THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



225 



Some correspondents, I see, insist 

 upon " protection from the north, and 

 east," as indispensable to the cultiva- 

 tion of roses ; and one gentleman, in 

 his paternal zeal to coddle up his pets 

 durincj the winter, actually proposes 

 to dress them up with a head cover- 

 ing, the form of which he recom- 

 mends should be taken from a grocer's 

 sugar-bag! The idea certainly pos- 

 sesses the charm of novelty, and oidy 

 requires a little further development 

 in order to imitate the grotesque effi- 

 gies which abound in certain kitchen 

 gardens to frighten away cats and 

 sparrows, forcibly reminding one of 

 the apparition of that most respect- 

 able individual, Guido Fawkes, Esq., 

 and only fit to be shot at. If pro- 

 tection consists of trees and shrubs, 

 planted at a considerable distance 

 from the rosary, I will not object to 

 it, but rather than have my garden 

 defaced by such an army of scare- 

 crows, I would, willingly risk every 

 rose I possess. If east winds and 

 frosts deprive you of a few plants 

 or even delay the blooming season, 

 you will be more than compensated 

 by the increased splendour of your 

 flowers and the richness of the 

 foliage. 



The subject of soil and drainage 

 has been so amply dwelt upon by 

 abler pens, and is by this time so 

 well understood by every amateur, 

 that I need not add one word. My 

 roses are never pruned, in the autumn, 

 but are allowed to rest until March, 

 when this operation is performed. 



During the month of April (and 

 when the shoots begin to swell), is, 

 as I consider, the most critical period 

 with roses, and the one wherein nine 

 amateurs in every ten never think of 

 bestowing a thought upon them. I 

 do not know whether or not it is a 

 fact that gardens in the country 

 suffer less from the inroads of insects 

 than those in the neighbourhood of 

 London, but I do know that amateurs 

 generally would have far more beau- 

 tiful flowers and luxuriant foliage if 

 they adopted my plan of going over 

 every tree with a small brush at this 

 season of the year, and keeping a 

 careful look out for depredators every 

 day. This may appear troublesome, 



perhaps, but in reality it is not so. 

 Half an hour before breakfast daily 

 for about six weeks, with a brush 

 and syringe, has enabled me to keep 

 a bed of nearly 100 roses in as great 

 perfection, and as free from enemies 

 of all kinds, as if they had been 

 reared in a greenhouse. The month 

 of April and early part of May is the 

 time when the mischief to the summer 

 bloom takes place. Your roses at 

 this period do not attract your atten- 

 tion, for scarcely a leaf is to be seen, 

 and you are unconscious of the havoc 

 that is going on ; but a close inspec- 

 tion would speedily reveal the vast 

 purposes of the enemy, and enable 

 you to forestall his plans before the 

 destruction of a single bud takes 

 place. When in the month of June 

 I was rej^oicing over my collection of 

 roses, every bloom worthy of a flower- 

 show, and the plants pictures of 

 health, those of many of my neigh- 

 bours were one mass of disease and 

 blight, whilst the unfortunate blooms 

 looked as though they had been 

 reared beneath the shade of a gaso- 

 meter ! To the question as to how 

 I could grow such beautiful roses, I 

 could only reply that they had had 

 attention, and herein, as I take it, is 

 the simple secret of success with this 

 favourite of the garden. I believe if 

 my lot were again cast within the 

 shadow of St. Paul's, I would still 

 grow roses. Smoke and vermin are 

 their only enemies, and both are 

 within the compass of man's power 

 to overcome. If instead of planting 

 your roses and leaving them to take 

 care of themselves, you will just give 

 them a tithe of the attention which 

 you bestow upon bedding plants, one 

 half of the difficulties of their cul- 

 ture within the four-mile circle will 

 vanish. 



As the kinds I have grown here 

 differ in some degree from those of 

 many of the correspondents of the 

 FL0E4.L WoBLD, I will briefly name 

 them, for they were adopted by me 

 from descriptions given in the edito- 

 rial articles of this journal. 



Senateur Yaisse, must stand at 

 the head of my collection, for nothing 

 I have grown has approached it in 

 magnificence. At the Crystal Palace 



