162 TREATMENT OF SEEDLINGS. 



fond of rose seeds ; there must be space enough 

 between the wire and the mould for the young 

 plants to come up ; half an inch will probably be 

 found enough ; the pots of seed must never be 

 placed under glass, but kept constantly in the 

 open air, in a full sunny exposure, as the wire 

 will shade the mould, and prevent its drying. 

 Water should be given occasionally in dry 

 weather ; the young plants will perhaps make 

 their appearance in April or May, but very often 

 the seed will not vegetate till the second spring. 

 When they have made their ' rough leaves,' that 

 is, when they have three or four leaves, exclusive 

 of their seed leaves, they must be carefully raised 

 with the point of a narrow pruning-knife, potted 

 into small pots, and placed in the shade : if the 

 weather be very hot and dry, they may be covered 

 with a hand-glass for a few days. They may re- 

 main in those pots a month, and then be planted 

 out into a rich border ; by the end of August 

 those that are robust growers will have madei 

 shoots long enough to take buds from. Those 

 that have done so may be cut down, and one or 

 two strong stocks budded with each ; these will, 

 the following summer, make vigorous shoots, and 

 the summer following, if left unpruned, to a cer- 

 tainty they will produce flowers. This is the 

 only method to ensure seedling roses flowering 

 the third year : many will do so that are not 

 budded ; but very often the superior varieties are 



