204 ACCELERATING EOSES IN POTS. 



for many years, and imitated by numerous rose- 

 growers. 



About the first of May a hotbed should be 

 made, five feet wide and three feet in height — 

 if of leaves and manure equal parts, all the better, 

 its heat will last longer — on this bed some light 

 mould should be placed, about six inches thick, 

 supported by boards. Roses intended for rapid 

 growth should be taken from their small pots, 

 their balls of earth loosened, and potted into 

 24-sized or 8-inch pots, with the usual compost ; 

 these should be plunged up to their rims in the 

 bed, and the surface of each pot covered with 

 rotten manure, about an inch thick. They may 

 remain thus plunged for six or seven weeks, at 

 the end of which time the heat of the bed will 

 have declined ; the pots should then be removed, 

 and the soil they are plunged in ; the bed should 

 then be remade with about half its bulk of fresh 

 manure mixed with it, the pots replunged, and 

 the plants suffered to grow till autumn, when they 

 should be removed to pits or houses appropriated 

 to their culture. 



The luxuriousness of growth gained by this 

 method is quite marvellous, small plants become 

 large bushes, and put forth grand trusses of 

 flowers. 



