EARLY ROSES IN POTS. 



267 



as soon as any attack is noticed. We usually have to fumigate twice 

 before Christmas. 



When the shoots begin to show signs of buds we give them a shght 

 feeding of some manure dissolved in the water, and usually water them 

 with this about once a week, but if the weather is very dull it may 

 not be possible to do so quite so often. We always like to have one 

 watering with clear water between each watering with manure. 



We do not use any one particular manure or only one, but change 

 about with Clays', Bull's, and Renny Forbes' complete manures, and 

 also give the plants a Httle soot, sulphate of ammonia, sheep manure, 

 Peruvian guano, and a certain amount of hme. This seems a very 

 formidable list, but it is really not so, and probably if we kept to one or 

 two we should get the same results ; but manure merchants have a 

 way with them, and we try to oblige them by giving them orders now 

 and again. 



We really do not give the plants a great deal of manure, and it is 

 only waste of money to give them more than is necessary. We often 

 find it a good plan to withhold it altogether during the time of flowering 

 if the colour should be at all poor. Another way to improve the colour, if 

 it is not all that it should be, is to reduce the temperature for a few days 

 by about 5°, but this must not be overdone or the plants will be checked 

 too much. 



During the growing period the plants may be syringed whenever the 

 weather is favourable, but this operation must be done with extreme 

 care during the very dull time of late December and January, and of 

 course not too heavily. The foliage should be quite dry again by the 

 afternoon, and if it is not dry by this time of the day it would be 

 better to shake the v/ater off gently, so that the fohage will not be 

 cold and wet at night. It is quite possible that right in the middle 

 of winter a favourable opportunity for syringing would not occur for 

 a month or more, and if the hot-water pipes were kept very hot during 

 this period an attack of red spider would probably result. We find the 

 best thing to clear red spider is a good strong syringing right under the 

 fohage with a hose-pipe and a nozzle that points upwards at right angles 

 to the spray rod. This will clear the spider right off, and if done on a 

 sunny day the fohage is soon dry again. The same thing can be done 

 on a small scale with an Abol syringe, and of course an insecticide 

 can then be used to spray them with. 



The worst enemy to guard against in growing roses, under glass, 

 in my opinion, is mildew, and this can generally be kept away by 

 correct ventilation. A good preventive is the old one of smearing 

 sulphur on to the hot -water pipes, and if too much is not put on it 

 is a good plan to have a little always kept on the pipes ; a patch about 

 a foot long in every twelve feet or so of piping should be ample ; it 

 should of course, be on the flow pipe, not on the return. Campbell's 

 fumigators are also very good, but we find it better to use these 

 little and often than to use them too much at a time. 



Green fly is now practically no trouble at all, owing to the many 



