74 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



\March, 



the several essays, and report the result to the 

 society. At the annual meeting of the society 

 in December the committee made the following 

 report : 



" The committee appointed to report on Rose 

 Essays for Mr. Henderson's special premium, are 

 unanimous in giving the award to Essay No. 3. 

 John Henderson, Jas. Dean, C. A. Allen." 



The secretary announced Wm. Bennet, florist, 

 of Flatbush, as the author of Essay No. 3. The 

 report of the committee was concurred in, and 

 the essaj' was referred to the finance committee, 

 with instructions to print. 



No. 1. Propagation of the Rose. — This is done 

 by means of cuttings and budding. When you 

 are striking cuttings to plant out in a house, or 

 to grow on in pots, you should always select 

 your cuttings from the best and strongest wood 

 that you can get ; for as sure as you make a bad 

 cutting a bad plant is the result. Strike as early 

 in the season as possible. After the cuttings 

 are once rooted never let them suffer for want 

 of pot room or water. No matter whether they 

 are to be grown on in pots or planted out in 

 the border they should never be allowed to be- 

 come stunted. 



No. 2. Preparation of the Border. — The bor- 

 der should consist of a good tenacious loam ; if 

 old sod so much the better. No manure what- 

 ever should be intermixed with the soil. The 

 border should be thoroughly drained by means 

 of brick-rubble, broken stones, or rough mate- 

 rial of any kind, to the depth of eight or ten 

 inches ; cover the drainage with sod, grassy side 

 down. The soil should be at least twelve or 

 fifteen inches deep. The border should be when 

 finished from twenty to twenty-four inches above 

 the level of the floor. I have never seen good 

 roses Avhere the border was made below the 

 level of the floor. 



No. 3. Selection of Plants. — Take young, vigo- 

 rous plants that are rooted in December or 

 January, Never, in any case, plant old plants 

 if young can be obtained. 



No. 4. Kinds to Plant. — Bonsilene, Saffrano, 

 Sprunt, Cornelia Cook, La Sylphide, Douglass, 

 Niphetos, Madame Falcot, Pearl des Jardins 

 and Marechal Neil. 



No. 5. Time of Planting. — If house and all 

 things are ready for operations, I would plant 

 on the first of March. For treatment of young 

 plants after planting, say the plants are all set 

 out in the bed from eighteen to twenty inches 

 apart, I first of all top-di-ess the whole surface 



of the bed to the depth of two inches with good 

 stable manure, about half rotten. From this 

 time I syringe the young plants twice every day, 

 provided the day is clear. "Water sparingly at 

 the roots until the young plants are well estab- 

 lished in the new soil, and as the heat of the 

 season advances give water freely — a good, 

 thorough soaking once a week, none of your 

 homoeopathic doses. If the above directions 

 are closely followed, by the first of September 

 you will have a house full of fine young roses 

 from two to three feet high. 



No. 6. Watering and Syringing. — If there is 

 one thing the rose delights in more than another 

 it is plenty of water, and especially when it is 

 growing freely frequent waterings of manure 

 water. When the crop is coming in give less 

 water than at any other time, for the reason 

 that it improves the color of the buds. Drying 

 at the roots in summer time is practiced by a 

 great many gi'owers. My experience teaches 

 that this is radically wrong and absurd in the 

 extreme. I syringe freely once or twice a day, 

 according to the brightness of the weather, ex- 

 cept when the crop is in, then I withhold the 

 moisture to a considerable extent, as I am con- 

 vinced too much moisture at this period causes 

 the buds to come pale and washy looking. 



No. 7. Pruning the Rose. — This, in most cases, 

 is badly done. In fact you might say it is not 

 done at all, and about as little understood. The 

 first season the young plants will require little, 

 if any pruning further than cutting out the 

 small useless sprays. By the end of the second 

 season the plants will be large and strong, pro- 

 vided all has gone on right ; a judicious pruning 

 will be necessary. In pruning it requires a prac- 

 ticed eye to discriminate readily which shoots,to 

 take out and which to leave. In doing this keep ' 

 an eye to taking out all the weak and useless 

 wood ; then shorten back the good strong wood, 

 but be careful not to deprive the bushes of all 

 their foliage, for as sure as this is done a weak 

 and puny growth will be the result, with buds 

 as miserable as the foliage. At one time I used 

 to deprive my plants of all their foliage by 

 severe pruning. Experience, however, has 

 taught me that this is a wrong practice. For 

 the past three seasons my rose houses, after 

 pruning and tying down, have been as green as in 

 the depth of Winter. The result has been a 

 fine break of vigorous young growth, and buds 

 as fine as could be desired. 



(To be Concluded in next nunibe:.) 



