Of all forced flowers in use for the spring decoration of the conservatory there is perhaps none more desirable than the Rose; nothing gives so great satisfaction when a good and successful result is obtained. It is showy, its fragrance unsurpassed, the foliage noble when at its best. The Rose seems to grow to be cut, for a long stalk may be taken with the flower, and the plant is not injured, and a succession of flowers are maintained for a long time on the same plant. The Rose being the queen of flowers, it is peculiarly the gentlemen's as well as the ladies' flower, and certain bachelors of our acquaintance will tolerate no other flowers about their grounds. But it is about the forcing of the Rose we have to write; it does not need our prosaic praise.

The early-forced Roses are now nearly over, and are being gradually moved out into the open air in a sheltered place to rest and harden. This appears to us to be really the starting-point from whence to prepare the plants for another year's forcing; and we think also that now is a good time for those who have not got a stock of plants in pots, and who intend forcing another year, to get the desired quantity together. This may be done by ordering plants established in 6-inch or larger pots from the nursery, or we should prefer plants in smaller pots of our own selection, unless we could depend on our nurseryman doing us justice. If to spare, the desired number of plants might be lifted from the open ground at home and potted, but this plan is not always satisfactory, unless there be a stock of young plants at command, as the roots of old plants are not easily accommodated to pots of handy dimensions; and cutting away the roots of a Rose in order to fit it to a pot of convenient size is barbarous, and fraught with disaster to the plant; we therefore prefer beginning with young pot-plants.

Most varieties of the Rose are capable of being forced; but the Hybrid Perpetuals are much to be preferred as a whole, and it is of them that the great bulk of our stock is composed. A few of the old Cabbage and common Moss Roses are desirable on account of their fragrance and delicate colours - besides, the Moss makes the finest button-hole Rose; they are both also very prolific bloomers. A few also of the summer-blooming Roses are indispensable, such as Coup d'Hebe, Charles Lawson, Paul Ricaut, Maiden's Blush, and a few others. But it is among the Hybrid Perpetuals that the grandest Roses are to be found and the greatest variety selected. Baroness Rothschild is a magnificent light-coloured Rose for forcing, and a strong grower; Duke of Edinburgh, a dark Rose, also fine; La France, a superb Rose; Miss Poole, Jules Chretien; and of older Roses, Jules Margottin is very prolific; Senateur Vaisse and General Jacqueminot are two old Roses of fine scent and colour; Souvenir de la Malmaison is a sure and distinct Rose: but selection is scarcely possible; they are nearly all equally suitable - at least we find them so. Many of the Tea-scented Roses are also first-rate for forcing, cutting them when just about to open.

It is needless to name varieties, as the whole of them are suitable for pot-culture. If plants are received from the nursery they must be examined at the roots to see if drainage is all right and the soil in a healthy condition. Any plants with the pots full of roots should be shifted at once; those not demanding shifting should remain until some growth has been made, standing the plants in a cold pit for a time with plenty of ventilation.

By the first week in June, when the sun is getting hot and powerful, they should be plunged in the full blaze of his rays out of doors. This is the time when we repot all our stock of pot-Roses; till the first week in June they have been resting after the flowering period, attention being paid to them in watering and not overcrowding them in some sheltered place out of doors. Those in small pots are shifted on if the pots be full of roots and the soil healthy; others may require partial shaking out and repotting in the same sized pots; none of them are in larger than 11-inch pots, which is large enough for early-forced Roses, and fine large plants can be grown in pots of that size. We do not cut or prune Hybrid Perpetuals at this stage, believing that they should have all the foliage left to ripen the wood and enable them to make roots; much fresh growth after this is not desirable on Roses to be forced early. We, however, cut out any old exhausted wood from the Tea-scented Roses.

The Rose in the open ground thrives best in strong loam, whose basis is clay; for potting, however, a lighter open soil is to be preferred: a light, yellow loam of a sandy texture is what we use, well enriched with rotten farmyard manure. Light manures, such as leaf-mould, or old mushroom-bed dung, are not of much use for Roses - they like more substantial fare. The soil should be chopped up rough, and a sprinkling of crushed bones will much improve it, and a few over the crocks will serve the double purpose of drainage and manure, which the roots soon find out. Pot firm, and drain well. When firmly potted the soil is not so liable to become waterlogged, or the drainage disarranged. Roses want a deal of water in the summer. When all are potted as they require, arrange the plants in rows according to size - the tallest at the back, and giving room to those which require it, without any attention as to the distances being uniform - in a turf pit facing the sun, in a warm sheltered place, and fill in between the pots with sawdust, which keeps the roots equable as to temperature and moisture.

The sawdust absorbs the heat of the sun through the day, and pine-wood sawdust is also obnoxious to worms when it is fresh.

Here they will now require very little attention throughout the summer, except watering, and an eye to suckers from the stocks if the Roses are worked plants. Those known to be well rooted should have weak liquid manure at all times when watered. We sometimes top-dress the whole with sheep's or other dung, as it is useful at a rainy time. When the water-pot is not required, the rain washes the manure into the soil. All flower-buds are picked off the plants as they are formed, and sometimes a few plants may require staking, but not often, unless a strong shoot gets top-heavy, catches the wind, and unsettles the whole plant in its pot. About the end of October we remove the whole to the Peach-cases, where there is abundance of air night and day. Here they are allowed to become comparatively dry at the root, when the foliage will soon begin to turn yellow and fall off, a sign of ripeness of the wood. Water now may be withheld entirely. By the middle of December they may be pruned. This we do to the whole at one time. It is not at all necessary to leave those unpruned which are required later. They will start as required, just as Vines in pots will. The difference in flowering is effected by the time the plants are pruned, but by this time they get introduced into heat.

The first lot may be selected and started at once; the moist mild temperature of a peach-house just started suits them well. Here they will have the syringe daily, and for a time plenty of light, and a minimum of fire-heat. If a low span-roofed forcing-house can be devoted to them, so much the better; they can be better attended to as regards ventilation, and will have the benefit of all the sunshine possible, better than under Vines or Peach-trees. One good soaking of water will be sufficient for a time; the syringe will keep them moist enough until they have developed some foliage. The chief points to be attended to now will be to husband the sun's heat, to ventilate freely when weather will allow, but avoid draughts, which will injure the tender foliage, and induce insects. The object must be to get strong growth; spindly drawn growth ruins the plants for future use, as well as yielding poor unrecognisable flowers. Fumigate on the least appearance of aphis, and watch for the Rose-grub, which curls up the leaves and eats out the buds.

Force slowly with as little fire-heat as possible, the thermometer ranging from 50° to 65°, or 80° with sun-heat.

The plants must be gradually hardened before removing to a cool house, else the buds may turn yellow and drop off. If the conservatory be warm, they will not feel the change, especially if the forcing has not been rapid, and the pots not been plunged in heat. Water with liquid manure as soon as the buds begin to show, and continue until all the flowers are cut, after which the same routine of ripening and resting and potting begins for another year. The Squire's Gardener.