[Illustration: 0053]
|MANY OF the ever-blooming roses cannot, in our climate, be cultivated
in the open air without extreme precaution to protect them from the
cold. To grow them most successfully, the aid of glass is necessary.
Many of the Hardy Perpetual roses may also be grown with advantage in
pots, by which means their bloom may be prolonged into the early winter
months, or they may be forced into premature flowering long before their
natural season of bloom. The first essential in the pot culture of roses
is the preparation of the soil. Those of delicate growth, like most of
the China and Tea roses, require a lighter soil than the more robust
varieties, like most of the Hardy Perpetuals. A mixture of loam, manure,
leaf-mould, and sand, in the proportion of two bushels of loam to one
bushel of manure, one bushel of leaf-mould, and half a bushel of sand,
makes a good soil for the more delicate roses. For the more robust
kinds, the proportion of loam and of manure should be greater. In all
cases, the materials should be mixed two or three months before they
are wanted for use, and turned over several times to incorporate them
thoroughly. They are frequently, however, mixed, and used at once. The
best loam is that composed of thoroughly rotted turf. A very skilful
English rose-grower, Mr. Rivers, recommends the compact turf shaved from
the surface of an old pasture, and roasted and partially charred on a
sheet of iron over a moderate fire. I have found no enriching material
so good as the sweepings from the floor of a horse-shoer, in which
manure is mixed with the shavings of hoofs. It is light and porous, and
furnishes, in decomposing, a great quantity of ammonia. For the more
delicate roses it is particularly suited, while the stronger kinds will
bear manures of a stronger and denser nature. The light black soil from
the woods is an excellent substitute for leaf-mould; or, to speak more
correctly, it is a natural leaf-mould in the most thorough state of
decomposition.
Young and thrifty roses which have been grown during summer may be
potted for the house in September. They should be taken up with care,
the large straggling roots cut back, and all bruised ends removed with a
sharp knife. The ends of the branches should also be cut back. They
may then be potted in the compost just described, which should first be
sifted through a very coarse sieve. The pots must be well drained with
broken crocks placed over the hole at the bottom. Care must be taken
that the pot be not too large, as this is very injurious. A sharp stick
may be used to compact the soil about the roots; and from half an
inch to an inch in depth should be left empty at the top, to assist in
thorough watering, which is a point of the first importance.
When the roses are potted, they should be placed in a light cellar or
shed, or under a shady wall. They must be well watered, and it is well
to syringe them occasionally. In a week or two they will have become
established, and may then be removed to a greenhouse without fire,
and with plenty of air; care, however, being taken to protect them from
frost at night.
The roses so treated are intended for blooming from mid-winter to the
end of spring; and we shall soon speak further of them under the head of
Forcing.
A great desideratum is the obtaining of roses in the early part of
winter. This may be done by growing everblooming roses in pots in the
open air during summer, plunging the pot in the earth, and placing a
tile or brick beneath it to prevent the egress of roots and the ingress
of worms. Towards the end of August, cut off all the flowers and buds,
at the same time shortening the flower-stalks to two or three eyes. Then
give the roses a supply of manure-water to stimulate their growth.
If they are in a thrifty condition, they will form new shoots and
flower-buds before the frost sets in; and may then be removed to a cold
greenhouse, where they will continue, to flower for several months.
The following is the description given by Mr. Rivers of a practice
recently introduced in England, and which seems well worth a trial here,
with such modifications as the heat of our sun may require:--
"To have a fine bloom of these roses, or, indeed, of any of the Hybrid
Perpetuals, Bourbons, or China roses, in pots towards the end of summer
or autumn, take plants from small pots (those struck from cuttings in
March or April will do), and put them into six-inch, or even eight-inch
pots, using a compost of light turfy loam and rotten manure, equal
parts: to a bushel of the compost add half a peck of pounded charcoal,
and the same quantity of silver sand; make a hot-bed of sufficient
strength, say three to four feet in height, of seasoned dung, so that
it is not of a burning heat, in a sunny, exposed situation,' and on this
place the pots; then fill up all interstices with sawdust, placing it so
as to cover the rims, and to lie on the surface of the mould in the pots
about two inches deep. The pots should have a good sound watering before
they are thus plunged, and have water daily in dry weather. The bottom
heat and full exposure to the sun and air will give the plants a vigor
almost beyond belief. This very simple mode of culture is as yet almost
unknown. I have circulated among a few friends the above directions;
and have no doubt, that, in the hands of skilful gardeners, some
extraordinary results may be looked for in the production of specimens
of soft-wooded plants. I may add, that, when the heat of the bed
declines towards the middle of July, the pots must be removed, some
fresh dung added, and the bed remade, again plunging the plants
immediately. Towards the end of August, the roots of the plants must
be ripened: the pots must, therefore, be gradually lifted out of the
saw-dust; i.e., for five or six days, expose them about two inches below
their rims; then, after the same lapse of time, a little lower, till the
whole of the pot is exposed to the sun and air: they may be then removed
to the greenhouse, so as to be sheltered from heavy rain. They will
bloom well in the autumn, and be in fine order for early forcing. If
plants are required during the summer for exhibition, or any other
purpose, care must always be taken to harden or ripen their roots, as
above, before they are removed from the hot-bed."
[Illustration: 0058]
"Forcing" is the very inappropriate name of the process by which roses
and other plants are induced to bloom under glass in advance of their
natural season. We say that the name is inappropriate, because one
of the chief essentials to the success of the process consists in an
abstinence from all that is violent or sudden, and in the gentle and
graduated application of the stimulus of artificial heat.
Roses may be forced in the greenhouse, but not to advantage, because the
conditions of success will be inconsistent with the requirements of many
of the other plants. The process is best carried on in a small glass
structure made for such purposes, and called a "forcing-pit."
A pit ten or twelve feet long and eight or ten wide will commonly be
large enough. It may be of the simplest and cheapest construction. In a
dry situation, there is advantage in sinking the lower part of it two or
three feet below the surface of the ground. The roses may be placed on
beds of earth, or on wooden platforms, so arranged as to bring the
top of the plants near the glass; and a sunken path may pass down the
middle. The pit may be heated by a stove enclosed with brick-work, and
furnished with a flue of brick or tile passing along the front of the
pit, and entering the chimney at the farther end. The lights must be
movable, or other means provided' for ample ventilation; and if these
are such that the air on entering will pass over the heated flues, and
thus become warmed in the passage, great advantage will result. A pit
may be appended to a greenhouse; in which case it may be heated by
hot-water pipes furnished with means of cutting off or letting on the
water.
The roses potted for forcing, as directed in the last section, should be
kept in a dormant state till the middle of December. A portion of them
may then be brought into the pit, and the young shoots pruned back to
two or three eyes. The heat at first must be very moderate, not much
exceeding forty-five degrees in the daytime: and, throughout the
process, the pit should be kept as cool as possible at night; great
care, however, being taken that no frost is admitted. With this view,
the glass should be covered at sunset with thick mats. Syringe the
plants as the buds begin to swell, and lose no opportunity to give air
on mild and bright days. Raise the heat gradually till it reaches sixty
degrees; which is enough during the winter months, so far as fire-heat
is concerned. The heat of the sun will sometimes raise it to seventy
or eighty degrees. Syringe every morning; and, if the aphis appears,
fumigate with tobacco; then syringe forcibly to wash off the dead
insects. As the plants advance in growth, they require plenty of water;
and, as the buds begin to swell, manure-water may be applied once or
twice. When the buds are ready to open, the pots may be removed to the
greenhouse or drawing-room, and another supply put in their place for a
second crop of flowers. When the blooms are faded, the flower-stalks
may be cut back to two or three eyes, and the plants placed again in
the forcing-pit for another crop. This, of course, is applicable to
ever-blooming roses only.
The most common and simple way, however, of obtaining roses in winter,
is to grow them on rafters in the greenhouse. Some of the Noisette,
China, and Tea roses, thus treated, will furnish an abundant supply
of excellent flowers. By pruning them at different periods during the
summer and autumn, they will be induced to flower in succession; since,
with all roses, the time of blooming is, to a great degree, dependent on
the time of pruning.
Roses potted in the manner described for forcing may also be brought
into bloom in the sunny window of a chamber or drawing-room. They will
bloom much better if allowed to remain at rest in a cool cellar for a
month or two after potting.
[Illustration: 0061]
The following is a cheap mode of forcing, described by an English
cultivator. The amateur may, perhaps, be disposed to make the
experiment.
"Those who wish for the luxury of forced roses at a trifling cost may
have them by pursuing the following simple method: Take a common garden
frame, large or small, according to the number of roses wanted; raise it
on some posts, so that the bottom edge will be about three feet from the
ground at the back of the frame, and two feet in front, sloping to the
south. If it is two feet deep, this will give a depth of five feet under
the lights at the back of the frame, which will admit roses on little
stems as well as dwarfs. Grafted or budded plants of any of the
Perpetual roses should be potted in October, in a rich compost of equal
portions of rotten dung and loam, in pots about eight inches deep and
seven inches over, and plunged in the soil at the bottom. The air in the
frame may be heated by linings of hot dung; but care must be taken that
the dung be turned over two or three times before it is used, otherwise
the rank and noxious steam will kill the young and tender shoots: but
the hazard of this may be avoided by building a wall of turf, three
inches thick, from the ground to the bottom edge of the frame. This will
admit the heat through it, and exclude the steam. The Perpetual roses,
thus made to bloom early, are really beautiful."
[Illustration: 0062]
Now, in the way of exciting the reader's emulation, I will mention a few
items of the opening flower-show of the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, on the
26th of May, a few years ago. The following specimens of roses, in pots,
are chronicled among innumerable others:--
Madame Willeemoz (_Tea-scented Rose_), seven feet high, with more than a
hundred expanded flowers.
Souvenir de la Malmaison (_Bourbon Rose_), with thirty expanded flowers,
the largest more than five inches in diameter.
Paul Pereas (_Hybrid Bourbon Rose_), six feet high, with nearly a
hundred expanded flowers.
Coupe d'Hébé (_Hybrid Bourbon Rose_), six feet high, covered with a mass
of bloom.
These were all raised by Mr. Paul, one of the most skilful of English
rose-growers; and were the results of patience, care, and experience.
We hold the production of specimens like these a work of art worthy of
zealous emulation. Our climate is quite as favorable to their production
as that of England; and, when the floricultural art has reached among
us the same development, our horticultural shows will, no doubt,
boast decorations equally splendid. The plants just mentioned were the
productions of a nurseryman; but specimens of roses grown to the highest
perfection are every year exhibited in England by amateur cultivators.
The competition for prizes, far from being a mere strife for a small sum
of money, is an honorable emulation, in which the credit of success is
the winner's best reward.
One point cannot be too often urged in respect to horticultural
pursuits. Never attempt to do any thing which you are not prepared to
do thoroughly. A little done well is far more satisfactory than a great
deal done carelessly and superficially. He who raises one perfect and
fully developed specimen of a plant is a better horticulturist than he
who raises an acre of indifferent specimens. The amateur who has made
himself a thorough master of the cultivation of a single species or
variety, has, of necessity, acquired a knowledge and skill, which, with
very little pains, he may apply to numberless other forms of culture.
Learn to produce a first-class specimen of the rose grown in a pot, and
you will have no difficulty in successfully applying your observation
and experience to a vast variety of plants. We will, therefore, enter
into some detail as to the methods of procedure. For many of the
specific directions I am indebted to Mr. Paul, the exhibiter of the fine
specimens named above, and the author, among other books, of a useful
little treatise on the cultivation of roses in pots.
_Soil_ is the point that first demands attention, and directions
concerning it have already been given. You have bought a number of young
roses, in small pots, in the spring. Be sure that these roses have been
in a dormant state during the winter; for, if they have been kept in
growth, their vital power is partially exhausted. They may be budded
on short stems of the Manetti or other good stock (see the chapter on
_Budding_), or they may be on their own roots. The Tea and China roses
are certainly better in the latter condition. Shift them from the small
pots into pots a very little larger, without breaking the ball of earth
around their roots. Water them well, and plunge them to the edge of the
pot in earth, in an open, airy, sunny place. Or they may be set on the
surface, provided the spaces between them are well packed with tan,
coal-ashes, or swamp-moss. The last is excellent: it holds moisture like
a sponge. In every case, the pots should rest on flat bricks, slates,
tiles, or inverted pans, in order that worms may be excluded, and that
the roots may not be tempted to thrust themselves through the hole. In
potting, thorough drainage should be secured by placing broken crocks at
the bottom of the pot.
Encourage the growth of the plants by pinching off the flower-buds. The
object throughout the summer is to get a few stout well-ripened shoots
by autumn. Therefore the pots should not be very close together, since
this would deprive the plants of free air and sunlight. Watering must be
carefully attended to. Cut out, or pinch off, weak or ill-placed shoots;
or, what is better, prevent their growth by rubbing off the buds that
threaten to form such. Thus, if several buds are crowded together in one
place, rub off all but one or two of them, choosing the strongest for
preservation. This is called _dis-budding_. Those of the plants that
grow most vigorously will require to be shifted into still larger pots
in July; but this should be done only in cases where it is necessary.
As a guide on this point, turn them carefully out of the pots to examine
the roots; and, if these are found protruding in great abundance from
the ball of earth, larger pots will be required; but, if otherwise, the
same one will suffice. Some roses suffer greatly if placed in pots too
large for them; and the same is more or less true of all plants.
Late in autumn, when growth has ceased, shift the roses again, if they
need it, and place them for wintering in a cellar or cold frame. In the
spring, prune them, as directed in the chapter on Pruning. After the
rose is pruned, stake out the shoots to as great distances as possible.
Indeed, the larger ones should be made to lie almost horizontal: this
will cause the buds to "break," or open, regularly along their whole
length; whereas, if left upright, a few at the top would break, and the
rest remain dormant. As soon as the buds have opened, the shoots may
be tied up again. Syringe the opening buds, and water moderately,
increasing the amount of moisture as the leaves expand, and watering
abundantly during all the period of full activity of growth; that
is, during summer and early autumn. An occasional application of
manure-water is useful. Watch for insects and mildew, and apply the
remedies elsewhere directed. About midsummer, shift those that need it
into larger pots; an operation which, if performed with skill, will not
check their growth in the least. Continue to disbud and to remove weak
and ill-placed shoots, tying out the rest, as they grow, to stakes, in
order to bring the plant into a symmetrical form. This form is a matter
of taste with the cultivator: it may be a half-globe, a fan, or a
pyramid or cone. The last is usually the best; one strong stem being
allowed to grow in the centre, and smaller stems trained in gradation
around it. None must interfere with their neighbors, and air should have
free play through the plant.
You have reached the second autumn, and your plants are now excellent
for forcing; but, if you aim at first-class specimens, you must give
them, at the least, one season more of growth and training. To this
end, keep them dormant through the winter in a cellar or cold frame as
before, and prune them early in spring. We will suppose that a pyramidal
plant is desired. As soon as they are pruned, draw the lower shoots
downwards over the rim of the pot, just beneath which a wire should pass
around, to which the shoots are to be tied with strings of bass-matting.
The shoots higher up are to be arranged, with the aid of sticks and
strings, so as to decrease in circumference till they terminate in a
point. Constant care and some judgment are needed throughout the growing
season to preserve symmetry of form. Strong shoots must be pinched back,
and weak ones encouraged. Both the plant, and the pot that contains
it, are, or ought to be, so large by this time, that handling them,
especially in the act of shifting, becomes somewhat difficult. In the
third, or at farthest in the fourth autumn, you may expect, as the
result of your pains, a plant that in its blooming season will make
a brilliant contrast with the half-grown and indifferent specimens
sometimes exhibited at our horticultural shows.
If you forget every other point of the above directions, keep in mind
the following: Drain your pots thoroughly; and, when you water them, be
sure that you give water enough to penetrate the whole mass of the earth
contained in them. Watering only the surface, and leaving the roots dry,
is ruinous.
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