On forcing Roses. 125 



just before any red tints appear on the earliest buds. No 

 unpleasant smell of the tobacco will remain upon the plants 

 after a day or two. The young shoots must also be care- 

 fully examined when only half an inch long, and any grubs 

 feeding upon them destroyed. 



After the blossoms are gathered, the plants must not be 

 removed to a back shed ? but kept in the frame, or brought 

 back into it, if they have been taken into the apartments of 

 the owner, permitting them to grow as they do in summer in the 

 open air, for at least two or three months. They must then 

 be placed in a shady situation, and kept rather dry than 

 moist, to throw them into a state of rest; after the month 

 of May, I prefer inverting them, especially the earlier crops, 

 between two planks raised upon tressels, high enough to 

 prevent the branches from touching the earth, as in the annexed 

 sketch [fig. 22.); having for twenty- 22 



five years experienced the utility 

 of this treatment, and suspecting that 

 it strengthens the future blossoms by 

 retaining sap in the branches, which 

 would otherwise descend to the root or form suckers. 



While the plants are growing they must be constantly 

 supplied with moisture; that which I employed with great 

 advantage consisted of water and pigeon's dung infused in it 

 a few days before, in the proportion of one ounce to a gallon of 

 water. Where pigeon's dung cannot be had, two ounces of 

 sheep or deer's dung may be substituted to each gallon of 

 water. 



It now only remains to add what is the most important 

 point of all to attend to in forcing roses, and that is to mark 

 all the plants, so that those introduced into the frame in 

 October, the first year, may be introduced on the same day 

 the second, and every succeeding year; and I know no 

 method of doing this so effectually as to paint No. 1, 2, 3, 

 &c. upon the pots themselves. Sticks and marks are liable 

 to decay, or to be changed by accident or negligence. Every 

 year, about a fortnight before the plants are forced, they must 

 be shifted into larger pots, exactly one inch wider in diameter 

 and not more, turning them out without breaking the ball or 

 disturbing any of the fibres, and filling the pots with the 

 same compost of hazel loam and vegetable earth. By this 

 method the same plants may be forced for ten years with- 

 out the inconvenience of using a very large pot, as the last 

 season they will not want to be removed, or may be shifted 

 into the same pot again. With respect to pruning, I have 

 never been in the habit of leaving more than two buds on 



