82 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ April, 
When the buds are set, the plants should have an abundance of air and 
all the light possible, moderating the use of the syringe—giving occasional 
syringings only, so as to keep the foliage clean. Avoid sudden transitions of any 
kind. Inattention to trifling matters after this stage is reached, is often the cause 
of bud-dropping, which not unfrequently results from forcing during the autumn 
months. They will not force at that season with any degree of certainty. To 
have flowers early we must encourage early growth, and select such sorts as have 
a disposition to flower early. I may here remark that early-flowering habits are 
greatly assisted by usage to forcing. 
In selecting plants avoid those rank, attenuated examples so often met with, 
and which have been run up in a hot, humid atmosphere ; they are often deceptive 
in appearance, with but few roots, and no constitution. Choose rather well- 
established plants that have been well kept under, and are sturdy in habit, for 
they only will give satisfaction. The following varieties may be relied on :— 
Alba plena. 
Alba Casoretti. 
Bealii. 
Candor. 
Contossa Lavinia Maggi. 
Contessa Lavinia Maggi rosea. 
Countess of Ellesmere. 
Countess of Orkney. 
Cup of Beauty. 
Imbricata. 
Jenny Lind. 
J ubilee. 
Lady Hume’s Blush. 
Leopold I. 
Marchioness of Exeter. 
Mathotiana. 
Mathotiana alba. 
Monarch. 
Princess Baciocchi. 
Reticulata florepleno. 
Tricolor imbricata. 
Saccoi Nova. 
Valtevareda. 
Wilderi. 
These twenty-four varieties I can fully recommend for their general excellence.— 
Geo. Westland, Witley Court. 
HARD SOIL FOR ROSES. 
HAVE noticed a great many times that mechanical compactness of the 
soil is an element of success in the cultivation of Roses. For instance, 
some of the finest plants of Gloii-e de Dijon I have ever seen were grown 
in a gravel walk. They were planted in the walk itself by the side of a 
wall, with a foundation ever so deep ; and the roots fed on, under, and among the 
gravel only, and yet these roses climbed over high iron arches, and grew and 
flowered with a vigour and profusion that I have never seen equalled. Some¬ 
times, too, I have noticed unhealthy rose trees in good quarters, and on examina¬ 
tion I have almost invariably found that the soil was loose. It might be rich, 
well drained, and abundantly stored with manure, but the roots appeared to lack 
the power of taking hold or thriving in a loose tilth. I should be glad to hear 
the experience of other rose-growers on this point. 
Of course every cultivator is aware of two facts, both pointing to the same 
conclusion in favour of a hard soil. One is, that the dog-rose in a state of 
nature has mostly to endure great hardness. It makes its home on stubborn 
hedge-row banks and sides of ditches, often formed of the most sterile and 
