36 



CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



has fine, large, pink, trumpet-shaped 

 flowers, easily grown from seed. 

 The 



MOON FLOWKR 



does fairly well as a window plant, but 

 the verandah is the place for it, and if 

 in good soil, it will well repay the little 

 care it requires with foliage and 

 flowers. The flowers of the true moon- 



plant average about four inches in 

 diameter, opening in the evening or 

 sometimes after dark, and those words 

 of the poet, though intended for an- 

 other variety of flower, are suitable for 

 this : 



•' When pleasures, like the midnight flower 

 That scorns the eye of vulgar light, 

 Begin to bloom for sons of night, 

 AwA maids who love the moon." 



ROSES IN WINTER— CARE, TREATMENT, ETC. 



Ity F. MITCHELL, INNERKIP, ONi 



AT the present season this is almost 

 altogether restricted to the 

 conservatory or the window 

 garden. Roses in the open ground 

 if properly cared for in Decem- 

 ber by laying down and protecting as 

 required, will need no further care till 

 spring, excepting to keep a look out for 

 field mice. The best and quickest way 

 to get rid of these destructive little 

 animals is to poison them with arsenic. 

 I find this to be much better for the 

 purpose than strychnine, which I have 

 also tried but with indifierent success. 

 I think this is owing to the crystals or 

 grains of sti-ychnine being so coarse 

 that the mice can easily avoid it. I 

 ■put the arsenic in a newly cut piece of 

 turnip, and place it on the ground in 

 the runways, or where the mice are 

 likely to run, covering with a piece of 

 board in such a way that there is an 

 inch or two of space between the board 

 and the ground, and if there is snow, 

 cover the whole deeply with it. Field 

 mice will eat aImo.st any kind of vege- 

 table, but turnip is the best to use, as 

 frost does not easily destroy it. 



I cannot recommend ro.ses as strongly 

 as some other plants for house culture 

 in winter. If, howeve)-, they are used 

 in this way I would advise that no 

 effort be made to bring them into bloom 

 until the latter part of winter, when 

 the days are longer and brighter than 

 they are now. It is best at this time 



of the year to keep the plants resting 

 in the pots in the cellar, or some other 

 cool place. The earth in the pots should 

 be kept rather dry, and if the tempeia- 

 ture should fall a little below freezing 

 occasionally it will do even tender roses 

 no harm. If kept back this way until 

 after midwinter they may then be 

 brought into the light and warmth of a 

 bright dwelling-room window, and if 

 the variety is suitable will soon make 

 a fairly good display of bloom. By the 

 aid of the conservatory, roses can be 

 had at this season as at all others, and 

 before proceeding further I would re- 

 mark that any advice here oflTered is 

 for only those who grow roses for 

 pleasure. It is to the interest of the 

 grower for market to produce his whole 

 crop as aearly as he can at the time 

 when the prices are the highest, while 

 the amateur prefers to have some 

 blooms, at least, at all seasons. The 

 treatment is therefore naturally very 

 different when strong healthy plants 

 and a more or less continuous display 

 of bloom is required, or as in the case 

 of the professional florist whose en- 

 deavor it is to force a heavy crop of 

 bloom at a particular season even at 

 the expense of the after health of the 

 plants. It is best at this season to 

 keep the temperature of the conserva- 

 tory rather low (from forty to sixty 

 degrees will do) and give fresh air when 

 the weather will permit. At this low 



