i8g5. 



' • GARDENING. 



293 





HALLS JAPAN HONEYSUCKLE 



particular to guard against mildew, as 

 that checks them more than anything. At 

 that time— starting time in fall— I always 

 put on a little fire heat to sweeten the air 

 at night and keep it genial and moving, 

 and thus lessen any tendency to mildew. 



In hot summer weather we cannot con- 

 trol the temperature as we sometimes 

 would like, but in fall and winter we gen- 

 erally can. Between fall and spring we 

 keep the night temperature as near at 

 (')0° as possible, and allow it to rise to 80° 

 in the day time by sunheat. If possible, 

 that is if the weather will allow of it, 

 ventilate the house a little every day. 



When the sunshine becomes quite strong 

 in s])ring we shade the roses a little by 

 painting the glass over with a thin coat- 

 ing of turpentine and white lead. Tliis 

 saves the leaves from "burning," and it 

 can be easily rubbed off in fall with a dry 

 cloth. 



Sprinkle the ))lants overhead every 

 morning e.Ncipt in dull, wet weather; and 

 ill bright, hoi days in summer syringethe 

 roses both in the morning and afternoon. 



In winter we use sheep manure as a 

 stimulant to our roses and find it answers 

 admirably. Most rose growers use cow 

 manure, and with excellent results. 



As regards growing roses in pots or on 

 benches for cut flowers, I very much pre- 

 fer the benches. Duringthe wintermonths 

 we cut about three hundred good roses a 

 week. GicoROi-: D<in'ai.I). 



Fairfield, Conn., June 6, 1895. 



they die so frequently through the winter 

 that we are satisfied with the H. P roses 

 only. We have also the setigera, rugosa 

 and Wicliuraiana roses. Prairie Queen and 

 Baltimore Belle are the most reliable of 

 .all climbing roses we have, and Mme. 

 Plantier the best hardy white rose. We 

 have so large a variety of beautiful peren- 

 nial and annual flowers we scarce miss 

 the tender tea. Noisette, etc., roses and 

 none but a rosarian can do justice to so 

 attractive a subject. 1sa.\c Hicks. 



Westbury Station, L. I., |une 2, 18;)5. 



flflRDY GARDEN ROSES. 



We have abandoned the cuUuri 

 cnder varieties, as with all our mctl 



SINGLE ROSES. 



The different varieties of Rosa rugosa 

 are at their best. The Ayrshire and other 

 varieties of R. repens are in full flower. 

 The musk rose {R.moschata) has whitish 

 flowers that have a delicious musky odor. 

 The Austrian briar (A', hitea) has deep 

 yellow blossoms streaked with red; R. 

 ruhritolia with reddish purple foliage and 

 small pink flowers; R. Caucasica has 

 white or pale red blooms and R. gallica, 

 beautiful pink red ones and all are now 

 in bloom. Rosa maltiffora will be at its 

 best in two or three days. J. Dundak. 



Rochester, N. V., June 7, 1895. 



KoSA WiCllURAIA.NA. — C. L. M., Md- 

 waukee, writes: "Rosa Wichiiraiana here 

 is perfectly hardy standing without mulch- 

 ing. I don't think anything of it, as it 

 would be completely overgrown with 

 grass and weeds. It is a free grower and 

 has vcrv pretty foliage." Then tie it up 

 to a pillar, or on a trellis, or let it grow 



down over a bank, or spread over rocks. 

 For certain uses we have nothing better 

 than this rose. 



MuLCHiNO Roses in Summer.— Mulch- 

 ing the ground in summer is helpful to 

 roses, it keeps the soil cool and open, con- 

 serves moisture and catches and holds 

 the water when it rains. But what to 

 use as a mulch is a vital question. Salt 

 hay, sedge, fern, or other littery stuff will 

 answer very well, but we don't care much 

 for lawn mowings alone, they lie so close, 

 nii.\ed with loose litter, however, they are 

 all right. Fresh, rank, littery manure at 

 once suggests itself as a mulch, and as 

 roses are so fond of cow manure strawy 

 cow manure would appear to be the 

 mulching par excellence for roses. But it 

 isn't. It certainly is a perfect mulching 

 in one sense, and a store house of food as 

 well, and we like to use it in winter. As 

 a summer mulching, however, we have 

 had pretty positive experience of its harm, 

 in so far that it is to May bugs a very 

 attractive place to breed in or under, and 

 that means that the larvce ("white 

 grubs") have got to be fed on the young 

 roots of the rose bushes. Cow manure 

 more than any other kind seems to at- 

 tract these beetles. In the open ground 

 the old beetles dig some inches deep into 

 the earth to oviposit; but under the mulch- 

 ing they scarcely go half as deep Several 

 years ago we had a fine bed of roses, and 

 wishing to treat it properly mulched it in 

 spring with fairly clean cow manure. In 

 mid-summer our attention was called to 

 some grubs about the roses, and on ex- 

 amination we found they were young 

 white grubs — not a few but in thousands. 

 To leave them there meant ruin to the 

 roses, so we removed every bit of the 

 mulching and about two inches of soil. 

 And we learned a lesson. 



Rosa grandiflora is a gem among 

 roses. It is of compact habit but vigor- 

 ous growth, and bears a great profusion 

 of large, showy, white, single flowers. It 

 came into bloom May 20, before rugosa 

 even, and by the end of the month it was 

 covered with blossoms, forming one of 

 the most beautiful and marked shrubs in 

 the garden. By the time the rose bugs 

 came its flowers had all dropped. The 

 plant is perfectly hardy with us. And its 

 blossoms as cut flowers have kept in good 

 condition on our table for several days; 

 the buds that were unopen when cut 

 opened full wide and beautiful after the 

 sprays had been set in water. This rose 

 is said by Loudon to be a native of 

 Siberia, and introduced to cultivation in 

 1818. 



The Rose-bug, or properly rose-chafer 

 (Macrodactylus subspinosus) appeared 

 here this year, June 2. It is very prompt 

 in coming every year, always during the 

 first few days of June. On the first day 

 we found it on Magnolia hypoleuca, M. 

 parvittora and M. Watsoni blossoms 

 only, the next daj' it was more generally 

 distributed, A'osa rugosa alba getting a 

 big share of attention, and now they are 

 ever3'where. But so far they are less 

 numerous than they have been for some 

 years past. What can we do to destroy 

 them or drive them away? We havetried 

 a good many ways and find the kerosene 

 bath the best of all. Take a tin or zinc 

 basin— an old wash hand basin, a milk 

 pan, a tin pail or kettle, in fact any shal- 

 low vessel with a wide mouth will do— 

 and pour an inch or two deep of water 

 into it, then about as much kerosene; of 

 course all kerosene is as good or better, 

 the water is simply to give it bulk, it lies 

 at the bottom and the kerosene floats at 



