112 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE chap. 



bottom of the box to prevent shifting. It is no use 

 sending away full-blown Eoses ; they should in all 

 cases be undeveloped and scarcely past the bud 

 stage ; and another noteworthy and important pre- 

 paration for a successful journey consists in placing 

 the flowers in water for two or three hours before 

 packing. 



Many of the H.P. Eoses grown out of doors will 

 require a considerable thinning of the flower buds, 

 not only for exhibition, but in order to get 

 presentable blooms. The majority of the crimson 

 H.P.s, such as Madame Victor Verdier, form great 

 clusters of buds at the end of the strong shoots, and 

 the result will be most unsatisfactory if they are 

 all allowed to remain. The centre bud will open 

 first or try to do so, but it will be so hampered by 

 want of room and so robbed of its nutriment by its 

 many companions as to fall very far short of what 

 it might have been. It is generally not cut, as its 

 stem is too short unless the other buds are cut un- 

 opened, so it withers and spoils the appearance of 

 the "truss" just when two or three of the other 

 poor things come out even smaller than the first 

 one ; and so the whole life of the shoot is a failure 

 —it has not produced one Eose worthy of the 

 name, and yet it and the plant have been exhausted 

 by flower formation more than if the buds had been 

 properly thinned to one or two and a glorious bloom 

 had been obtained and cut. 



Those who grow Eoses merely to enjoy their 

 beauty without any thought of exhibiting them will 

 find that this thinning of the buds makes an im- 

 mense difference to the quality and beauty of their 

 blooms, and will give them, in the case of many 



