ROS 



518 



ROS 



will require attention in the applica- 

 tion of the knife. In pruning a large 

 root it should be cut to a lateral; in 

 shortening a small one, to a fibre. 

 Where a plant has been examined and 

 trimmed recently, however, the knife 

 should be sparingly used. 



" And it may here be well to observe, 

 that all cuts to remove branches, knots, 

 or roots, should be quite clean, slant- 

 ing (and deep enough to the stem, viz. 

 even with it), and nothing left projecting 

 Jest dead wood he the consequence, 

 and the plant be eventually injured. 

 All wounds should be carefully healed , 

 and dead wood should, in all cases, be 

 removed, and living bark encircle that 

 which remains." 



The best time for planting is No- 

 vember. 



Forcing. — For the following very 

 successful mode of forcing roses, we 

 are indebted to R. A. Salisbury, Esq : — 



" Take off strong suckers about the 

 end of October or beginning of No- 

 vember, with all the fibres they may 

 have formed, which can only be well 

 done by digging up the parent stock. 

 Plant these suckers in pots only about 

 four inches diameter at the top, wind- 

 ing the sucker three, four, or five times 

 round the inside of the pot ; and prune 

 it, so as to leave no more than two 

 buds, or three at most, above ground. 

 Fill the pots with hazel loam, mixed 

 with one-third equal parts charred turf 

 and vegetable mould, pressing it firmly 

 down to keep the sucker from starting, 

 and plunge them to the brim close to 

 one another quincunx fashion, in an 

 open bed fully exposed to the sun and 

 air. 



" The small size of these pots makes 

 stronger blossoms, even the first if the 

 suckers are large ; and as they are to 

 be shifted annually, it is absolutely 

 necessary to begin with small pots. 

 To have a plentiful supply of blos- 

 soms during tlie months of December, 

 January, February, March, April and 

 May, from one hundred to three hun- 

 dred suckers must be thus prepared. 



" For the plants to be forced, from 

 December to INIarch, a small frame 

 should be devoted, about twelve feet 

 long, five feet wide, seven feet wide 

 behind, and only six or eight inches in 

 front. This pitch admits the rays of 

 light, at that period, to strike upon the 

 plants to the greatest advantage, a flue. 



or tank, or pipes, if hot water be used, 

 running from one end to the other. If 

 the floor be built thick, and the fire- 

 Fig. 149. 



place, as well as the chimney-top, be 

 well closed up after the heat has pene- 

 trated the flue, the air within will be 

 sufficiently heated with very little fuel, 

 and require no attendance at night, ex- 

 cept in very severe frost. The back of 

 this frame may consist of wood, or a 

 narrow brick, at pleasure, and should 

 have a door in the middle, just sutfi- 

 cieiitly large to admit the gardener to 

 creep in and water the plants, by 

 reaching over them from one side to 

 the other without any walk inside. 



" A strong latticed floor must be fixed 

 six inches above the flue, on which the 

 pots must be placed when introduced ; 

 and these must have a pan or receiver 

 under each, to prevent the heat of the 

 flue, which will now and then be smart 

 notwithstanding every precaution, from 

 striking directly on the pots them- 

 selves. After the month of March, 

 roses may be advantageously forced in 

 other houses and situations, but hardly 

 sooner, except on the front flue of a 

 pine-stove : and a small frame like this 

 is not only built and maintained at a 

 small cost ; but the lights may be used 

 for other crops, especially melons, after 

 June. 



" The plants to be forced into blos- 

 som by Christmai-day should be placed 

 in this frame on the first day of October, 

 lighting fires gradually, so as to keep 

 the temperature, in the daytime, rather 

 increasing than decreasing — from 60*'^ 

 of Fahrenheit to SO'-' j but at night 30^ 



