102 



THE ROSE GARDEN. 



fair rate of growth, and destroy the symmetry of the plants. Weak shoots should 

 be cut out, and disbudding practised freely. If two or three eyes burst from the 

 same point, threatening to crowd or cross each other, a portion should be at once 

 removed. 



Most of the plants shifted into 48 or 32-sized pots in spring will, if they flourish 

 well, require a second shift in July, when 24 and 16-sized pots may be made use 

 of, and the same soil as before. When re-potting, the crock may be removed from 

 the bottom of the ball, and the surface soil, which is apt to become sour, rubbed 

 carefully away, so far as can be done without disturbing the roots. A nice judg- 

 ment is required in shifting tbe Chinese and Tea-scented Roses, as they are very 

 liable to suffer from over-potting. As a guide on this point, turn them carefully 

 out of the pots once or twice a-year to examine the roots : if found protruding from 

 the ball of earth in great abundance, place the plants in larger pots ; if it be 

 otherwise, put them back in the same. Tbe hardy and robust growers may, how- 

 ever, be cultivated on the one-shift system, that is, changed at once from small to 

 large pots ; but this treatment will not suit the small and delicate growers. 



Annexed (No. 27) is shewn a plant two years old, having been grown the first 

 year in a smaller pot. It is now autumn, and it is losing its leaves. It needs 

 no thinning, as it has been disbudded during spring and summer, on the principles 



No. 27. 



