188 FORCING OF EOSES. 



with the latter, indeed, a third crop may be often 

 obtained. 



Towards the end of March, when the second 

 crop of flowers is coming on, the plants should 

 hav^e abundance of air daily ; this will make them 

 hardy and robust. Syringing should be practised 

 every morning and evening ; but when the flower- 

 buds are ready to open, this must be confined to 

 the stems of the plants and the pots, otherwise 

 the flowers will be injured by the moisture^ 

 Care must be taken to remove the plants from 

 the forcing-house to the greenhouse or drawing- 

 room before their blossoms expand; they may 

 then be kept in beauty many days. I have not 

 found the check which the plants receive by this 

 sudden change of temperature at all detrimental. 

 During their second growth the plant should be 

 watered once a week with manure water,^ and the 

 surface of the pot occasionally stirred. Worked 

 — i.e. budded — roses are the most eligible for 

 forcing : these seldom or never fail to give an 

 abundant crop of flowers ; stems from 6 inches to 

 11 and 2 feet are equally eligible : the latter form 

 elegant plants, and I think generally grow with 

 greater luxuriance than dwarfs. China and Tea- 

 scented Eoses on their own roots are more deli- 

 cate, and require more care'; still one crop of 



* One pound of guano to twenty gallons of water forms the 

 very best species of liquid manure for pot culture ; for the 

 borders, double that quantity will be better. 



