166 ' PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. 



is wanted by December, January or February ; so, to do 

 this, at a season as early as the 1st of August, the plants 

 must be gradually dried off sufficiently to make them drop 

 their leaves, though not to wilt them so violently as to 

 shrivel the shoots. A rest of two months is necessary, so 

 that the plants, which we commenced to dry off by the 1st 

 of August, may be started slowly by the 1st of October, and 

 ;hose begun to be dried off by the 1st of September may 

 be started, also at as Iowa temperature as possible, by the 

 1st of November. On first starting, give the dry balls a 

 thorough soaking of water. If placed in sunken pits or 

 greenhouses, where there is no fire heat, the one good 

 watering will usually be enough until the buds swell, 

 though the wood should be kept moist by syringing twice 

 or thrice each day. These, like the Monthly Roses, are 

 best ripened off by placing them in the open air ; though, 

 if continued wet weather occur when they are thus 

 placed to dry and ripen their wood, the pots must be 

 placed on their sides, or some arrangement contrived to 

 keep them from getting wet, otherwise the rest absolutely 

 necessary for early forcing cannot be obtained. In our 

 own practice we cover up the Roses every night while 

 drying them off, either with sashes or sheeting, as one 

 drenching rain during the period of drying off would 

 defeat the whole work. The best kinds for early work are : 

 Magna Charta, Anna de Diesbach, and Gen. Jacqueminot. 

 When the forcing of Hybrid Perpetual Roses is success- 

 ful, it is very profitable. And it is profitable because of the 

 unusual care and skill that are required to have the plants 

 in the proper condition. We may here state, that many 

 failures have resulted from the attempt to grow the Hybrid 

 Tea Roses without resting, notably the Duchess of Edin- 

 burgh, which was sent out from England some five or six 

 years ago as a " Crimson Tea." The misleading name of 

 " Tea," induced hundreds of florists to attempt its growth 

 under the same conditions as the Perle des Jardins or Bon 



