CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 133 



should be drawn apart, so that the rims stand an inch or 

 so clear of each other. This is very important, in order 

 to admit free circulation of air around the sides of the 

 pots, and develop strong and healthy roots. Until the 

 middle of June we stand the pots on the surface of the 

 ground ; but about that time it is necessary to plunge the 

 pots to the rim in sand, coal-ashes, waste tan-bark, or 

 some such dry and light material. If this is not done 

 they can hardly be kept damp enough ; and the intense 

 heat of the sun beating down on the sides of the pots 

 dries up the young rootlets. It is necessary that the beds 

 wherein the Roses are plunged should be so arranged that 

 no water will lodge at the roots, as that would be quickly 

 fatal. Last fall we found it necessary, after a heavy rain- 

 storm, to lift the pots out of the sand in which they had 

 been plunged, to allow them to dry. Forty-eight hours 

 of heavy rain would have killed the young roots. It is 

 also essential to watch that the roots do not get through 

 the bottom of the pot ; to prevent this, they should be 

 turned around at least every ten days, to break off any 

 roots that may have run through. It will be understood 

 that continued shiftings into larger pots are necessary 

 during intervals of four or five weeks during the summer, 

 until September, by which time, if well grown, they will 

 be of sufficient size to require pots of 10 or 12 inches in 

 diameter. If it is preferred that the roses be planted out 

 for winter flowering, it should be done in August, and in 

 solid beds in the green-house not on board benches. We 

 never shift them after middle of September, as the roots 

 they have then made are sufficient to carry them through 

 the winter and spring, stimulated, however, by water 

 drained from the manure heap, which we use twice a 

 week, from January on to May, diluted to the color of 

 strong tea. The expenses attendant on the cultivation, 

 and the interest on the investment of this rose-house the 

 past season, were about as follows : 



