MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 81 
Soil.—Roses usually do well in any good garden soil, but 
better results are obtained if considerable care is exercised 
in the preparation of the ground. Roses require a heavy, 
well-drained soil. To obtain this, the area to be used for a 
bed should be dug out to a depth of from eighteen inches 
to two feet, and if the drainage is not good another six 
inches should be removed and this space filled with fine 
broken stone, brick, or old flower-pots. Upon this porous 
stratum six inches of well-rotted cow manure should be 
placed, and finally sufficient heavy soil to finish the bed, 
raising it not more than three inches above the surrounding 
grade. This latter layer should, if possible, be top soil (in- 
cluding sod) from an old pasture. After making the bed 
it should be allowed to settle for a week before the planting 
is begun. 
Planting.—Roses may be set out either in the fall or in 
the spring. The spacing depends very largely upon the 
variety; tea and hybrid tea varieties may be planted about 
eighteen inches apart, but hybrid perpetuals, on account of 
their more vigorous growth, should be spaced at least two 
and one-half feet, and ramblers eventually need about four 
feet. In any case an eight-inch margin from the edge of 
the bed should be allowed. Where potted stock is being 
planted, the ball of earth should be placed with its upper 
surface about two inches below the soil; field-grown stock 
may be set two or three inches lower than its former posi- 
tion in the nursery. The holes for receiving the plants 
should be large enough to admit the stock without bendin 
or crowding the roots, the soil should be firmly pack 
around the roots, and the Lega thoroughly watered im- 
mediately after planting. All stock should be so pruned 
that but two or three buds remain on each shoot—the upper 
bud, in each case, pointing outward. 
Varieties to Plant.—Rose stock may be either grown on 
its own roots, or grafted or budded. It may be well in this 
connection, however, to call attention to certain disadvan- 
tages which attach to budded stock. In general, budded 
stock is more easily killed in severe winters than is stock 
grown on its own roots, and in addition the shoots which 
invariably spring from the parent stock frequently sup- 
press the scion unless cut away. On the other hand, there 
are varieties of roses which it is impossible to grow satis- 
factorily unless they are budded on to a hardier stock. 
Of the four or five thousand varieties of roses at present 
on the market, some growers list as many as eight hundred, 
but of these only a few grow to perfection in this latitude. 
