COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
May 1. 
81 
CULTURE OF ROSES IN POTS. 
HYBRIDIZING PELARGONIUMS. 
“ I am exceedingly fond of Roses, but find that my know¬ 
ledge of their culture is small indeed. I have several in 
pots, both standards and raised from cuttings. They have 
been in the greenhouse all the winter, have made much 
wood, and are now looking as healthy as one could wish. 
With one or two exceptions, I have not had a bloom, or sign 
of one, upon them. Will you kindly give me a hint as to 
their future culture, especially upon the points when and 
how are they to be pruned? and at what time placed in the 
greenhouse in order to insure, as far as possible, early 
blooming?—A Constant Subscriber.” 
[The best way is to keep the Roses in the greenhouse 
till the end of May, and not to touch them by the knife or 
finger till towards the end of September. After getting 
them out of the greenhouse, let the pots be plunged to the 
rims, not over the rims, in a warm, sheltered place, and see 
to the watering in dry weather. Prune them at the end of 
September, on the close system ; that is, all the young wood 
to be cut to one, three, or four eyes from the old wood, 
according to their strength ; the weakest to be the shortest 
cut. Towards the end of November examine the pots, and 
if you find the roots are good and plentiful, let the plants 
remain as they are, and remove them to a cool frame, and 
in January to the greenhouse, and they will be sure to flower 
well. If you find the roots are bad, the best way is to 
shake off the whole of the soil, and repot them, then 
frame them, and do not take them to the greenhouse before 
February. No pot Roses will flower well if they were not 
well-grown the year before.] 
GRAFTING ROSES IN A HOTBED. 
“ May I ask the favour of your giving me, in the columns 
of your magazine, some instruction in grafting Roses ? I 
have some Manetti stocks in pots, and some Roses from 
which I could take grafts. I suppose the stock and graft 
should be in the same state of growth ; but should the stock 
be headed down to the graft immediately the graft is put on, 
or should a few buds of the stock remain to draw the sap 
up ? I have a hotbed and frame, in which I could forward 
the plants after grafting.—H.” 
[Grafting Roses in a hotbed is one of the very simplest 
of operations in the hands of a general propagator. The 
way he would proceed is this: At this, and after this season, 
to next September, he would take his grafts from young 
shoots that are about ripening, or not more than half ripe, 
as he could get them; he would reduce them to three joints 
in lengths, or to two joints, if the joints were far apart; he 
would cut square under a bud as for a cutting, and on the 
opposite side from this bottom eye he would make a down cut, 
leaving the bottom of the graft in the form of a Hunt wedge; 
then he would take his Manetti pot and lie it down on the 
bench, with the bottom end next to himself; then he would 
make a down cut on the stem of the Manetti as long as 
the cut on the graft, or say a little more than an inch ; and 
this cut he would make square at bottom by a cross cut, then 
the blunt edge of the graft would rest on the square cut, 
and the two barks would meet, at least on one side of the 
cut parts, and that would do; he would then bind them, 
and, last of all, he would clay them in this fashion: he 
would put a piece of clay as big as au egg into a small pot, 
and press it down, then put a little water over it, and icork 
it with a little mat brush, as Mr. Mechi would a soap-box 
for shaving, till the clay lather was thicker than cream; 
with the same brush he lathers the grafted parts all round, 
and to keep the lather from cracking when it gets dry, he 
dredges it with dry sand; this forms a crust, which will 
hold 'good till all the grafts are taken. He then puts them 
all into the frame, and with a piece of newspaper over them 
to keep the sun from them for the first ten days, and he 
would expect every one of them to grow. 
When they do grafting in pots and frames they never 
tongue or slit the graft or stock as they do out in the ground 
with Apples and all other trees.] 
“I had a fair collection of Pelargoniums last autumn, 
but by an accident I have lost them all. I am desirous of 
replacing them by about a dozen-and-a-half or two dozen 
very good but not very expensive ones—say under 5s. a 
plant. I have great pleasure in hybridizing and raising 
seedlings, and have gleaned all my information from the 
columns of your journal. May I beg you to name a list of 
such as would afford the greatest contrast, and the best 
hopes of success, with such an end in view? I allude to the 
large sorts, and not to the small fancies, unless you will 
kindly offer me the suggestion of any other’s.—A Constant 
Reader.” 
[We must answer your second question first, in order to 
state our regret at not being yet initiated in the details of 
crossing Pelargoniums. All that we and you require 
is to know the kinds which do and do not produce pollen, 
also, that will and will not bear seeds; and also, to save 
time, to know the kinds which never produce a good 
cross. We possess all this knowledge with respect to the 
other sections of Geraniums ; but we do not happen to know 
a single individual who would be likely to give us what you 
and we require. Florists make a secret of such things in 
one generation, and the next generation suffer for this short¬ 
sightedness, because, whenever there is any secrecy about a 
set of flowers, the public taste for such flowers flags sooner 
or later. Therefore, the best list we can offer under the 
circumstances is that at page 401 of our twelfth volume, 
and most of them should now be had for the price you are 
willing to give. But your best course will be to send that list 
to a respectable dealer, and ask him at what price he can 
supply them, and if he cannot, he will be able to tell you of 
others of the same stamp which will suit you just as well; 
for there is no end to really good Pelargoniums, as they call 
these new Geraniums.] 
ORCHARDING. 
In continuation of Clericus’s queries we proceed with— 
“ 6. Would it not be worth the expense to protect Peaches, 
French Pears, Agricots, &c., on walls, by screens, having the 
lower part made of canvass, and the higher of glass, begin¬ 
ning to cover in December, and leaving them through April 
and May, taking care to lift them for proper airing at proper 
times ? Would not such treatment be the means of insuring, 
as a general rule, fair crops ? ” 
[No doubt such protection is very desirable when applied 
at the proper time; but it would be not only unnecessary 
but injurious to begin in December. At that season, and 
for long afterwards, the buds are far more securely pro¬ 
tected by nature than they could be by any artificial appli¬ 
ances; and protection, such as you speak of, at such a 
period, would cause an unseasonable development. The 
time to apply protection is when the flower-buds are being 
developed naturally, and when you have reason to appre¬ 
hend injury from frosty nights, and cold cutting winds.] 
“ 7. When a Greenhouse or Orchard-house, costing X‘50, 
was properly-fillecl with Peaches, Vines, &c., in fair bearing, 
what would be the commercial value of the produce per 
year ?” 
[This is rather a difficult question to answer; so much 
depends on circumstances, of which quality and supply are 
the most important. If you can get your Peaches ready for 
market by the first week in June, you may get from 12s. to 
24s. a dozen for them; but if you cannot produce them 
before September they will not be worth more than 
Os. to 8s.] 
“8. Are greenhouses in the midland and northern coun¬ 
ties much later than the greenhouses of the south ?”—[No.] 
“ 0. Are Peaches, Pears, Cherries, Strawberries, &c., grown 
in greenhouses, as good in flavour as those grown on walls ? ” 
[Not generally. Pears are very much inferior.] 
“ 10. Peaches, Nectarines, and Apricots, cannot be grown 
as espaliers without a wall ?”—[No.] 
[11. Filberts are a profitable fruit to grow in an orchard, 
