270 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GAEDENING. 



Plants on their own roots are mostly preferred. 

 These respond more readily to artificial warmth, and 

 escape all the difficulties and dangers that may origi- 

 nate in incongruities between stocks and scions. It 

 must, however, be admitted that great success has 

 been obtained in the forcing of Roses worked on the 

 briar and other stocks. 



That the pots be well filled with roots is a vital 

 point with the experienced Rose-forcer. This con- 

 dition of success may be said to apply to all plants 

 as well as the Rose. Not only must there be an 

 abundance of roots, but the whole ball of soil should 

 be fiUed to overflowing with them, and the roots 

 should press against the internal surface of the pots 

 all round, to insure the fullest Rose harvest which 

 the tops are capable of yielding. 



A third point is maturity and strength of wood. 

 Growth should be well ripened, and fuU of vital 

 strength. By this latter phrase, mere size is not 

 exactly meant. Medium-sized growth, with the 

 buds as prominent as if they were ready to sever 

 their connection with it, is the visible sign of the 

 strength here desired. 



Early pruning and disbudding are essential to 

 success, especially in early forcing. Pot Roses placed 

 in heat in December should have been pruned in 

 September or October. This would concentrate, 

 and, as it were, accentuate vital force into the buds 

 left, and such weU-fiUed buds respond at once to 

 the stimulants heat and moisture. It is also good 

 practice to disbud severely, only leaving two buds 

 or so on a shoot, so as to keep the head of the Rose 

 thin, and thus insure more strength as well as light 

 for those left. 



Bottom heat, though not absolutely essential, is 

 very helpful. It should be from five to ten degrees 

 in excess of the atmospheric temperature. A house or 

 pit about twelve feet wide, with a narrow path down 

 the centre, and a pit four feet deep on either side, 

 filled with leaves or tan, is perhaps the best possible 

 for the early forcing of Roses. Such a structure would 

 hold from seventy to a hundred pot Roses, according 

 to their size. With the pots plunged in a bottom 

 heat of from 55° to 60°, the surface temperature 

 should not exceed 45° to 50° for the first fortnight or 

 three weeks. 



Temperature. — A cool start is best for Roses. 

 From 45° to 50° is sufficient until the buds are fairly 

 broken and the roots in full activity. As growth ex- 

 tends, a rise of ten degrees is ample until the buds 

 begin to show colour. During the last or flowering 

 stage, a night temperature of 60°, and a day one of 

 70°, may be provided; but these figures should "hever 

 be exceeded by artificial heat. An addition of ten or 

 more degrees of aun-heat will do no harm. For 



though the Rose dislikes anything Uke excessive heat, 

 yet any attempt to keep down the temperature by 

 admitting a rush of cold air, say in ilaroh, would do 

 far more harm than a temperature of 80° for a few 

 hours. 



Those who have noted how Roses in the open air 

 thi-ive and prosper in the dewj- mornings towards the 

 end of May, will not neglect to secure a growing at- 

 mosphere for their forced Roses by overhead sprink- 

 lings and damping down paths and stages, &c. 

 When bottom heat is given by the use of fermenting 

 materials, few of those additional sources of mois- 

 ture must be resorted to. During duU weather, and 

 so soon as the plants get into bloom, overhead 

 sprinkling should be discontinued. It is very im- 

 portant that the water used for this purpose should 

 be soft and pure, or it leaves disfiguring marks on 

 the leaves and bloom. 



"Watering the Roots. — But little will be 

 needed for the first few weeks ; probably none if the 

 pots are plunged in a mild, moist, bottom heat ; but 

 as the shoots extend, ajid the leaves get f uUy deve- 

 loped, the Roses in pots may require watering every 

 day, or even twice a day. The temperature of the 

 water should exceed by five degrees that of the 

 forcing-houses. 



Routine Attention to Forced Roses. — 



This consists in keeping the roots and stems free of 

 suckers, thinning out any weakly shoots or any ex- 

 cess of buds, tying up the shoots if the buds are so 

 heavy as to need support, surface-stirring the soil, 

 or adding fresh should the roots, as they often do, 

 come up and run along the surface ; keeping them 

 free of insect pests, and so exposing them to light and 

 air as to keep up their strength to the last. 



Time of Blooming. — Within about three 

 months or a little more of the time of starting 

 should be allowed. As the season advances, less 

 may be sufficient. Should unfavourable weather 

 prevail, it is safer to allow mpre time ; the forcing 

 of Roses into bloom in May being a much easier 

 and shorter matter than to make them flower in 

 February or March. Blooming may be prolonged 

 by shading during bright sunshine, and lowering the 

 temperature to 60° or so as a maximum ; or, better, by 

 removing the Roses to cooler houses when in flower. 



Sim.pler Means of Forcing Roses in Fots. 



— Among these, that of taking dwarfs or short 

 standards up out of the ground in the early autumn, 

 placing them in pots, and introducing them into 

 forcing or cooler houses or pits in January, and thus 

 gently fostering them into bloom in April and May, 



