166 THE FLOWER GARDEN COMPANION. 



ART. 2. The China Rose. 



The green-house should always possess a good collection 

 of the Chinese or Ever-blooming Rose, and particularly the 

 choice varieties of the Tea Roses, which are delightful speci- 

 mens for the spring flowering, although the common daily, 

 and some of its varieties, are excellent for buds in the winter 

 flowering, and are much admired in the bouquet. 



To have roses in good perfection for the green-house, they 

 should be well attended to in the autumn, by neglecting 

 which, the China Rose makes but a poor show in the winter. 

 The general method of allowing the plants of the China 

 Rose to remain in the ground too late in the fall, is a bad 

 system ; for in that case the plants do not have the chance 

 of being well established to the pots, before taken into the 

 house, which is one reason of their flowering but indiffer- 

 ently during winter. To grow roses in good perfection in 

 the green-house, the plants should be two years old, and the 

 method I recommend is to strike the cutting in summer, as 

 directed under the head for the culture of the rose. The 

 cuttings may remain in the small pots during winter, 

 and in the spring they may be plunged into the ground. 

 These may be taken up and repotted about the latter end of 

 August, in a compost of two thirds good mellow loam taken 

 from the top of a rich piece of sod or pasture, and the 

 remainder, well rotted manure or leaf mould, with a portion 

 of good sharp sand ; mix it well together and have your pots 

 ready for the business. 



Prepare some pots of a convenient size for the plants, 

 by placing some pieces of broken pots at the bottom, to 

 give a good drainage to the plants ; cover these with some 

 pieces of rotten sod from the compost, and put in a little of 

 the compost, sufficient to receive the plants, which should be 

 carefully taken from the ground with some earth attached to 

 the roots, if possible. They may be potted in the same 

 manner as directed under the head of "General Potting," in 

 Part III., Chap. VII, When potted give them a good water- 



