cluster of blossoms has done its work-i. e. as soon as it has given all its flowers-it should be cut with a sharp knife down to two or three buds; these will give a second crop of flowers. Strong shoots of Hybrid Perpetuals should be shortened to half their length, unless required on dwarf trees to form pyramids.

AUGUST.-If the weather be dry and scorching, water should be given freely, and the surface-dressing renewed. Pruning down the shoots that have given their flowers still to be attended to-they will give September flowers. This, like the last, is a budding month; and buds, if well selected, will 'take' well if inserted in healthy free-growing stocks.

SEPTEMBER.-Budding on the Manetti stock may be practised till the end of the second week, with a fair chance of success. Cuttings of all kinds of roses may now be planted in a shady border (see p. 181), with or without hand-glasses-the latter often the most successful.

OCTOBER.-Cuttings may still be planted, and roses which are required to bloom early in the ensuing season may be procured. About the 20th, planting may be commenced.

NOVEMBER. The planting, and lifting and replanting month (see p. 111)—for of all seasons this is the most favourable for planting roses; also a month of preparation. Composts and manure should be placed in ridges, to be well frozen through. Freshly planted trees should have the surface-dressing recommended under April, placed round them. Pyramidal roses should be thatched with a conical coating of straw or fern firmly bound (see p. 118), so as not to be displaced by violent winds. Buds of Tea-scented and other tender roses may

also be protected by a cone of straw fastened to the stock below and above the bud. In exhausted soils, a surface-dressing of manure may now be given (see p. 212).

DECEMBER. If the weather be mild this is a good planting month, and if any November preparations and protections have been forgotten, it is not yet too late.