as above, will give 150 chances, as they are planted 

 in every possible diversity of situation, and cut back at different periods. 



If your ground is not aluminous, you must cover the surface with 

 black manure and Grass, in a radius of at least 18 inches, unless 

 the Rose is just planted, and then one foot will do for the first year ; 

 and, in sultry weather, you must water freely, but slowly, the tree and 

 roots, so as to copy a thunderstorm, without its violence, once a week. 

 Each tree should have two buckets, and, instead of pouring on all at 

 one time, put on half a bucket, and return four times. In lawn holes, 

 if the surface is hard, out of two buckets put on at once, three parts 

 will go down the sides ; tedious as it is, you must pour with a fine 

 copper spout, and allow time for absorption. If the weather is as 

 sultry as. last year in June, I shall have to put on Roses and 

 Strawberries at least 2000 stable buckets per week. Money, beef, and 

 beer, dispel all difficulties here. My groom and a labourer, by the 

 help of the above steam, would drown Deucalion in a week. When 

 the buds are swollen and about to expand, liquid manure (not too 

 strong) will give brilliancy to the flowers, and wood ashes will help to 

 stiffen the petals. The buds should be shaded a few days before 

 expansion, but uncovered at night. If you wish to " hold on " the 

 bloom for a few days, pin French Ivy round the bud, to keep the air 

 from getting too rapidly between the petals ; but this must not be done 

 too tight, as the Rose will stew or bleach. If the Rose has bloomed, 

 you may still " hold it on " a day or so by sheeting overhead, and by 

 tying down the bloom from the sun ; but you must not put the 

 canvass too near, but let the Rose have all the air you can ; and be sure 

 and set up its head, to be refreshed by the night dew. I may mention 

 by the wayside that I cut my Roses daily as they bloom, and put 

 them under high trees in tin water cups, where they gratify me, and 

 also anyone who likes to walk in and see them. Here they last at 

 least two days, and such Roses as P. Leon, Rebecca? and Montijo, a 

 week. 



It is probable that cut Roses kept in a stone jar in a dark cellar 

 would last a week, especially if a little spirits of camphor were added 

 to the water, and the leaves washed with gum water. I shall try these 

 experiments this summer. I am persuaded that distance to the show 

 and cutting over night ought not to be a hindrance under a workman's 



* I never saw this Rose, unrivalled when properly grown, first rate but 

 once in my life; and never good except when planted against a south wall 

 or near its radiating heat. I saw it at the rectory of Gussage, St. Michael's, 

 Dorset, some three years ago — quite first rate, large, brilliant, circular, and full. 

 I have never seen a Rose more beautiful than it was ; indeed, there were 

 several. It was grown on a two-feet Briar, on the south frontage of the house, 

 close to the wall, and trained up a four-feet stake. A poor woman, in one of 

 my cottages here, grows it in a similar situation, and much better than I have 

 been able to do ; indeed, in seven years, I have never grown but two good blooms, 

 and they were under the radiating heat of the wall, close in front of lovely 

 Solfaterre. It is, however, everywhere a continuous bloomer ; and from my great 

 respect for it, as the first of all Rose parents, I have added to six on Dog Briers 

 twenty-four Manetti ones, and planted against walls in every possible aspect, 

 as well as in the open. La Reine and this Rose, as parents, deserve tho 

 praise of amateurs, and the first place in the rosarium. 



