16 THE PROVENCE, OR CABBAGE ROSE. 



Most of the Hawkweed {Hieracium) tribe also open their flowers 



to the morning light, going to sleep again in the afternoon. 



" See Hieracium's various tribes 



Of pUimy seeil and raiU^\nt flowers, 

 The course of time their bloom describe. 



And wake or sleep appointed hours." — C. Smith, 



I might enumerate many other kinds of flowers, equally accurate 

 •with the above in their various times of expanding ; but think I have 

 said sufficient to excite the attention of an observator to so interesting 

 a matter. I ought not, however, to forget to mention the lovely 

 harbingers of spring, which will soon gladden us by their appearance 



— Snowdrops, Crocuses, and 



" Pale Primroses, 

 That die unmarried ere they can behold 

 Brijjht Phoebus in his strength." — Shakespear, 



The harbinger of summer, too, is it not the Hawthorn ? of which, 

 I may add, I have heard it observed, a sure sign of a hard winter is 

 when this plant is unusually fruitful. How rich a gem would our 

 hedge-rows lose were this shrub absent from them. | 



" Gives not the Hawthorn-bush a sweeter shade 

 To shepherds looking oti their silly sheep, 

 Than doth a rich embroider'd canopy 

 To kings that fear their siibjects' treachery ? 

 Oh, yes, it doth ; a thousandfold it doth." — Shakespear. 



THE PROVENCE, OR CABBAGE ROSE .- 



ITS CULTURE IN FORCING. 



* BY A LONDON (vVEST ENd) FLORIST. 



For the last fourteen years my practice in forcing this Rose, which 

 is unequalled for the purpose, has been very extensive ; and from 

 February the 1st to the middle of April I cut thousands of its magnifi- 

 cent highly-fragrant flowers. For years previous to particularly 

 turnino- niy attention to forcing Roses, I had noticed its partial 

 adoption by many nurserymen ; but not one seemed to give it that 

 attention it merited. I resolved, therefore, to enter into it at once 

 with energy, and extensively too. 



In my visits to other establishments I discovered that it was essen- 

 tial to success that the plants should have a due preparation for the 

 process of forcing them. In November, 1831, I procured two hun- 

 dred plants, in pots, of the Provence or Cabbage Rose. These I 

 obtained of a person who had duly attended to their preparation, but 

 who was obliged to give up his entire establishment for building pur- 

 poses, and wlio was retiring from business. On obtaining the plants, 

 bein"' November 28th, 1 found that many of the plants showed buds 

 about bursting. I, therefore, ])laced them in coal-ashes, nearly up to 

 the rim in a cold jiit frame, where I could protect them from frost. 

 About halt' of the plants had been pruned in short, each shoot to 



