412 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May *«, 1887. 
autumn, but if stopped now they will produce two or three 
shoots instead of the one of suitable wood for furnishing 
the tree quickly and carrying a crop of fruit next season. 
—Wm. Bardney. 
BOSE-GROWING FOR BEGINNERS. 
(Continued from page 371.) 
ROSES ALL THE YEAR ROUND. 
I am not one of those who care much about having things out 
of their proper season—house lamb at 5s. lb., salmon at ditto, 
Strawberries at Is. an oz., Pears at half a guinea each, have no 
charms for me ; and, applying the rule .to Roses, I fancy we think 
all the more of them if we d.o not get them every day in the year. 
Put those who desire this, and have the means, can get very near to 
it in this way. From July onwards they can have Roses in the 
open right up to the autumn frosts; then a nice lot of Teas grown 
on in pots for the purpose, plunged out in open beds in summer, 
may be brought under glass, and being full of buds, will give 
blooms up to and beyond Christmas, provided a proper temperature 
can be had. Then comes a little break until the forced Roses come 
into bloom ; when these come in the supply may be kept up until 
July comes round again. The Teas above mentioned would require 
to be put out about the end of May, and they should be placed on 
ashes or other hard material, having the spaces between the pots 
filled in with leaf mould or soil. They should be plunged over the 
rim of the pots in this ; if leaf soil be used the time saved in 
'watering will be considerable. Any buds that appear should be 
removed until within about six weeks of the time it is proposed to 
bring the plants under glass. 
FORCING R03ES. 
Let it be understood to start with, that all Roses intended to be 
forced, or to be made to grow and bloom out of their natural 
season, must be thoroughly established, and have the pots full of 
roots, and the wood ripe. To attempt to force small plants freshly 
potted, is to court defeat. Let it be understood, too, that if we 
want plants to force, we must have a stock of them for that 
purpose alone. The beginner must not imagine that after a pot 
Rose has been blooming all the season out of doors, that it can be 
taken indoors and made to keep on blooming all through the winter 
and spring following. If a man were to work all day, and sit up 
all night, for a few weeks, he would find at the finish that he would 
require a good long sleep to recover himself —30 it is with a plant, 
and so in forcing a Rose it must have its four seasons, just as a 
j)'ant grown in a natural way ; there must be a time for growing, 
for flowering, for ripening, and for resting. The H.P. requires to 
be attended to in this respect much more particularly than the Tea 
-or Noisette, and for this reason these latter are much more suited 
.for growing where we want a constant succession of bloom. 
Supposing we buy a number of healthy plants in pots in May— 
or select some from our own stock—we first look to the roots, and 
repot those that we think will fill the new pots with roots during 
the season of growth. Let them, then, be plunged out and grown 
as outdoor plants, and encourage them to make all the growth 
possible. About August they should have made some nice shoots. 
They should now be taken up, and placed either in a cold house 
or under a wall, or in some position where they will become fairly 
dry at the root—withhold water, just giving enough to keep the 
plants alive—they should be dried off gradually. In this way they 
will ripen early in the season, and this will prepare them for early 
blooming the following spring. 
About Christmas they may be pruned, and in about three weeks 
they may be brought into a little heat. There must not be any 
great jump in the temperature; begin with 5° above outside tem¬ 
perature, and increase 10° in about three weeks, and 10° more 
during the following fortnight. A temperature of 60° is quite 
enough early in the year, but the temperature must in all cases be 
regulated to the growth. If the plants grow well and strong with 
a high temperature, there is no harm being done, but if they come 
weak and drawn, then the temperature must be kept down. The 
night temperature should be 10° below the day, and the plants 
must have all the light possible. 
The watering of Roses and other plants in pots is one of the 
most important points in the whole of their culture, and it is one 
in which many beginners fail. It is impossible to lay down any 
rule as to how often a certain number of plants will require water 
each individual plant will have to be treated according to its 
requirements. Plants with many leaves pp, and where the roots 
fill the pots, will very quickly get dry, while, on the other hand, 
those newly potted, or in cases where there are few roots or few 
leaves, or where there is little or no growth going on, require 
very little. In hot weather, where plants are in full growth under 
glass, they may require watering twice a day. It is an infallible 
sign that water is wanted when the young shoots and leaves of a 
plant in full growth droop and look a! if withering, though this 
often occurs when the sun is very hot, even when the soil is 
thoroughly moist. When the leaves fall off, or turn yellow, it is a 
sign that the roots are kept t&o moist. 
The best and easiest way to ascertain the state of the roots is 
to rap the side of the pot with the knuckles; if the pots rings 
clear and bell-like, water is required; if it sound dull and heavy, 
none is necessary. It may happen that when a plant has been in a 
frame, or has been neglected at any time, the soil may be discovered 
to be quite dry. The only way to thoroughly moisten the roots 
when in this state, is to plunge the pot over head and ears into a 
bucket of water for a few hours. This drying may go so far as 
the plant apj earing to be quite de'xd, and the shoots shrivelled lip 
like dry chips—the bucket will generally restore these apparently 
dead ones to life again. 
Another matter that often deceives beginners. We often read 
instructions written to “ withhold water,” or “ water sparingly.” 
This does not mean that we are to give a dribble or sprinkling now 
and again ; but what is intended to be conveyed is, that at all times 
when water is given, the soil should be made thoroughly moist, but 
that this should not be done so often. In forcing Roses no air or 
ventilation is necessary. A rise of 10° or 15° in temperature from 
sun heat will do no harm ; but if air is to be given at all, it must be 
by means of top ventilators, and then only about an inch should be 
opened. The effect of opening wide the ventilators or side lights 
may often be seen in an hour ; all the young shoots will be as white 
as if dusted with flour, and once arrived at this stage, we may 
conclude we are on the high road to failure. The floor of the 
house should be kept moist, and the plants should be syringed 
once, twice, or three times each day, so as to maintain a moist 
growing temperature. As soon as the plants have any leaves on 
them they should be looked over and disbudded where they require 
it. From this stage forward they should be syringed at least twice 
each day—but beware of too much damp, and hold your hand in 
wet weather—and to prevent mildew and insects, and to keep the 
plants healthy, a little softsoap should be added to the water. It 
should be added at the rate of j- oz. to each gallon of water, and 
the best plan is to dissolve half a pound of the soap in boiling 
water, and then to bottle if off, putting a little into the watering 
can as required. Some people recommend that the water used for 
syringing should be warm—all I can say is, that I always use it 
cold, and I never noticed any bad effects from it. 
As soon as we see a single green fly on the plants we must 
fumigate with tobacco paper. A proper fumigator costs, for a 
small house, about 5s., and will soon save itself in tobacco paper 
alone, as compared to a flower pot used in place of it, and which 
never gives satisfaction. I never have any mildew under glass, and 
very little outside, but the first spot that is seen is the signal for 
having all the pipes daubed with sulphur made into a paste and put 
on with a brush. The better plan is not to wait for the mildew to 
appear, it is pretty sure to come, but to dress the pipes with the 
sulphur about once a fortnight, on the system that “ prevention is 
better than cure." Caterpillars will be found active on forced 
Roses, these must be removed by hand. 
As the plants make shoots these must be staked and tied, as 
advised before. Climbers should be trained horizontally, so that 
all the buds may break. Where they are attached to wires they 
should be tied so that the bark does not touch the wires. I have 
seen shoots cut half through by this means, and with Marechal Niel 
this generally ends in canker. As the leaves become larger and 
more numerous, water will be required in greater quantity. At 
this stage soot water is very beneficial. The best way to make it is 
to put a cotton bag containing about 6 or 7 lbs. of soot into thirty 
gallons of water. The bag may be squeezed occasionally. As soon 
as the buds are formed, weak manure water may be given about 
three times a week. This is best made with fresh horse-droppings 
or cow manure, and should not be darker in colour than pale ale. 
When the first growths of Tea Roses come blind, the shoots should 
be tied down horizontally, and if kept growing, the buds will 
quickly break again, and generally speaking each little shoot will 
carry a flower. If gross shoots appear while the plant is well 
furnished with good young wood, they should be at once removed, 
but these gross shoots often carry a number of magnificent 
blooms. 
After the plants have flowered the H.P.’s should be gradually 
hardened off, either by the reduction of the temperature or 
removal to another house, and eventually plunged outside, when 
they will make a summer growth. Before being plunged they 
should all be repotted, or this may be done directly after flowering, 
this latter plan giving the plants a start in the new soil. About the 
beginning of August they should be again taken up and treated as 
