142 TEA-SCENTED CHINA ROSE. 



painted over with collodion three or four or more 

 times till a tolerably thick coat is formed. 

 This will protect the buds of tender roses from 

 the effects of frost in wintei- and spring, and need 

 not be removed, as they will break through it 

 in the growing season without any difficulty. 



To have a fine bloom of these roses, or, indeed, 

 of any of the Hybrid Perpetuals, Bourbons, or 

 China Eoses, in pots towards the end of summer 

 or autumn, take plants from small pots (those 

 struck from cuttings in March or April will do), 

 and put them into six-inch, or even eight-inch 

 pots, using a compost of light turfy loam and 

 rotten manure, equal parts : to a bushel of the 

 compost add half a peck of pounded charcoal, and 

 the same quantity of silver-sand ; make a hotbed 

 of sufficient strength, — say three to four feet in 

 height, of seasoned dung, so that it is not of a 

 burning heat, in a sunny exposed situation, and 

 on this place the pots : then fill up all interstices 

 with sawdust, placing it so as to cover the rims, 

 and to lie on the surface of the mould in the pots 

 about two inches deep. The pots should have a 

 good sound watering before they are thus plunged, 

 and have water daily in dry weather ; the bottom 

 heat and full exposure to the sun and air will give 

 the plants a vigour almost beyond belief; this 

 very simple mode of culture is as yet almost un- 

 known. I have circulated among a few friends 

 the above directions ; and have no doubt that, in 



