194 ROSES IN POTS FOR EXHIBITION. 



here caution the reader that occasional disappoint- 

 ment must be expected in growing them in pots 

 for exhibition, as roses, like facts, are stubborn 

 things, and will often, in summer, bloom just 

 whenever it pleases them to do so, not being easily 

 retarded or forced : now, as days of exhibition are 

 usually fixed before it is known whether we are 

 to have an early or a late season, it is frequently 

 a complete lottery whether any particular plants 

 of rose will be in bloom or not. I have some- 

 times known on days fixed for the exhibition at 

 Chiswick, that I have looked over fifty plants of 

 one sort before I could find three or four perfect 

 flowers. The roses recommended for greenhouse 

 culture, from their producing a succession of 

 bloom, must be most relied upon by the exhibitor : 

 but if, c by a lucky chance, a collection of Moss 

 Roses, or some of the finer kind of French and 

 Hybrid Bourbon or Hybrid Perpetual Eoses, 

 could be enticed to show themselves in all their 

 gay attire on the day, they would make the green- 

 house roses * hide their diminished heads.' 



To form a collection of hardy roses in pots, the 

 very best should be selected from the following 

 families : French, Hybrid China, Hybrid Bourbon, 

 and Hybrid Perpetual. Now for hardy pot roses, 

 except Moss Roses, in which the choice is limited, 

 only those with very double flowers, and stiff 

 waxy petals, should be selected. The following 

 will not disappoint the amateur. I ought here to 



