i £6 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF GARDENING. 



INSECTS AND DISEASES. — Tea Roses are perhaps freer from insect trials than other 

 classes. They cannot stand stagnant moisture, which causes the leaves to drop. Thrips are 

 troublesome, and sully the flowers, but w hen flowers are required for show it is well to tie 

 them up in a paper bag. They suffer less from fungoid troubles than the Hybrid Perpetuals, 

 otherwise all Roses share about the same fate. 



PROPAGATION is effected by budding in July, by cuttings, by grafting, and by layering. 

 Cuttings should be selected from wood that has flowered, and put them in during 

 July in sand under glass. Make the cuttings about 3m. long and do not remove the leaves. 

 Sprinkle the cuttings occasionally and keep them slightly shaded, when they will quickly root. 

 Pot up when rooted and grow on in gentle heat, and plant out in the following spring. This 

 course is strongly advised. Grafting is done by using the roots of Briars in November. Lay 

 them in a shed in sand, and bed out in April. Strong growers, such as Gloire de Dijon 

 and Grace Darling, can be layered very easily, and July is the most suitable month for 

 the work'. 



TEA-SCENTED ROSES IN POTS.— This group and the hybrid forms are delightful pot 

 plants, and under glass the colours are very pure, although frequently the charming tints seen 

 on the petals in the open garden disappear. A good time to procure plants for pots is in 

 autumn, when they can be purchased already established, or pof them up from the ground 

 and grow out of doors for a year. Prune them according to the time they are desired 

 in flower ; that is, if to flower in February and March, prune in November. Keep the 

 plants dry, after pruning, until the new growths are 2in. or 3m. long, and soak" them 

 then with water slightly warm. This is a point of much importance. Cold water chills 

 the roots and check's healthy growth. Be careful in watering to keep the plants at first 

 rather too dry than otherwise. This class of Rose appreciates warmth, preferring a 

 temperature of about 55deg. at night, rising to 6odeg. or 62deg. in the daytime. The 

 Meteor is a very useful indoor kind and largely grown in America, where it is considered 

 tlie best winter red flower, but it is useless out of doors. It must have a temperature o* 

 65deg. at night, with a proportionate rise by day. After first flowering, thin out the shoots 

 and grow on the plants a^ain in heat, turning them out of doors about July. They should then 

 be repotted if necessary, but some growers do not repot every year, merely top dressing 

 the plants. Specimens of this kind, if the pots are full of roots, would require liberal 

 feeding with liquid manure, and an occasional sprinkling of some good artificial fertiliser. 

 The compost for pot Roses should consist of three parts of good fibrous loam, and a 

 part each of well-decayed cow dung and leaf mould with a little sharp silver sand, wood 

 ashes, and bone meal. 



The most successful results are, however, obtained from plants in borders under 

 glass, not pots. When this practice is followed, trench the ground well, working in 

 some bone meal, and plant out from 48 sized pots in June. In two or three 

 years the plants will be from 3ft. to 4ft. high, with wood as thick as one's finger. 

 Give the plants a rest for three weeks or a month in July or August. They will then 

 make new growth, and produce beautiful flowers in September and October, continuing 

 to bloom all the winter. The lights of the houses should be movable, so as to allow 

 rains and dews to fall upon the plants at times. 



When the Roses are in pots, and they have been taken out of doors after flowering, 

 stand them upon brick's and then plunge in coal ashes or cocoa-nut fibre refuse. Keep 

 them watered and give liquid manure occasionally. If flowers are desired at Christmas, 

 pick off all the buds until September. Then remove the plants to a cold house, when 

 buds will be produced which will develop, with gentle heat, about Christmas. The Tea- 

 scented Roses make noble pot specimens, and in the past plants of Mme, Willermoz and 

 others have been as high as 7ft., bearing upwards of 200 flowers, a glorious feast of beauty. 



Marechal Niel is best grown, where space is available, as a Standard, and the way 



