MR, RIVERS ON CHRISTMAS ROSES. > 
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9 
Every cultivator of the Rose is well acquainted with the difficulty of 
having Roses in bloom in the “ dark and dreary” month of Decern- i 
her. I feel therefore much pleasure in giving the result of some 
experiments ending in perfect success; so that in future a bouquet 
of Roses on Christmas-day may grace the festive board in company , 
with the hoUy, rivalling in brilliancy the colour of its berries. 
The Bourbon Rose, Gloire de Rosamene, is now well known by 
every lover of this favourite flower as a most brilliant and beautiful * 
variety; but, like many other Roses remarkable for the brilliancy of ■; 
their tints, its flowers are deficient in fulness ; in fact, they are merely ^ 
semidouble; and, like all Roses of this description, they fade very ^ 
quickly in hot weather; it is only in the cool cloudy days of \ 
autumn, when their flowers never fully expand, that they are seen in is 
perfection. This quality induced me to turn my attention to this | 
variety, as well-calculated to give a crop of very late autumnal or | 
winter flowers. r 
Nothing can be more simple than their management. Towards ^ 
the end of May, young plants from small pots should be shifted into | 
32’s or 6-inch pots, in a good compost of two-thirds loam and one- ? 
third rotten manure or decayed leaves, and plunged in sawdust or S 
old tan in the open ground, fully exposed to sun and air; they may | 
be allowed to bloom freely all June and July, but in August and I 
September every blossom-bud should be pinched off; this will make f. 
the plants stout and very robust, and towards the end of October b 
an abundant crop of incipient flower-buds will be apparent; the 
plants may then be removed to a light and airy glazed pit or green- ^ 
house, and placed as near the glass as possible : no fire-heat, unless ^ 
frost is very severe, should be employed, and abundance of air—they • 
cannot have too much—should be given : it will also be much better . 
to place the pots on slates or on a layer of sand, rather than on a dry 
wooden shelf. I am induced to recommend sand from the perfect 
success I have had with my plants, which, after being taken from 
I 
