130 THE FLOWER GARDEN COMPANION. 



seeds, by digging and well pulverizing it; the seed may then 

 be sown in drills, twelve inches apart, and covered with a 

 portion of light earth, mixed with sand, and the ground gently 

 beaten down with the back of the spade, or a board, in order 

 to make the surface solid and level. To this method, may 

 be added that of sowing the seed in pots, or boxes, (old glass 

 boxes are just the thing,) and I think the best; these may be 

 filled with good compost, and the seed sown the same time 

 and manner as above directed. In either method, a place 

 should be chosen where the young plants are not too much 

 exposed to the influence of the sun, nor under the drip of 

 trees, in the summer. The ground should be kept moderately 

 moist, and by good attention most of seed will grow the first 

 year ; although it generally happens, as the covering of the 

 rose seed is very hard, many of them remain in the ground 

 until the second year before they vegetate.* In order to for- 

 ward the growth and flowering of the seedlings, they may be 

 taken from the seedling-bed when they have three or four 

 leaves, and transplanted into a nursery bed in rows, twelve 

 inches apart and six inches in the row. In this place, all the 

 hardy kinds may remain until they flower, which will be in 

 two or three years ; but the varieties of the Tea, and the 

 tender kinds, will require to be potted in the fall, and treated 

 as the pot rose, until they flower, when the cultivator may 

 determine on their qualities. This method is the one gene- 

 rally adopted for the roses that flower in June, or the hardy 

 garden rose. 



For the choice varieties of pot roses, where a green-house 

 is at hand, I think the better method is to sow the berries of 

 Roses in pots or boxes, when taken from the plant, and place 

 them in the green-house during the winter; and by this 

 method the seed vegetates early in the spring; owing to its 

 being kept continually moist, the hard shell decomposes 

 sooner than when in a dry state. In this mode, care should 



* See Propagation by Seed, Part I., Art. 2. 



