EOSES UNDER GLASS. 147 



matic poet of those early days, ridicules the Egyptians 

 for sending them Roses in winter when they had 

 plenty themselves. But how did they get them? for 

 glass was not made for such purposes as greenhouses, 

 and yet Roses in winter were common in Rome. 

 Pliny, who wrote at the end of the ist century, tells 

 us that the Roman gardeners had a way of obtaining 

 Roses before their season by watering the trees with 

 warm water as soon as the buds were visible. This 

 we might question; but Pliny, no doubt, was correct 

 in telling us that hot water was used, although I ven- 

 ture to surmise it was in pipes for heating. The 

 Roman was a past-master in the building and the heat- 

 ing of buildings, and it is only to be expected that he 

 would discover methods for the early production of 

 flowers. This he certainly did, and on a large scale, 

 and ihis methods, if primitive, were all sufficient for 

 the grower who could make the Roses of Pa?stum and 

 Rome famous. Virgil, in the Georgics, speaks of 

 " Passtum Roses with their double spring," and as no 

 trace of autumn flowering Roses can be found, it is 

 far more likely that, as Pliny hints, artificial methods 

 of production were resorted to and that Roses were 

 forced by heat in sheltered positions, 



I hardly think that the Romans possessed some 

 peculiar variety that is lost, although it is, of course, 

 possible. The inference of early writers is, that Roses 

 generally were forced in winter, and no particular kind 

 is alluded to. 



The great art of forcing Roses lies in the 

 changing of the seasons for the trees con- 

 cerned, without in any way damaging the 

 tree; to turn its winter into spring and its spring into 

 summer, to make summer its autumn, and autumn its 

 winter; to do this we start forcing at the end of 

 December. Work your trees as you will, still they 

 must have their period of rest, and provided you can 

 arrange artificial conditions, there is no limit to what 

 you can do in the way of securing flowers all the year 

 round. 



