THE HISTORY AND CULTIVATION OF THE ROSE. 41 



obtained commencing early in May. No artificial heat is 

 necessary, unless they be required to flower earlier than this. 

 Roses, when grown in pits or a cold greenhouse, should 

 have abundance of air, and fumigating with tobacco must 

 be frequently resorted to for the destruction of the green- 

 fly. Plants pitted or housed in November will have made 

 shoots an inch long by February, when, if there is likely to 

 be a deficiency of shoots, some may be stopped, which will 

 cause two or three to be produced in place of one, but the 

 time of flowering will of course be retarded. 



The practice of forcing the Rose has of late years 

 become very general, and perhaps there is none other of 

 Nature's productions led from its natural course and brought 

 to flower amid the chills of winter that excites so much 

 interest and delight as a Rose. Formerly the Moss and 

 Provence were the only kinds forced, but now we have a 

 charming variety by the introduction of the Tea-Scented, 

 Hybrid Perpetual, and other groups. Roses intended for 

 forcing may be housed in November and brought to flower 

 soon after Christmas, but if a perfect bloom be sought for 

 the first week in January is early enough to commence. 

 It is scarcely necessary to dwell on the desirability of 

 having the wood well ripened of the plants about to be 

 forced. To accomplish this, when the plants are removed 

 from the forcing-house in Summer, and have made their 

 growth, they should be exposed to the full sun and air, 

 and not be too freely supplied with water. They should 

 be at rest at latest by the end of October. Roses are not 

 lovers of a powerful heat, and if I may so express myself, 

 we should lead rather than force them. We should bear 

 in mind that the nature of a 'plant is not changed by 

 forcing, but only the season at which its various functions 

 are performed ; it is introduced to artificial seasons; and we 

 should endeavour to make each artificial season approach 

 as nearly as possible to the natural season it represents. 

 Thus on the introduction of the plants to the forcing- 

 house, though it be the depth of winter, their spring in 



