322 



GARDENING. 



July IS, 



five varieties; last spring we planted five 

 hundred of them of all the newest sorts 

 and the best old ones. Mrs. John Laing 

 stands at the top as a pink rose, growing 

 and blooming freelj-. Captain Christy is 

 the best flesh-colored one we have and it 

 is a very free flowerer. 



For these new roses we prepared special 

 beds. Last fall we dug out the sandy 

 soil (2 feet deep) and filled in with good 

 soil; we carted a big heap together and 

 mixed it up with good old cow manure, 

 one load of manure to three of soil, we 

 also added several bags ot wood ashes 

 and a lot of crushed bones. The pile was 

 turned over twice, then carted to the beds, 

 23 loads of it and this is what we are 

 now growing the roses in. 



Some may think that this is a lot of 

 work, but "it was the only thing that 

 could be done, as our sandy soil of itself 

 won't grow very good H. P. roses. We 

 have just finished making another garden 

 which is intended for roses to be planted 

 next spring, and which will hold about 

 1,000 more plants. We also planted last 

 spring 150 H. T. roses in a prepared bed; 

 we will cover these with a frame next 

 winter, as they won't prove hardy. The 

 tea roses will be treated in the same way; 

 these do nicelv here and gives lots of 

 bloom. 



In the polyantha class we graw a num- 

 ber, and they all do well and bloom freely. 

 Clothilde Soupert is one of the best. 

 These roses bloom all summer long; the 

 flowers are not very large, but as they 

 come in clusters that makes up for it. 



Mahwah, N. J. D.wid Fraser. 



[Our illustration of the hedge row of 

 Madame Plantier rose is engraved from 

 a photograph Mrs. John Mayer had 

 taken for G.^rdeninc, last ('95) summer. 

 This season, now that the rose is o'der, 

 bigger and bushier we are informed that 

 it was fuller in body and much more 

 fioriferous than it was a year ago. We 

 look upon Madame Plantier as the most 

 indispensable of all of our white roses, 

 and it is very hardy, and makes both a 

 fine dwarf border rose or hedge; but let 

 no one get possessed of an idea that it 

 will bloom aftermidsummer, for it won't. 

 -Ed.] 



THE ROSES GET WINTER-KILLED. 



My place borders Long Island Sound, 

 but I cannot get my roses to kec]) their 

 bearing wood over winter no matter 

 what with or how I protect them. I 

 have tied straw around them, and mulched 

 them with leaves and manure, and yet I 

 don't get good blooms from them. I 

 thought of making beds the width of or- 

 dinary frames, and putting frames and 

 sashes over them in winter, keeping them 

 there till into April when the good weather 

 set in, but not putting them on till winter 

 weather came on. Magna Charta, Bar- 

 oness Rothschild, Mabel Morrison, Gen- 

 eral Jacqueminot, and the like, are the 

 varieties I am desirous of growing. 



J. R. M. 



Roses did well with ns on Long Island, 

 and we got good wood and fine blossoms. 

 Our first care was new ground, that is 

 to plant roses in ground not before occu- 

 pied bv them, be it sandy or loamy; the 

 land \v,is unfastened deep and manured 

 well. Shelter was a prime consideration. 

 Rose bushes open to the full sweep of the 

 piercing, raw, northwest winds in winter 

 are sure to suffer, especially towards 

 spring. In new ground and a sheltered 

 place we had very little trouble with the 

 wood getting killed back in winter, and 

 if it did get killed it was only part way 

 down and not so far back as we would 



cut it in April when we pruned it; indeed 

 if the lower eyes are plump and sound, 

 cutting back the bushes is a good thing 

 all round. We let the bushes stand erect 

 in the rows, then say about Dec. 1, 

 mulched the beds all over with several 

 inches deep ot strawy manure. In the 

 case of tea, Bourbon and other doubtfully 

 hardy roses, we laid them down, pegging 

 them in place, on their sides and length- 

 wise in the rows in November, and about 

 the first of December covered them all 

 over with five or six inches deep ol loam 

 much as one would fig trees, or raspberry 

 or grapevine canes. This kept them well. 

 Hybrid perpetual roses buried with loam 

 in the same way would also live through 

 the winter unhurt. Carefully observe not 

 to cover up your jjlants too soon, for it 

 isn't the cold before Christmas that in- 

 jures them, but the severe weather and 

 sudden changes after the new year, espe- 

 cially after the middle of February. Don't 

 stay too long in spring before uncovering, 

 but be very careful not to uncover too 

 soon; better uncover a little one week, 

 and a little more next week than do it 

 all at once. 



ROSES AT SALT LAKE CITY, UTflfl. 



As I seldom see anv items from this sec- 

 tion, I thought I would furnish a few 

 notes. [Very glad to hear from you.— 

 Ed.] First, then, let me express my ap- 

 preciation of Gardening. I have taken 

 at some time or other nearly all of the 

 American publications of a similar nature, 

 but none has pleased me as well as Gar- 

 dening. It is so free from sectionalism, 

 the matter being of such a general nature 

 that it interests all classes and particu- 

 larly amateurs— the very ones who need 

 its assistance. 



Well, to come down to the matter on 

 my mind, roses. Although they have 

 been and are still very plentiful, and some 

 have been very fine, yet this is a bad year 

 for them. We had cold, very wet weather 

 so late, and then it got very hot so sud- 

 denly that it was very trying. For in- 

 stance. Earl of Duiferin, which was superb 

 a year ago, is almost a failure this spring. 

 The color is dead, and the blooms refuse 

 to open. To have first-class blooms from 

 this rose, the buds should be thinned out 

 considerably. 



Madame Plantier, always good, has 

 been very fine and prolific. General "Jack," 

 while the color has been hurt some, was 

 very free and generally very fine. Paul 

 Xeyron and Anne de Diesbach are both 

 splendid and always have been with me. 

 Pierre Notting is not satisfactory in 

 spi'ing, but sometimes has a few very fine 

 blooms in fall. Fisher Holmes has been 

 splendid, also Jean Liabaud and Marshall 

 P. Wilder, but I think Lady Helen Stewart 

 and Marie Baumann have been the finest 

 crimsons I have had this spring, both be- 

 ing exceptionally free and bright. Bar- 

 oness Rothschild is always fine, one 

 blooni with attendimt foliage being a 

 charming bouquet, and Merveille de Lyon 

 is very similar, but nearly white. Mar- 

 guerite de St. Amand is always beauti- 

 ful, so is Mme. Gabriel Luizet, and Mrs. 

 [no. Laing is in the very front rank. But 

 La France and Mme. Caroline Testout 

 are without peers as pink roses in this 

 climate, and Kaiserin Augusta Victoria 

 as a white (or lemon). A few buds of La 

 France and Kaiserin Augusta Victoria 

 make the most beautiful bouquet imagin- 

 able. Augusta Victoria is perfectly hardy 

 here. In fact most tea roses are hardj-, 

 dying down to the roots, but shooting up 

 with vigor in the spring. 



What a charming bud is that of Eugenie 



Verdier. Mme. Georges Bruant is contin- 

 uously in bloom. Crimson Rambler seems 

 to be a failure here, leaves turn yellow, 

 buds die before they open. My neighbors 

 make the same complaint. I have not 

 yet seen it in bloom, although I have pur- 

 chased a number of plants. Meteor is 

 fine at some seasons but not always. 

 There are others I might mention, but 

 these arc the best. Ai.i.druige. 



MOSS ROSES. 



I append a list of a dozen varieties 

 which I consider worth cultivating. I 

 have placed them in their order of merit, 

 so that if only onecanbe grown it should 

 be the first named, and so on. 



Common Pink.— Buds are beautifully 

 mossed. 



Blanche Moreau.— Fine paper white, 

 the moss-like growth being of a peculiar 

 dark green color, forming a beautiful con- 

 trast to the white flowers. 



Little Gem has flowers of a deep pink 

 color and very small; the tiny buds are 

 freely produced and are very mossy. It 

 is a splendid variety for pot culture. 



Crested. — A clear rose color, the 

 flowers being enveloped in a peculiar 

 parsley-like growth of a very striking 

 appearance. 



White Bath.— An old favorite and in 

 some respects the best white, but not 

 quite so vigorous as Blanche Moreau. 



Celina.— Rich crimson, well mossed 

 and produced in panicles of eight or nine 

 blooms each. 



Comtesse de Murinais.— White, shaded 

 pink, very showy and free, each shoot 

 crowned with panicles of blooms eight or 

 nine in number, well thrown out from 

 the stem. 



Salet.— Blush-pink, with a deep rose 

 center, large and free. 



Mme. Wm. Paul.— Bright rose, free 

 blooming, and the most perpetual of any. 



Crimson Globe —Quite a new depart- 

 ure in moss roses, the flower being of 

 almost exhibition size, of a rich crimson 

 color, and buds well mossed. 



Lanei. — Deep rose, almost crimson, and 

 buds fairly well mossed. 



Gloire' des MorssEUSEs.— Beautiful 

 blush-pink; large and full. 



Mme. Edouard Ory.— Rosy carmine, 

 large and well mossed.— TAe Garden. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



LABURNUMS. WHY DON'T THEY BLOOM? 



C. M., Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, 

 writes: "We have a pair of laburnum 

 trees which do not bloom, though one of 

 them had a very few blooms on it a year 

 or two ago, proving that it is not the 

 sex of the tree which prevents. Can you 

 suggest the cause or a remedy?" 



Ans. Sex in plants has very little to do 

 with their blooming properties, for 

 instance a male holly tree, although it 

 never bears a berry, will be covered with 

 flowers, in fact more so than the female 

 one. Or take the ailantus tree; the male 

 one is the ill-smelling one, and we all 

 know how profusely it blooms, just as 

 freely as the seed bearing or female one. 

 Take pine or yew trees that have male 

 and female flowers on the same plant, the 

 male flowers are always the most numer- 

 ous, and the same is the case in the lesser 

 plants in which the male and female 

 flowers aie distinct, there are always 

 more male than female blossoms, for 

 instance see cucumbers or begonias. But 

 the l.iburnum doesn't belongtothc above 



