HOW TO HAVE ROSES IN WINTER. 



towards perfection, or be better paid by wrapping its details in mystery. Disseminate 

 and diffuse knowledge, and the more extensively and enthusiastically will it be sought 

 after, the greater in number will be its proselytes, and the more the demand for those who 

 practice in its various spheres. Circulate experience, and pedantry will fly before it. 

 Extend true practice, and pretension and empty boastings will hide their heads, leaving 

 an open field for improvement. 



But to my point. In the first place, select in the spring as many good stout bushes as 

 there is house-room for, and let them be of the following kinds: (Chinese) — Queen of 

 Lombardy, Mrs. Bosanquet, Agrippina, or Cramoisie superieure, old China, and Trium- 

 phant. (Tea scented) — Antheros and White Tea. (Noisette) — La Pactole. If there is 

 room for spreading branches, Lamarque and Cloth of Gold, or Solfaterre, may be added, 

 which, if allowed to grow without being shortened-in, will bloom freely. (Bourbon) — 

 Ilemosa and Souvenir de la Malmaison. Place these in pots suitable to their size, in a 

 mixture of two-thirds rough turfy loam, and one-third good rotted stable manure, (incor- 

 porated well together, but not made fine.) Let the pots be well drained, and prune in the 

 plants rather close; plunge the pots in the soil on a dry bottom in a shady place, for the 

 summer. In the fall, if they have filled the pots with roots, and have made correspond- 

 ing top growth, remove them into larger, being careful not to break the ball of earth; but 

 do not remove them unless they require it. If not repotted, some of the surface soil should 

 be removed, and the pot again filled up with fresh compost of the same kind. 



If the foregoing preparation of the plants has not been made in the spring — the follow- 

 ing course may be pursued. Lift carefully about the middle of September, a sufficient 

 quantity of good plants of the foregoing sorts, and pot as above directed. These will not 

 bloom so abundantly in November and December, though quite as much so afterwards. 

 About the beginning or middle of October, according as the weather is mild or cold, Mash 

 the pots clean, and remove them into the house. At the same time prune away anj^ dead 

 or weak spray, place as near the glass as possible, and exposed to the sun. (The old ex- 

 ploded tan-bed is of little use where this is attended to.) Admit air freely over the heads 

 of the plants, but by no means from front lights or outside doors, which only produces 

 cold and damp under drafts. This point, in all plants growing in glass structures, is not 

 sufiiciently attended. It only reduces the temperature below, leaving the head of the 

 plant warmer than the roots, causing stagnation to the growth, and encouraging, (in this 

 climate more particularly,) the progress of fungoid vegetation, the sporules of which are 

 continually floating in countless myriads in the atmosphere, ready to develop themselves 

 upon various plants under favorable circumstances, the result of which is mildew or blight, 

 in its various forms. It sometimes happens, if the weather is cold and damp, that roses 

 are mildewed when taken up for housing. If the above directions in airing are attended 

 to, and a little fire heat put on in the day in damp weather, it will soon disappear. If it 

 should show itself any time afterwards, put on a little extra heat, and admit air from the 

 top freely on sunny days, but keep the house closely shut up in stormy, and dull damp 

 weather. By following this advice nobody need suffer from mildew when forcing roses. 

 When, in the autumn, the nights begin to be cold, a little fire will be regularly required, 

 increasing it graduallj' as the cold increases, observing to keep the temperature throughout 

 the season at about 55" at night, allowing it to rise with the sun's rays to 70° or 75°, but 

 not more than 60° in dull weather. Never use more artificial heat than is absolutely ne- 

 cessary. When the soil has become somewhat impoverished, say the middle of January, 

 commence giving a watering with liquid guano, and continue it once a week, usin 

 ounce to one gallon of water, or else taking instead, diluted drainage from a dun 



