262 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



A good deal may "be done to extend Rose culture 

 under glass by the utilisation of blank spaces or the 

 substitution of Roses for other plants in existing 

 houses. Commercially, housefuls of Roses return far 

 more money if skilfully managed than the same houses 

 furnished Avith fruit, while no plant can match the 

 Rose in beauty and fragrance, and that peculiar 

 freshness and novelty that distinguish Roses grown 

 under glass and out of season. 



Vine-wires, Peach-trellises, the back and side 

 walls of houses, and roof -rafters, are just the places 

 for Roses to clothe or festoon with their matchless 

 beauty, and fill to overflowing with their fragrance. 

 Orchard-houses without trellised roofs may be fur- 

 nished with large bush Roses, or standards, in the 

 place of fruit-trees that may or mny not have yielded 

 much produce or profit. 



One of the first Rose-houses in this coimtry, that 

 in the gardens of the London Horticultural Society 

 at Chiswick, was originally an orchard-house. The 

 fruit-trees were simply rem^oved, the borders re-made, 

 and the centre and side borders planted with Roses 

 many years ago, which did remarkably well, and 

 formed a novel feature of interest at the time. The 

 next Rosary nnder glass best known to the writer is 

 in a large, lofty-domed, span-roofed conservatory. 

 Camellias, Acacias, and other tall flowering shrubs 

 were cleared out ; two feet of good turfy loam, well 

 emiched with manure, substituted for the regulation 

 mixture of half peat, half loam ; and the Roses planted 

 against the columns that supported the roof in the 

 centre, and the pillars between the tall lights all 

 round the house. TreUises, from eight to ten feet 

 in height, were also arranged over the growing- 

 space between the pillars, and arched over the cen- 

 tral paths, imparting to these and the chief paths 

 round the house the charm of Rose-arbours under 

 glass, where the delicate Tea and Noisette Roses 

 could ramble at their sweet will, without danger of 

 being cut down by frost or blighted by the cruel 

 cutting March winds. Strong-growing Roses, such 

 asMarechalNiel, Gloire de Dijon, Homere, Lamarque, 

 &c., were run up the loftiest columns, and very soon 

 clothed them and the roof with garlands of beauty; 

 while weaker Teas clothed the trellises, and the finer 

 Perpetuals filled the cooler borders, four feet wide, 

 against the vertical sashes. This Rose-house, alike in 

 its structure, arrangement, and results, was a great 

 success, though somewhat too lofty. 



Perhaps a span-roofed house about ten or tw^elve 

 feet high, fifteen wide, and thirty or fifty feet long, 

 with the glass all round coming down to within 

 twenty-four inches or thrc^e feet of the ground, with 

 abundant means of admitting air near the ground, 

 and allowing the heated air to escape at the highest 

 part, is the best that could be devised for the forcing 



or general culture of Roses imder glass. Excel- 

 lent results have also been produced by planting 

 low-sunk houses and semi-pits from eight to ten feet 

 wide with Roses. These can be heated and kept 

 warm at less cost of labour and coal than any other 

 shaped glass structure. 



To have Roses in plenty all the year round it wiU 

 be needful to have more than one Rosary under glass. 

 Two at least will be needed, or a good reserve kept 

 in pots to draw^ upon. But two houses, large or small, 

 as means or limits suggest, is the more convenient 

 method of keeping up a continuous supply. One 

 might be libei^ally heated, the other but slightly, or 

 not at all. 



Own-root Roses Best for Culture under 

 Glass.— There arc many reasons for this. All 

 that need be referred to here is the securing 

 of plants of uniform character, hardiness, and 

 ratio of growth throughout, and the immense 

 cultural importance of being able to draw upon 

 the root for fresh shoots when wanted, to resuscitate 

 or renovate the semi or wholly exhausted tops. 

 Suckers on own-root Roses, instead of being evils to 

 be shunned, are the most valued allies of the culti- 

 vator in keeping up the stamina of his Roses, as 

 well as perennial antidotes to premature decay or 

 exhaustion. That Rose-roots love to ramble must be 

 obvious to all that have handled or seen them ; most 

 of our efforts to cure them of this tendency fail. The 

 Idng, fangy roots of Roses cannot be changed to fibrous 

 ones wdth the same promptitude and certainty as 

 those of fruit-trees. Cramp them into j)ots; the fangs 

 will run round and round in search of an exit in the 

 bottom, through which they will find freedom, and 

 remain fangs still. Better let Rose-root nature have 

 its way by planting them in the free soil when 

 and where practicable, instead of cramping them into 

 pots, boxes, &c. 



The boring character of Rose-roots also suggests 

 another point, viz., that the borders may be deeper 

 for Roses than for fruit-trees. So long as the former 

 find abundance of food and drink, it seems to matter 

 little to the Rose harvest the}^ produce w^hether the 

 roots are within three inches or three feet of the 

 surface. This chiefly refers to Roses under glass ; 

 but even in the open it is possible that our severe 

 attempts to thwart the natm-al tendency of Rose-roots 

 to descend has been more fruitful of root-suckers 

 than of food and strength to the Roses. Hence pos- 

 sibly a border four feet deep and two wide is better 

 for Roses under glass than one four feet wide and 

 two feet deep. 



Unless the subsoil is very wet it will hardly be 

 needful to add much or any drainage for Rose 

 borders under glass. The Rose in a growing state 



