ROSES FOR THE GREENHOUSE 227 



order from the grower nice, bushy maiden plants, and 

 pot each into an eight-inch pot. Prepare the plants 

 by cutting back the roots to within four or five inches 

 in length, and the tops to twelve to fifteen inches. Mix 

 a compost of two parts of turfy loam, one part of one- 

 year-old cow manure for preference (but other would 

 do), a little silver sand, and about four pounds of bone- 

 meal to every two bushels of compost. Mix all well 

 together, and keep from rain. The flower-pots need to 

 be clean and well drained, either with crocks or oyster 

 shells. Put a handful or two of the lumpy portions of 

 the compost on the drainage, and make firm with a 

 round piece of wood the thickness of a broom-handle. 

 Holding the plant firmly in the centre of the pot with 

 the left hand, put in the compost with a flat wooden 

 trowel. Fill the pot about half-full, and make the soil 

 firm ; then add more compost and again make firm, 

 proceeding thus until the soil reaches to within half an 

 inch of the rim. 



When potted, put the plants out of doors on a bed 

 of ashes or soil, stand closely together, and after one 

 good watering fill between them and cover the pots 

 entirely with ashes. Here the plants remain until May. 

 Prune them towards the end of March to within five or 

 six inches of the top of the pot, and late in May transfer 

 them to the open ground, two feet distant from each 

 other, the pots plunged in ashes up to, but not over, 

 the rim; keep the soil moist. Good blooms will be 

 obtained in summer. The following December they 

 may be put in a cold greenhouse or frame, pruned in 



