MARCH. 61 



ON BEDDING AUTUMNAL ROSES. No. I. 



I PROPOSE in this first letter to give your readers a few instructions 

 for bedding Roses, and reasons why I consider many autumnal kinds 

 particularly adapted for bedding in parterres. It has been generally 

 assumed by gardeners that, as a class, Roses are unfitted for placing 

 in the beds of a neat garden. That this is true of most kinds I grant, 

 but there are some Autumnal Roses, both Hybrid Perpetual and 

 Bourbon, which may be made to form most charming beds of con- 

 stant flower unsurpassed by any thing in cultivation ; and, provided a 

 little care and attention be given to them, they will last in brilliancy 

 of bloom from June till the end of October. 



There are six essential things requisite for obtaining a really fine 

 bed of flower : 



1. As the Roses, unhke common bedding plants, ought not to 

 be moved from year to year (more than may be necessary to replace 

 failures or other accidents), in order that they may become well esta- 

 blished, they should not be placed where the beds are at all liable to 

 become filled with roots of trees and shrubs, which are very fond of 

 extending themselves to the rich soil used to induce the Roses to 

 throw up plenty of bloom ; the vicinity of the Elm is especially to be 

 avoided 



2. The Roses should not be vigorous in growth, for I have ob- 

 served, from long experience, that those kinds which throw vigorous 

 shoots are deficient in constant flowering properties, generally speak- 

 ing, and are certainly out of place in a neat garden. 



3. The colours should be either dense and brilliant, or as nearly 

 white as may be consistent with their other qualities. 



4. In order that the colours should shew to the best advantage, 

 I think that the Roses should be massed, that is, should be all of one 

 kind in each bed. 



5. With me (and I presume it must be the same with other Rose- 

 growers) almost all kinds of Roses bloom better when worked on 

 briers than they do on their own roots ; I should therefore recom- 

 mend the Roses to be on short stocks, about six to nine inches in 

 height, they should not be less than six in order that the suckers, 

 which will certainly appear more or less on all worked Roses, may 

 be quickly perceived and eradicated, as if they are suflfered to remain, 

 they wear a very untidy appearance, and soon exhaust the plant. 



6. In order that the bloom may last in character, and in order to 

 command a succession of flowers and buds, the beds ought to be 

 liberally watered in summer with diluted liquid manure at stated 

 times in the evenings, about once a week in hot weather, care beinsr 

 taken not to distribute it over the foliage ; and ought to be shaded 

 with verj/ thin open canvass during the heat of the day in midsummer, 

 when the sun darts his fiercest rays, i. e. from 10 a.m. to 4 o'clock 

 P.M. Great caution must, however, be used in the employment of 

 this canvass, which should be of the most open texture possible, so as 

 rather to break the force of the sun than to exclude it : and if the 



