MOSS ROSES.
Of this class we need not speak in detail to any who have ever seen its delicate moss-covered buds, and inhaled their delightful odor. They are perfectly hardy, and can be wintered without any protection. They are called perpetual, but this is a misnomer, for we know but one variety of Moss Rose that approaches it, that is the Salet Moss. The rest are no more so than are the so-called Hybrid Perpetuals.
Moss Roses should be severely pruned in spring, removing all the old wood.
Salet, deep pink; White Perpetual, pure white; and Crested, rose-color, are the most desirable sorts.
PROPAGATING THE ROSE.
The Rose is somewhat difficult to propagate from cuttings, and it takes from three to four weeks for them to root under the best conditions. Moss Roses are generally multiplied by layering (see "Layering"), and by budding on the common Manetti or Multiflora stocks. The following will be found to be a very practicable and simple method of propagating roses on a small scale, and is attended with very little trouble or expense: In the fall place sand in a box, or cold frame, to the depth of eight inches. Take from the bushes the number of cuttings it is desired to propagate, making them with two or three points or eyes; insert them in the sand (which should be previously packed as solid as can be), then water thoroughly. As the cuttings are to remain in this frame all winter, it should be provided with a glass sash, and the whole covered with leaves and manure. It need not be banked up until freezing weather. If rightly done, we may expect at the least fifty per cent of the cuttings to come from their winter bed finely rooted. They should then be potted, and after growing awhile, planted out, and some of them will bloom the first season.
CHAPTER XX.
JAPAN AND OTHER LILIES.—CALLA LILIES.
If we call the rose the "Queen of Flowers," what royal title shall we bestow upon the beautiful Japan Lilies? We sometimes think it would be proper to name the Rose the King, for its commanding aspect, and the grandly beautiful Lily, the Queen of the floral kingdom. But, be this as it may, we have only to gaze upon a collection of Japan Lilies when in full bloom, and inhale their delicious odor, that perfumes the whole atmosphere, to be convinced of their superiority over all other flowers. Surely Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.