20 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
ROSES IN POTS. 
BY J. W. MOORMAN, 
Gardener to the Misses Christy, Coombe Bank, Kingston-on-Thames. 
(Read at the Wimbledon Gardeners’ Discussion Class, November 8, 1875.) 
poses tH Rose is at all times strikingly beautiful, but more 
particularly so during spring and the early summer 
months. Valuable at all times and seasons, it is espe- 
cially so for the ornamentation of the conservatory, and 
I know of no more pleasing sight than that of a house 
furnished with well-balanced plants bearing deep green luxuriant 
foliage. So well dothey associate and harmonize with other spring 
subjects, that it is of their culture in pots for this purpose, as well 
as for exhibition, that I narrate the method I have hitherto adopted 
with success, considering the limited means at my disposal. 
Nearly all the Hybrid Perpetuals, Hybrid China, and Tea Roses 
do well in pots, and those who wish to procure a collection in the 
shortest space of time would do well to go to some nursery where 
this favourite is made a specialit?, and select as many from the sub- 
joined list as means or convenience will admit. A very good time 
to procure them is in the month of September, when well estab- 
lished and useful plants can be purchased in eight-inch pots. As soon 
as possible after receiving them from the nursery, examine their 
roots, for it may be found that many of them will be benefited by a 
shift into ten-inch pots. This operation will also enable you to ascer- 
tain whether the drainage is in good order or not—a point that 
cannot be too strongly urged, for the Rose is very impatient of 
stagnant moisture at the root. 
The following mixture of soil will be found suitable to them :— 
Good strong iurfy loam, three parts (if ]aid up for twelve months, so 
much the better), the other part well decomposed cow-manure, leaf- 
mould, and silver sand; a sprinkle of bone-dust may be added with 
advantage, if at hand. Chop and mix the compost well together, 
and pot firmly. Place the plants in a cold frame or pit, taking care 
to give plenty of air by tilting the lights, and on all favourable occa- 
sions draw the lights entirely off. It is not warmth that is required, 
but a place of shelter from the heavy autumnal rains and very severe 
frosts. In these quarters they can remaio until wanted to start into 
growth. It takes from eight to eleven weeks generally to bring 
Roses into full bloom from the time they are started, and if wanted 
in bloom during May, which is the month in which pot Roses are 
usually exhibited, the first week in March will be found early 
enough to start them. About the middle of February prune away 
all weak or watery growing shoots, and shorten the points of all the 
shoots, more especially such as are not well ripened ; it is not neces- 
sary, however, to prune as hard as you would for a plant growing 
out-of-doors. Have at hand a ball of cord and some bast, or other 
tying material, in readiness for training the plants. Begin by placing 
