CHAP. Y. ORNAMENTAL TKEES, SHRUBS, ETC. 467 



to dry in the sun, pulled them to bits, and roasted them in an 

 earthen vessel on a chulan. Using this abundantly with com- 

 mon earth and old cow-manure, I have found not only Koses, 

 but other potted shrubs thrive in it most vigorously. 



Koses love now and then an entirely new soil ; and transplan- 

 tation every year or two is the very best thing that can be done 

 for them. When not transplanted, they should in October, 

 after the Kains are over, have their roots laid bare by the 

 removal of the earth for two or three weeks, and then covered 

 in with new soil well enriched with old cow-manure. 



Surface-dressing during the months of December and January 

 I have found of prodigious benefit, making the plants break 

 forth with wonderful vigour. Drawing the earth away from the 

 stem, so as to form a circular ridge at a foot's distance around 

 it, I throw into the shallow basin thus formed a basket of fresh 

 cow-dung, and from a considerable height pour water upon it. 

 The water thus passes into the soil as a thick liquid manure. A 

 fresh quantity of cow-dung is applied at the interval of about 

 a month. 



Pots and Bing-Pois. When well-cultivated, Koses appear to 

 me to thrive and blossom far more satisfactorily in the open 

 ground than they do in pots. A common mode of cultivating 

 Roses, and one of which the natives are very fond, is to grow 

 them in ring-pots. These are earthen cylinders sixteen inches 

 in diameter and two feet long, let into the earth endwise about 

 a foot deep, and filled with soil to within three inches of the 

 rim. The method of the natives is to cut the Koses, planted in 

 these, completely down, to within two or three inches of the 

 roots in October ; a week or two later to remove the soil from 

 the roots, and having left them exposed a few days, to fill in 

 with a solution of oil-cake, of the consistency of thick mud, very 

 offensive to the nose at the time. The plants under this treat- 

 ment it is true blossom very beautifully a month or so after- 

 wards, but it is a mode of cultivation that possibly would not 

 suit every one's taste. 



Groups. Koses now in cultivation either belong to or derive 

 their origin from two well-defined groups. 



1. The Koses of Europe and Western Asia ; such as the old 

 Cabbage, French and Damask Koses, the general character of 

 which is that they bloom only in June and July. 



2 H 2 



