178 



THE BOOK OF THE ROSE 



CHAP. 



are not forgotten ; and do not open the house at all to 

 let in a wind which is really cold, or in frost or fog. 

 Watch for all insects, especially aphis — try how soon you 

 can get the first one, and perhaps it will also be the last. 



Clear liquid manure may occasionally be used for the 

 feeding ; as the plants increase in vigour, do not make 

 the food stronger, but give it gradually a little oftener, 

 with always pure rain water, which should never be below 

 the temperature of the house, between each dose. Very 

 strong ammoniacal liquid manure is kept by some growers 

 in troughs on the hotwater pipes, and it is generally 

 believed that the plants benefit through their leaves 

 from the gases thus diffused in the air. 



For a succession, the simplest plan is to bring in 

 fresh plants during the first few weeks, if there is 

 only one house. As the Tea Roses, and those that are 

 sensitive to wet, begin to show the petals, some care 

 should be taken to avoid syringing the blooms, but the 

 house must by no means be allowed to become dry ; the 

 paths and walls should be damped three times a day in 

 sunny weather at 8 A.M., noon, and 5.30 P.M. ; and there 

 should be at least an hour or two every day, at the time 

 the buds show colour, when air can be given. If there 

 is also a cool house, those plants, especially the H.P.s, 

 which are nearly opening their blooms, will show better 

 and more lasting flowers if they can be removed to it, or 

 at all events shaded from bright sun. A slight fall of 

 temperature and a little less light are always beneficial 

 for the actual blooming, but of course the decrease of 

 heat should not be great. 



There is considerable danger in over- watering forced 

 Roses in pots when the growth is young, and the flower 

 buds are forming, for " damping off " is even a worse mis- 

 fortune than mildew. Tapping the pots with a knob- 



