186 CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 



and cover the whole with straw or corn-stalks, but a much neater 

 covering is a good canvass awning, supported by posts, which 

 can be taken down when not needed, and will last many years. 

 The Bourbons and Bengals, with the Teas and Noisettes, will 

 sometimes bloom the first season ; but as the piant will be weak, 

 a correct opinion cannot be formed of its character until the sec- 

 ond summer. The summer roses, or those which bloom only 

 once in the season, never show bloom until their third, and some- 

 times not until their fourth and fifth year. It is well to let all the 

 plants remain in the seed-bed until the fifth year, as some which 

 prove unpromising at first may result in something really good. 

 All that prove bad the fifth year can be marked for destruction, or 

 cut down to* receive the buds of the good varieties. In order to 

 obtain a good bloom as soon as possible, it is well to have ready 

 some strong stocks of the Greville, Maheka, or any other free- 

 growing rose, into which buds can be inserted of any of the seed- 

 lings whose habit and general appearance promise good flowers, 

 and whose growth has been sufficient to furnish good buds. The 

 next spring the stock should be cut down to the bud, which will 

 then make luxuriant shoots, and produce flowers the same sea- 

 son, if an Everblooming variety; but if one of the summer roses, 

 not till the next season. The third spring let every branch be 

 cut down to three or four eyes, when it will more fully develop 

 its character, and will often continue improving until its fifth or 

 sixth year. 



The first winter, the young plants will require protection from 

 the cold by some kind of litter, and the Bengal, Tea, and Noi- 

 sette varieties will always need it during the winter. Where 

 there are any plants of these latter, whose habit and appearance 

 promise something excellent, they can be potted on the approach 

 of winter, kept in a cool temperature, free from frost, and re- 

 planted again in the spring. 



When it is desired that the young plant should possess the 

 properties of two well-known flowers, resort is had to artificial 

 impregnation. 



Although the existence of sexuality in plants appears to have 



