CULTURE OF ROSES FOR FORCING. 229 



week in November is early eiiougli for the best betl, or rather tlie best 

 i^rown and principal bulbs; but from the moment the bulb commences 

 growth, and shows the spike, it begins to suffer. 



ON PROPAGATING CHINA ROSES. 



Br ROSA. 



I.\ cultivating the tribe of Rosa odorata, or Tea-scented Roses, I have 

 jiractised the following method witli great success: early in .January or 

 February, I take some pots of plants into a stove which is heated to 60 

 or 70 degrees of iieat. In the course of a short time, there are some 

 yonng shoots ready, which, as soon as they liave five or six leaves, I 

 take off, and strip some of tlie under leaves from them, finishing tlrem 

 witii a clean cut at a joint. Having prepared the cuttings, I next pre- 

 pare some 48-sized pots with two parts fine sand, one part sandy peat, 

 and one part leaf-mould. I then insert several in each pot, and with a 

 fine rose watering pot, give them water just sufficient to settle the eartii. 

 I then plunge them into a hotbed frame, or they will strike equally 

 well in the stove, provided they are covered with a small bell glass. 

 After they have taken root, I pot them off into 60's, using at this time 

 sandy loam and leaf-mould. About tlie middle of May, I turn a 

 (|uantity out into the beds and borders in the flower garden where tliey 

 bloom exceedingly well, and fill the air with that delicious fragrance 

 that is exhaled from them. The remainder I keep in pots, to supply 

 any place that may require them. 



CULTURE OF ROSES FOR FORCING. 



BY A LONDON GROWER FOB COVENT GARDEN. 



The present is a good time to prepare soil, &c., to pot roses for next 

 season's forcing. I prepare it as follows: — During the early part of 

 autumn I have some loam put in a sheet-iron pan, made to go in the 

 a>;h-pit under the fire, the heat of which completely bakes it ; by turn- 

 ing it over once or twice it is prevented from burning ; this is put 

 away when done, and more put in, and by this means I get a good 

 quantity ready l)y tlie time it is wanted without much trouble. When 

 tiie time for potting arrives, 1 chop the loam in very rough pieces, and 

 mix with it a little coarse sand, a small quantity of half rotten dung, 

 and .some pieces of ciiarcoal, not small, but from one to six inches 

 diameter. I use the light clinkers, made from the refuse ashes for 

 drainage, instead of broken pots ; and I consider this material keeps 

 tlie drainage more open than broken pots. Over the drainage I put 

 a little moss, which keeps the soil clear of the bottom of the pot. The 

 next operation is to put the plants in the prepared soil ; when this is 

 done I have the pots plunged up to tiie rims, and over the surface of 

 all I have spread a tlun coat of dung from an exhausted lining. All 

 tiicy require after tiiis is keeping them clear of weeds, and watering as 

 tiiey require it. My plants of the connnon moss, white, and cabbage 

 Provence, have .shoots from two to three and a half feet long : and 

 tiiere is not one pot in fifty but what is fit for forcing. The plants of 



