ROSE. 



157 



ground. Bend down a shoot of a few weeks' 

 growth, make an incision on the upper side nearly 

 severing it, at a point where there are green leaves 

 both above and below, and bury the cut part an 

 inch in the soil, pegging it down. When the layer 

 has rooted sever it from the parent plant. If a pot 

 is sunk to the level of the rim, to receive the layer 

 the important advantage will be gained of not be- 

 ing obliged to transplant, as the rose is slow to re- 

 cover any disturbance of its roots. These make 

 flowering plants the following spring, 



GENERAL TREATMENT. 



Roses for winter blooming should be summered 

 in pots to avoid the destruction of the working 

 roots, and the consequent check to their growth 

 occasioned by repotting in the fall. If plunged in 

 earth or sand, frequently shifted to larger pots and 

 not allowed to get too dry in the hot days of sum- 

 mer they will make a vigorous growth. In long 

 heavy rains the pots should be lifted a few hours 

 to dry. It should be remembered that if the fine 

 white tender extremeties, the growing points of the 

 roots, are disturbed by transplanting, or killed by 

 the hot sun striking the surface of the pots, or by 

 a sodden soil, the health of the plant is' destroyed 

 and new working roots must be formed before 

 growth can proceed, or the plant be forced into 

 bloom. Roses do better in smaller pots in propor- 

 tion^ to their size than almost any other plant. 



