THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
229 
POT ROSES. 
BT AH' AMATEUR EOSAEIAN. 
lOSES are not grown in pots so generally as they should 
be in private gardens, and this is, in the main, owing to 
amateurs being afraid to take them in hand, through 
tlie existence of the belief that when they are in pots 
they are most difficult to manage. To produce splendid 
specimens like those exhibited in the Metropolis during the spring 
season by Mr. Charles Turner and Messrs. Paul and Son, a vast 
amount of skill and labour are essential ; but the cultivation of nice 
little plants adapted for the decoration of the conservatory, is quite 
another matter, and may be accomplished as easily as the cultivation 
of the commonest plant suitable for the conservatory. They can, 
moreover, be had in bloom before it is possible to have roses out of 
doors, without the aid of any artificial heat whatever ; or, at all 
events, with no more heat than is required to keep the frost out of 
the greenhouse, and insuring the safety of the other occupants. It 
is important that there should be no misconception upon this point, 
for usually pot roses and forcing pits are associated together in a 
manner to lead the uninitiated to suppose them to be quite in- 
separable. 
The amateur commencing with pot roses should buy, in the months 
of July or August, as many plants as his circumstances and con- 
veniences will justify. If they can be afforded, strong, established 
plants, in five-inch pots, costing about thirty shillings per dozen, 
should have the preference ; but strong plants in three-inch pots, 
worth from twelve to eighteen shillings per dozen, will do ex- 
ceedingly well to make a beginning with. 
The pots must be well filled with roots, for spring-struck 
plants recently potted will not be of much service for decorative 
purposes next spring. When they are received, prepare a compost 
of two parts turfy loam and one part decayed manure, and shift 
them into pots two sizes larger, using the prepared compost and 
well-drained pots. After they are repotted, stand them on a bed of 
coal-ashes in an open position, and attend to them regularly until 
they are nicely established in the new soil. Water sparingly and 
sprinkle them overhead once a day at least, the evening being, as a 
rule, the best time for doing so. Some time in December remove them 
to the greenhouse or frame, and prune them to within two or three 
buds of the base of the young wood. The soil must be kept just 
moist only until the plants begin to break freely in the spring, and 
then the supply of water can be increased. In other respects they 
will require the same attention as the other occupants of the house, 
and after they have done flowering shift them into larger pots and 
remove them to the open air. 
The most essential point is to select suitable varieties ; and as I 
have paid, for many years past, a considerable attention to the pot- 
culture of roses, can strongly recommend the undermentioned as 
being the very best in the several classes and colours. 
August. 
