FORCING ROSES. 81 



bow they were grown, and he called upon Mr. Hovey for some 

 remarks. 



C. M. Hovey said that forcing this class of roses was no new 

 experiment here, though few had been exhibited until last year. 

 To force roses to advantage we must have plenty of room ; it can- 

 not be done successfully in the same house with a mixed collec- 

 tion of plants, though it may be with those which require a light 

 temperature. The first point is the preparation of the plants ; if 

 this is attended to, and a proper temperature maintained, there is 

 little danger of failure. Two essentials are plent}- of water and 

 manure. It may be said of roses, as a well-known English 

 rosarian said of strawberries, that what they need is the pump 

 and the manure pile. We have on exhibition to-day plants eight 

 months from the cutting, with only one bloom on each. But it 

 would hardly pay, in a commercial way, or scarcely in any way, 

 to grow a plant so long for a single flower. To be forced profit- 

 ably, or perhaps he should say to bloom profusely, the plants 

 should first be grown two or three years in the pot or open ground, 

 and they must have constant care, and never be neglected. They 

 should be plunged in the ground during the summer, and in 

 autumn taken up and the wood thoroughly ripened ; otherwise they 

 will not form their buds, but will run to foliage when planted in 

 the heat. If the plants are turned out in the ground, the destruc- 

 tion of the root in taking up is too great. When brought into the 

 house they must be kept in a low temperature at first, and not be 

 allowed to grow too rapidly ; a few degrees too much heat will 

 ruin all that has been done. They must have plenty of air and 

 water, and be kept free from all insects ; and great care must be 

 taken not to injure them in fumigating. They can be grown in 

 the low houses commonly used for forcing, but higher and more 

 airy houses are far better. Mr. Hovey said he knew a gardener, 

 who had been very successful in forcing La Reine and other 

 old varieties, who took up strong plants three or four years old, 

 put them in ten or twelve inch pots, and placed them in a cool 

 vinery, where the temperature fell nearly to freezing at night, 

 giving plenty of air. Here they remained until the young shoots 

 were two inches long, when they were removed to a warmer house 

 to bloom. 



E. W. Buswell said that he did not see the necessity for a plant 

 to be two or three years old before forcing. He saw at Mr. 

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