THE BOOK OF ROSES. 21 



rot or perish, if heavily covered. The whole 

 should be scattered over with a layer of chop- 

 ped moss, to prevent the earth from settling 

 too closely. 



At the commencement of winter, the pots 

 must be brought into a greenhouse, to secure 

 them agairfet frost; or the borders covered with 

 litter or dry leaves. The following spring the 

 plants will appear, a few perhaps waiting till 

 the spring ensuing. The borders are to be at- 

 tended to as for any other plantation of shrubs, 

 as regards keeping them clear from weeds, and 

 occasionally watered. 



In a favourable climate and season, China or 

 Bengal roses will flower in the June or July 

 of the first year ; all other kinds wait for the 

 summer of the second or third year before they 

 show bloom. Care must be taken in the sow- 

 ing not to let the plants stand too close, or they 

 must be thinned or transplanted, which ought 

 to be done as early as possible, or their flower- 

 ing will be a whole year retarded. Rose-trees 

 obtained from seed, should be pruned like those 

 arising from any other mode of propagation. 



PROPAGATION BY SUCKERS. Suckers are 

 the young offsets with roots, which spring from 

 the root of a tree. In ordinaiy soils they should 

 be taken up in autumn; in marshy ground, 

 during the spring; and transplanted with the 

 precautions hereafter enumerated. When a 



