a little sand. The pans must now be set in the best spot we can find for them; in a cold frame or green-house, if accessible, where they should be kept in a state of equable moisture. Here they will vegetate as out of doors, and in autumn or spring may be transplanted as the others.

If it be the intention to sow in the open borders, a sunny but sheltered situation should be chosen: the aspect should be east, that the young plants may not be fatigued with the afternoon's sun. When preparing the ground for sowing, the soil should be well loosened with a fork or spade to the depth of eighteen inches or two feet, and made light and rich, the top being broken up fine, and laid level with a rake. If drills are preferred, draw them about six inches apart : if broadcast sowing, the ground is already prepared.

It is advisable to sow rather thick, for, in general, not one-fourth of Rose-seeds vegetate, and of these only a portion the first year. After the seed is sown, the earth should be trodden down or beaten with a spade, and watered, if dry, and covered afterwards with from half an inch to an inch of light free soil. Care must be taken to keep the earth moderately moist. About April some of the seeds will germinate, and others will continue to do so throughout the summer and autumn. So soon as they are seen peeping through the soil means must be taken to protect them from slugs, birds, and worms.

Slugs have a great liking for seedling Roses, and will, unless prevented, eat them off close to the ground when rising, which usually involves their destruction. To guard against these pests, scatter soot or lime over the bed, which acts as a safeguard, and at the same time promotes the growth of the plants. Birds will occasionally pull them up when just sprouting forth; and whether this is done to satisfy the palate, or merely from the love of mischief, I cannot determine; but however it may be, we are equally the sufferers. The best scare-crow I can find is glass. Let a stick be stuck in the ground in a bending position, from the end of which two pieces of glass should be suspended with bast or twine, so that they dangle in the air: striking together with every breeze, they keep up a musical chaunt around the seedlings which the feathered plunderers seem unable to account for, and the most daring depredators are content to sit and chirrup at a distance. Worms are often a great nuisance among seedlings, throwing up heaps of soil, which smother the young plants; and sometimes they drag them into the earth, which destroys them. The best remedy here is lime water, applied two or three evenings consecutively in dry weather. If the seeds vegetate very early, the young plants must be protected from the spring frosts; and hooping the beds over with osiers and covering with a mat offers perhaps the simplest and most efficient means of doing this.

So soon as the seeds vegetate, the young plants require constant attention as to shading, watering, and weeding, as well as protection from their enemies. This will be cheerfully given, when the cultivator reflects that, by this care, many of the autumnals will be induced to flower the first year. This, however, holds

good only with the autumnals, for the summer kinds will not flower for two, three, or even four years. Seedling Roses should be watered only when the soil is really dry, and then always in the evening, about sun-set. The same frame-work used to protect the plants from frost in spring will answer for summer shading; but shade only when the sun is powerful, and then only for a few hours in the middle of the day; for shading as well as watering may be carried too far, and if so, favours the development of mildew. Watch your seedlings closely, to see what amount of sun they will bear without injury, and determine your movements accordingly.

At the time of weeding it is well to have a sharp-pointed stick in the hand, with which to stir the soil round the seedlings. This must be done with great care, or the plants just protruding will be injured; indeed, if they are germinating thickly, it is a dangerous operation, and perhaps better left alone.

So soon as the seedlings have formed their second leaves, if they should have sprung up so thick as to impede each other's growth, a part may be safely drawn out after a good shower of rain (raising the soil in the first instance with a handfork), and transplanted to a shady border in the evening of the day, watering and covering with a hand-glass until they take hold of the soil. Let it be understood, however, that transplanting at this season is not recommended: it is here chosen because less injurious than suffering the plants to remain crowded together. It may not involve any positive loss, but it ordinarily retards the period of flowering.

When the plants have formed a few leaves the pleasure attendant on the raising of seedlings increases ten-fold. In looking over the bed, how anxious are we to discover to what groups certain curious-looking individuals belong. We look, and look again, and often depart without coming to any satisfactory conclusion. The plants, however, increase in size, the scrutiny goes on, fresh features are noticed at each new gaze, until at length we have something tangible to work on. We pronounce this to be a Provence, and that a Bourbon: here is evidently a Hybrid, and there a Chinese or Tea-scented. Or if we feel inclined for a closer analysis by descending from groups to individuals, we may in some instances trace the seedling from a particular variety. Here is one evidently born of Hybrid Celine, there another from Gloire de Rosomène. Thus far we may amuse ourselves, and settle the matter in our own minds, although the flowering of these individuals may not always substantiate our pre-conceived

notions.

I have seen seedlings of the Bourbon and Chinese Roses flower when little more than a month old. This, however, should be prevented rather than encouraged. It weakens the plants, and does not impart any real knowledge to their proprietor. The flowers may be white, they may be red, and this is the absolute amount of knowledge to be gleaned from them. As to size, form, fulness, and the other valued properties of Roses, no true idea can be formed. It is well, then,

to pinch off the flower-buds immediately that they are seen, whereby the plants gain strength and produce better flowers later in the season: but it is advisable not to destroy any of the seedlings the first year. Let the whole remain till late in October, then take them up, pruning both roots and tops, and replant them in a soil moderately rich. It is of importance that they be transplanted from the seedbed in autumn; for if the operation be deferred beyond winter, there is danger of destroying the seeds which have hitherto lain dormant, and which often vegetate very early in the second spring.

When transplanting, sort out the strongest plants, and place them about a foot apart: the weaker ones may then be set together at less distances. After planting, it will be well to water and shade for a few days, should there be much sun, and even to cover against frost, if such occur before the plants are firmly settled in the ground. This may be done by sticking single boughs, or fern-branches, among them; or, better still, by the use of mats.

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will appear.

In the following summer and autumn the flowers of All that are single, or not clear in colour, may be destroyed; also any where the outline is irregular. But if the outline be good, the colour clear, and the flower possessed only of an ordinary degree of fulness, it should be preserved, even though apparently inferior to varieties already known; for the seedling has not yet passed through the high routine of culture the named varieties have, and its properties are not fully developed. It is often capable of great improvement.

As the seedlings blow, whenever one strikes the fancy it should be tied up to a stick, a number attached to it, and its properties entered against the number in a note-book; then watch for the buds being in a good state, and bud one or two stocks to prove the variety. As it would occupy much time to bud all the seedlings, the seedling plant of any that is of doubtful merit may be grown for two or three years, when its real worth will become apparent. But it should be told, that budding on the Dog-rose, or any free stock, enables us to form a correct opinion of a variety a year or two sooner than we can do by trusting to the seedling plant. Therefore, if stocks are not scarce, and the cultivator has leisure, it may be interesting to bud a plant or two of any variety, the flowers or foliage of which may appear to him likely to make it interesting.

Mildew is the most discouraging visitant among seedling Roses. It is bad enough anywhere, but it seems to attack them here with redoubled virulence, and it is astonishing how suddenly it appears, spreading death and desolation in its track. It must be watched for, and, when first discovered, dust the plants with sulphur, on a calm evening if possible, having first sprinkled or syringed them, that the sulphur may stick on. This sometimes requires repeating at short intervals, for it is not a preventive, but a temporary cure.

As winter approaches, it is necessary to provide some protection against frost. The plants of the tender kinds, being young, are extremely delicate, and likely to suffer much from intense cold. If such have been sown in the bor(Div. I.)

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ders, an advantageous point is gained by sorting them out at the time of transplanting, and placing them in a sheltered spot, where they may be shielded from the cutting winds, and then hoop them over, covering, in severe weather, with a mat, or some frost-excluding material. I have advocated sowing in spring, because the seed lies in the ground a far shorter time; but I know some prefer autumn for the operation, because calculated to induce an earlier growth, whereby are obtained plants stronger and better fitted to endure the cold of their first winter.

If the latter period of the year be chosen, it will be necessary to guard the seeds effectually against mice, as the length of time they lie in the ground increases their chance of being eaten by these intruders. It is a good plan to cover the bed with fine wire-work, or, if we choose to act on the offensive rather than the defensive, the mice may be trapped and destroyed. It will be well to have an eye to this point, whether sowing in spring or autumn.

It is no uncommon occurrence, with seedlings growing out of doors during winter, for the roots to be thrown to the surface, the plants sometimes lying almost out of the ground. If left in this condition, they wither and die. They should be replanted; and if the beds are hoed on a fine day in winter it will prove advantageous, casting a little fine mould upon the surface in the succeeding spring.

With regard to the pruning of seedlings, we have only one point to consider in the first instance-to obtain fine flowers. We sacrifice the shape of the tree to this point, if necessary, cutting back to any eyes that are plump and prominent, and situated on wood likely to produce fine flowers. We remove the gross shoots, if there be any, and thin out well, especially if the variety be an Autumnal, and, therefore, a certain bloomer.

CHAPTER VIII.

ON THE CULTIVATION OF ROSES IN POTS.

It is no longer said that the Rose is intractable as a Pot-plant; indeed, it is now sufficiently established that it is perfectly suited for such, and is consequently gaining a still wider circle of patrons and admirers. This furnishes no matter for wonderment, if we consider, that, in its present improved state, it possesses, in a greater or less degree, every quality that could be wished for in a plant designed for ticular cultivation. The length of time the varieties continue in bloom; the delicious fragrance of the flowers; their richness and beauty; their elegant mode of growth and handsome foliage;-such a combination of desirable properties must necessarily secure for it a large share of favour.

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The question has been, and still is occasionally put to us, What advantage is gained by growing Roses in pots? The same question might be asked with equal propriety respecting any class of hardy or half-hardy plants. But we reply to it, by appealing to the unprejudiced judgment of horticulturists, by asking them whether the withdrawal of Pot-Roses from our greenhouses, parterres, forcinghouses, and horticultural fêtes, would not cause a very obvious blank. We think it would; and if so, it cannot be altogether folly to grow them in this manner. But there are more cogent reasons for the practice. Some of the delicate and more beautiful kinds have their flowers bruised and spoiled, even in summer, by the winds and rains of our unsettled climate, and many are incapable of enduring the cold of winter. Then, again, in some soils, as in low wet places, and in some localities, as in the neighbourhood of large towns, these same sorts will scarcely grow when planted out in the open air, but flourish and flower well when grown in pots under glass. It is such kinds we recommend principally for Pot-culture, introducing others merely to increase the variety. And surely the objects are worthy of this especial care. What other plants will conduce more to the enlivenment of the greenhouse? What others fill it with such a grateful perfume? I regard the Autumnals especially as of rare worth for greenhouse culture; for, by keeping three distinct sets of plants, we may ensure Roses all the year round. Six months may be allowed as their natural period of blooming out of doors, from June to October inclusive; then the shelter of a frame or greenhouse