THE BOOK OF THE ROSE 



CHAP. 



enter into any details of structure ; but in a cool house, 

 especially if the Roses are planted in the soil and not 

 grown in pots, it is advantageous that the whole of the 

 roof should be removable during the summer, when 

 canvas may be substituted for the glass for a short time 

 if necessary till the plants are hardened to exposure : 

 and in all cases the ventilation should be principally 

 at the top, and means should be provided in tanks 

 and troughs on the hot-water pipes for the evaporation 

 of moisture within the house. For early forcing a pit 

 is best, because the plants can be placed nearer the 

 glass and the light, and the pots may be so arranged 

 that they can be lowered to keep them the proper 

 distance from the glass as they grow higher. Some- 

 thing in the nature of an outside blind, which can be 

 pulled up under a ridge on the roof, is a very desirable 

 adjunct to a house where Roses are grown after the sun 

 has attained its summer strength. 



The simplest form of Rose culture under glass will 

 consist of standards or dwarfs planted in beds in a cool 

 house where the roof, and indeed as much as possible 

 of the structure, can be entirely removed by the middle 

 of June. The plants will then be subject to natural 

 conditions and treated in the usual manner till about 

 the middle of October, when the roof may be entirely 

 replaced, but plenty of air may still be given on fine 

 days. Many late buds thus sheltered from the 

 clamp which would have destroyed them in the open 

 may be preserved in this way, and some of the thin 

 and free-flowering Teas may continue to produce a 

 valuable bloom or two up to nearly Christmas. The 

 formation of these late buds may be promoted by 

 removing all flower buds in the summer till the end 

 of August. 



