296 

 A GLANCE AT THE EOSEEY. 



BY W. 1). PEIOB, OF CLAPTON. 



jHE rose season is virtually over for this year. Morning 

 frosts and chilly nights will speedily nip up the linger- 

 ing blossoms, and clothe the foliage with the leprous 

 foliage of mildew, blighting our favourites, so that 

 tliey are no longer beautiful, and suggesting the neces- 

 sity for their falling into a state of rest, the better to resist the 

 inclemencies of winter. It is by no means a bad plan, where plants 

 are found in the autumn in too succulent and sappy a state of 

 growth, to give the soil about their roots a gentle heave up with a 

 garden fork, loosening without damaging the fibres, and by means of 

 such a delicate check to prevent further untimely development. Let 

 rosarians see to this betimes. The havoc caused by the last winter 

 was owing not so much to its severity, as to the condition in which 

 it found the plants, full of sap, and unripened by the autumnal 

 weather. Such a condition of plants invites destruction, unless effi- 

 cient protection can be given against " killing frosts " and '' unkind 

 winds." 



A good deal of skill and thoughtful consideration are requisite to 

 the proper arrangement and formation of a rosery, and there are few 

 such places the capabilities of which are developed to the full extent. 

 It is not sufficient for the owners of a beautiful space, a suitable 

 locality, and a full purse, to order dozens of fine plants of different 

 varieties, sizes, and kinds, and stick them in anywhere and anyhow, 

 like dibbling scarlet beans, but consideration should be given to 

 appropriate and elegant combinations. Excursions should be made 

 as wide as possible from the beaten tracks, provided such innovations 

 are conceived in correct taste. The man who invents a meritorious 

 novelty, invents a new pleasure, and suggests further improvements 

 to those engaged in similar pursuits, deserves the approbation of 

 his fellows, whatever the line may be. This should be borne in 

 mind in every novel experiment, even in the garden. 



In every portion of the floral distribution of a garden, two pri- 

 mary objects are required — we want as many blooms of an}^ specific 

 flower as we can obtain, and we want them displayed in the manner 

 most gratifying to the eye, which will be in the most appropriate 

 situations, amidst the most becoming surroundings. It is sur- 

 prising what a wide range of adaptability for these purposes exists 

 in almost every kind of flower, especially in the rose, respecting 

 which let us glance at a few phases of its application. We may 

 dismiss it at once in its promiscuous situation in the borders as an 

 individual ornament, to consider it in its proper and distinctive loca- 

 tion in the rosery, where its combinations should be the result of the 

 most consummate thought, and where its beauties should be deve- 

 loped to the greatest advantage. "Wherever space will allow its 

 construction, there should be a rosery, and it should be isolated 

 from the other parts of a garden sufficiently to form a prominent 

 feature in itself. Every rosery should be approached through some 



