THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



171 



The view of the interior will show that the roses are all planted out 

 in the two side borders, and the way they are planted may be worth 

 telling to those who are fond of tea roses, and have no prospect of growing 

 them well in the open ground. In the first place, then, the house mea- 

 sures 35 feet long, 16 feet wide, and is 12 feet high from the path to the 

 ridge. It is therefore strictly a miniature rose-house. The borders are 

 80 inches wide, and are kept up by means of stout planks, neatly planed, 

 and painted stone colour. The walk is sunk 15 inches below the top 

 edges of the boards, and it consists of a mixture of fine gravel mixed with 

 Portland cement, laid down on a bottom of hard stuff, and then watered 

 and rolled while wet with a garden roller. It has the fresh colour of 

 good gravel, and is as hard as a pavement. I should miss the mark alto- 

 gether if I did not add that the borders are prepared with great care, for 

 tea roses will not endure damp at the roots in winter, and they require a 



INTBRIOE OF EOSE-HOtlSil. 



light rich soil. First, then, along the centre of each border is laid a 

 drain to carry superfluous water quite away. These drains communicate 

 with the main drain which passes the house, and thus all stagnation of 

 water in the soil is prevented. Over these drains is laid about six inches 

 of broken brick and tile, and then eighteen inches of soil, consisting of 

 thin slicings of turf from a loamy pasture previously laid up and the 

 grass quite rotted, hotbed-dung, leaf-mould, the top pulverized crumbs 

 from a bank of clay, and old plaster broken line, equal parts all through. 

 It is full of nourishment, firm and yet light, and the roses root into it as 

 they do in forest loam in pots ; that is, they make masses of fibre and no 

 rambling fleshy roots. The cut will show that the roses are planted in 

 three rows, the weak growers in the front, and the more robust kinds on 

 the centre and back of the border. They are all on their owti roots, which 

 is the best way for free growth, good flowers, and never to be plagued 

 ■with suckers. They were all planted in August, 1862, and were all 



