ROSES IN POTS 49 



But pot roses at this stage ought not to be heavily manured or 

 too often fed. 



HOUSING 



Early in December, that is before the plants have been frosted 

 through and through, those intended for the season's forcing should 

 be lifted, cleaned, and transferred to a cold house. Very severe 

 frosts will sometimes damage the wood, and more often than not 

 this is at the very spot where you most want it to be sound and 

 perfect, and that is why we suggest the protection of a cold house. 

 For even when the frost may not have actually damaged the wood 

 and the eyes, it will probably have left its mark in the pith, and 

 this must of itself prove somewhat of a constitutional check 

 upon a plant which you are anxious should grow quickly and 

 strongly without any check at all. 



About the middle of the month a suitable number of the most 

 promising plants should be selected and pruned, but this pruning 

 must not be so drastic as that of a year ago. It is still right to remove 

 every weak growth, but instead of cutting back for growth you cut 

 back for bloom, and the cutting is not so drastic. In Figs. 23 and 24 

 we have in outline presented the two methods. The plants you 

 now select will form the first batch to be taken into the forcing 

 house, but not without undergoing an intermediate stage which 

 must be passed in an intermediate house, because if they were 

 introduced immediately to a high temperature the probability is 

 that many of the growths would be blind. Give them two or three 

 weeks in the temperate house and all their life springs will set 

 in motion quite naturally, after which they will be quite ready to 

 respond to more forceful treatment. It is when the eyes are almost 

 at bursting-point that it is perfectly safe to put them in the forcing 

 house where the temperature can be maintained at not less than 

 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The atmosphere of this house must be 

 humid, in which case a daily syringing with tepid water will obviate 

 the necessity of heavily watering the plants until growth has become 

 well advanced. 



The plants should not be placed too near to the hot-water pipes, 

 for there is something in the fumes or heat waves radiating from 

 them that is inimical to the rose like the hot breath of the Sahara 



