FEBRUARY. 
5 I 
it would be useless attempting trying to do better than well for the sake of 
following the fashion ; further, there is the expense—no slight object 
with me. ' 
[Nothing can be more correct in theory than your pit—and your 
practice confirms it. We shall indeed be pleased to see it.]—E d. 
Florist. 
RIVERS’ ROSE AMATEUR’S GUIDE. 
A sixth edition of this useful work has just appeared. To the 
excellent practical information which former editions contained, we find 
among new matters the following interesting additions. On the subject 
of “ How to make the Perpetual Moss Rose bloom freely in autumn,” 
Mr. Rivers says :— 
“ There are some other Autumnal Moss Roses, very pretty and fra¬ 
grant ; such are Celine Briant and Marie de Bourgogne, both dwarf 
and free blooming; and then we have as new roses of this class, 
Imperatrice Fugenie, and Alfred de Dalmas, both of them pretty, but 
not very distinct ; and Emile de Girardin and Gloire d’Orient, vigorous 
growers, but not well inclined to bloom in autumn; so let us dismiss 
our new friends with a hope and certain anticipation of much ultimate 
improvement in variety of colour and tendency to give us moss roses in 
autumn. The culture of these hybrid moss roses should be the same 
as that of the Hybrid Perpetuals, but to ensure their blooming freely 
in autumn, they should be lifted and replanted with some fresh compost 
annually in November.” 
Under the head of culture and pruning of Dwarf Hybrid Perpetual 
Roses, we have the following :— 
“ The winter pruning of these roses is best performed at two or even 
three periods ; in November for those required to bloom early, and 
towards the end of March, or even later, if it is wished to retard them : 
these maybe called peculiar seasons for a special purpose, but the gene¬ 
ral season should be towards the end of February if the weather be 
mild. This winter pruning may be described in very few words, for 
nothing is more irksome than lengthy pedantic descriptions of simple 
operations : to prune these roses, then, in winter is merely to cut off 
from each vigorous shoot of the preceding summer two-thirds of its 
length, and from those of less vigour three-fourths of their length, 
taking care not to leave tooj*nany of these shortened shoots, for the tree 
will then become crowded in the summer, but after shortening them 
cut some of them out cleanly, so as to leave a nice well-disposed frame 
to be filled up the succeeding summer by beautiful leaves and still more 
beautiful flowers*” 
As regards “ Early Spring Roses,” it is stated that:— 
“The Hybrid Perpetuals are the only roses adapted for this mode of 
culture, which is very simple. About the end of August select some 
plants in a bed of roses, that you wish to bloom very early in spring; 
then cut all the weak shoots and shorten all those that are strong and 
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