g72 PRUNING THE TREE- ROSE. 



pletely sets the inroads of snails and worms at defiance. The only 

 objection to its use was that sparrows would get into the frame, and in 

 their search for corn scatter the awns over the tops of the pots, and 

 tiiey lodged between the leaves; but this I easily obviated by adopting 

 Mr. Anderson's plan of stretching black thread just under the lights, 

 whicl) completely rid me of these troublesome visitants. 



While in their winter quarters, attention must be paid to take off the 

 li'j'hts on every opportuuity, and draw them over again ou tlie appear- 

 ance of rain. In fact, it must be borne in nimd that abundance of air, 

 without unnecessary exposure to cutting winds, is essentially requisite 

 for the health of the layers. 



During the time they are in tlie frames, the soils or compost in 

 which they are to be flowered should be well looked after. The heaps 

 should be often turned, and especially in frosty weather, when a vigilant 

 look-out must be kept for the brandling or wire-worm. 



The compost I would recommend is two barrowfuls of good rotten 

 turf, well broken with the spade ; two barrowfuls of very rotten horse 

 manure from a melon or cucumber bed ; one barrowful of either rotten 

 leaves, sticks, or thatch, and one barrovvful of wash-sand from a road- 

 side. All this should be well mixed and repeatedly turned, so that the 

 incorporation may be complete. 



PRUNING THE TREE-ROSE. 



BY CLERICUS. 



The increasing number of splendid varieties of the much esteemed 

 family of Eoses, and their admission into every flower-garden and 

 pleasure-ground, is to me a source of nmch gratification. During the 

 present summer I have been much struck with the increasing taste for 

 the culture of Standards on lawns, and thus to exhibit their splendid 

 heads in the centre of a flower-bed, or back part of a border. 



The pruning season of most Roses having now arrived induces me to 

 draw up a few particulars relative to that operation, which I trust will 

 of some use to those persons who hitherto have had little experience in 

 such matters. 



In remarking on the growth of a Tree-rose, I must observe that the 

 rings round the bottom of both stem and branches are the depositories 

 of a dormant bud, which will not be called into action unless the buds 

 above be injured, or unless the sap arise so profusely as to be unable to 

 expend itself by the upper parts, in which case the buds below break 

 out ; though, indeed, they will occasionally do so as the natural act of 

 the tree, in preference to rising higher. This is more observable in 

 the Wild Rose than almost any other plant, and perhaps may, in some 

 degree, explain the reason why budded Roses are shorter lived than 

 those on their own bottom ; for any one who has at all observed the 

 growth of wild stocks must have noticed that the original head is seen 

 generally in hedges in much worse plight than the shoots which have 

 been subsequently formed at its base. The tendency of the Dog Rose 

 to break out below must be checked in two ways ; the first, by destroy- 



< 



