and thus irrigate the whole ground, without baking the surface.

BEDDING ROSES.

While Remontant, Moss, and Garden Roses are adapted to the wants of much the larger number of growers, because they require no protection in winter, and are strong and robust in their growth and habit, yet the everblooming varieties are becoming daily more popular. While but few of the Remontants have more than two seasons of distinct and abundant bloom, the Teas, Chinas, and Noisettes, bloom constantly and continuously. In grace, and color, and beauty, these last have more varied charms than the more hardy and abundant Remontants, and the difficulty of caring for them in the winter, even by those who have no glass, is compensated by the additional pleasure they give in the summer. Those who have glass can enjoy them winter and summer alike. Their superiority in constant blooming, especially, adapts them for planting in masses or beds scattered about the lawn. These beds can be each of one color, or they can be assorted, or can be planted in the ribbon style, rows of white, or red, or yellow alternating. No bedding flowers, Verbenas, Salvias, or any other plant, will give so constant pleasure as Roses. They can be purchased, also, nearly as cheaply as ordinary bedding plants, and are found in several places as low as $15 per 100, or $100 per 1,000. On being taken out of the pots they will grow rapidly, and bloom after they are thoroughly established, and afterward, year after year, they will commence blooming early, and continue until frost. A bed made in any part of the lawn, and in any soil, will grow them well, provided it has a dry bottom, and has some well-decomposed manure dug in it. A light, sandy soil will grow them in the greatest perfection. They can be planted eighteen inches to two feet apart,

and the new shoots, as soon as they have attained sufficient length, should be pegged down, so as to cover the whole ground. The branches thus laid down will give abundant flowers throughout their whole length, and from each bud a strong-rooted shoot will be thrown up, and being pruned down close in the autumn, will be ready to produce a strong and bearing shoot another year. If they become too close and crowded, the new shoots can be partially cut away. North of Baltimore, these Roses will need protection in the winter. This can be done by covering the bed with sand, several inches deep, or by taking up the plants, cutting them down, heeling them in in a dry cellar, or potting them for a green-house.

CHAPTER VI.

POTTING AND FORCING.

"Seek Roses in December, ice in June."-BYRON.

Every variety of Rose, in the hands of a skillful man, will grow and bloom well in pots, although the Bengal and its sub-classes, and the more dwarf Hardy Roses, are the most easily managed. The great point in potting is to imitate planting in the open ground as nearly as possible. The soil used should possess all the nutritious elements required in the open ground, and, if possible, in somewhat greater abundance. More manure should be used, because the frequent watering required by plants in pots must inevitably wash away a portion of the fertilizing matter. There is nothing better than one portion of stable manure, and three of turf, or leaf-mould, all well decomposed, and mixed with a little pure peat earth. A portion of night-soil, well incorporated with charcoal, is also very excellent. Charcoal is the most powerful absorbent known; it retains the nutritious elements in the night-soil, prevents their being washed away by watering, and gives them out as the plant needs them. English gardeners should bear in mind that roses require in this climate a stronger soil than in England. Half-gallon pots are the best size at first, from which, by repeated pottings, corresponding with the growth of the plant, they can be shifted to one or two-gallon pots. The size of the pots should, however, be regulated by the extent of the roots; it should be just sufficiently large to allow the roots to go in without crowding. A few broken pieces of pots or small lumps should be put in the bottom for drainage. When the plant is to be taken from the open ground, se

lect one, the roots of which are not too large, and with a sharp spade cut around it a ball of earth about the size of the pot, depriving it at the same time of a portion of its top, as directed in remarks on pruning. It should stand in this state about a fortnight, until the roots have become callused, and the plant is somewhat accustomed to the loss of its roots and branches. It can then be safely taken up at any season, and transferred to the pot, which should then be filled in with earth, firm and solid. If potted in the autumn, after the leaves have fallen and the wood become mature, the above previous preparation is not required, but the plant can be taken up without a ball of earth, and after being pruned of its bruised or broken roots, placed in the pot. It should then be protected from the frost and light until it has entirely recovered from its change of habitation, when it can be placed in any cool spot free from frost, until it is wanted for forcing.

Roses may, without difficulty, by the above previous management, be forced to bloom in the latter part of winter, but where their bloom is desired at Christmas or New-Year, they should be gradually prepared for the space of a year previous. To produce roses the latter part of winter, our own management has been simple and effective, giving us as many flowers as a green-house and vinery full of pots could afford. After putting the plants in pots, as directed above, pruning them down to eight or ten buds, and hardening them in a shady place, they are removed to the vinery before the frost out of doors can have injured them, and cut down to two buds. The house is then kept as cool as possible, while the frost is carefully excluded by a light fire at night, and on fine days the sashes are opened, and plenty of air admitted. They are thus kept in a dormant state until the first of the year, when the heat is gradually increased to about 70° by day, sinking as low as 35° at night. Care is

taken to give them sufficient watering, and in their whole management to subject them as nearly as possible to the conditions of open culture. When the green-fly appears, it is immediately destroyed by fumigation with tobacco, and the plants are subsequently syringed with clean wa ter. With this management, they soon begin to show signs of life, the bud commences pushing forth its delicate, light green shoot, the leaves then appear, the plant, soon growing with luxuriance, is clothed with rich foliage, and about the middle of the third month, the house presents a mass of thrifty growth and perfect bloom.

By the means above described, roses may be forced into bloom the latter part of winter; and by observing some care to bring them into the house at different periods, in regular succession, a bloom can be enjoyed through all the spring months, until roses bloom in the open ground. This process cannot, however, be continued two years in succession without weakening the plant; and although, if placed in a shady spot, and allowed to rest during the summer, it may sufficiently recover to perform the same work another year, it is desirable, if possible, to have fresh plants, whose strength has not been exhausted by the unusual effort attending the production of flowers out of season.

The preceding directions apply more particularly to late forcing; and although the same means, with an earlier application of heat, will produce flowers early in winter, yet the true art of early forcing consists in gradually bringing the Rose out of its season; and it is only by this mode that thrifty plants and perfect flowers can be produced before Christmas.

Two years, and sometimes three, should be employed in preparing a Rose for early forcing. Having been prepared by digging around it with a sharp spade some two weeks previously, the plant should be taken up immediately after the first frost, placed in a cold frame a few days, to