HORTICULTURE 



ROSES 



A Paper read before the (iardeners* and Florists' 

 Club of Boston, by M. H. Walsli. 

 [Continued from last week's issue] 



A good rose Ijloom carrii-s with it good 

 foliage; you catinot well get one without the 

 other; they are inseparable, as the flower is 

 only the foliage developed and this means 

 good food, frii|ucmt syringings, and appli- 

 cations of water when necessary. The leaves 

 of the plants are termed the lungs of the 

 plant and tlu-y absorb a great deal of nitro- 

 gen from till- soil; therefore the necessity of 

 rich soil, as vcm cannot get nitrogen if there 

 is none in tli. soil. You cannot take from 

 the soil «li,H ii dors not ir.iitain. It is from 

 the soil ilir ,.l,,,,i- -1-1,,., Ill, ,,,„l, \ist. The 

 s,.il sh.iuM 1,-1 n, .,,n iiil Ml, ration. 



Stir or h,„- il,,- ..^i,.,!!,,! In ,]ih i,il\. weeds or 

 no weeds; tlie ]iropcr time to hoe is when 

 there are no weeds; this is benel'icial to roses. 

 Take and hoe a piece for jiroof of this, leave 

 a piece along side not hoed; look at the two 

 pieces or rows of plants; the following morn- 

 ing compare and observe which has the 

 heavier dew-drops on the leaves and con- 

 sider whence it came on one row of plants 

 and not on llic other. 



Till- prunini^ of hybrid perpetuals should 

 be carifully done, having in mind the char- 

 acter of the varieties. The weak growing va- 

 rieties such as Gustave Pigneau, Marie Beau- 

 man, Marie Finger, and others of Uke charac- 

 ter should be pruned to three eyes from the 

 ground. The more vigorous growing kinds 

 should be pruned si.x to eight eyes from the 

 ground; that is to say, for the weak growing 

 kind prune close as above; and the more 

 vigorous, not so close. This may be termed 

 pruning for quality. The method pursued 

 generally in this country appears to be based 

 on riuantity rather than quality, sparing the 

 knife and exhausting the plants by over- 

 cropping and producing quantity instead of 

 C|uality. I'"ar better si.xteen or twenty good 

 first-class blooms than forty or more inferior 

 blooms. By pursuing this system of pruning, 

 it promotes and encourages stro'ng vigorous 

 shoots for the following year's blooms. The 

 number of shoots for the plants may be 

 determined by the size and vigor of the 

 plants; this applies to the hybrid perpetuals 

 or hybrid remontants. Close or severe prun- 

 ing as it may be termed, practically produces 

 strong, young, vigorous wood, even on very 

 old plants, and they may be grown for many 

 years providing, however, the plants are 

 taken up and roots pruned once in six or 

 seven years. 



The following list contains the names of 

 what the writer considers twenty-four of the 

 best varieties: 



Alfred Colomb, Baroness Rothschild, Abele 

 Carriere, Chas. Lefi-lnrc. Clio, Dr. Audry, 

 Duke of Edinburgli, I n I i 1 > ,'i !,,. Etienne 

 Levet, Frau Karl I , : , , lal Jac- 



queminot, Heinn, 1, il ■ K-e Ver- 



net. Jubilee, Loui-. \ ,:, 11 ,.;:■ M.id. Gab- 

 riel Luizet, Marie Beauman, Marquise de 

 Castellanc, Maurice Bernadine, Mrs. John 

 Laing, Mrs. R. G. Sharman Crawford, 

 Margaret Dickson, Prospier Laugier, Ulrich 

 Brunncr. 



WiNTK.R Protection of Hybrid 

 Pf.rpetuals. 

 I find drawing the soil around the base of the 

 plants, as you would hill up potatoes, sheds 

 off the rain keeping the soil dry around the 

 base of the plants; hill up eight or nine inches 

 and fill in and over the surface, four or five 

 inches of manure. This protects the roots 

 and is in good condition to dig in the spring. 

 This may be done early in November, it 

 haWng a tendency to harden and ripen up 

 the wood before severe cold weather .sets in. 

 The object of hilling up is to protect eight or 

 nine inches of the wood; it matters little if 

 the tops do winter-kill. Sometimes I think 



it a blessing in disguise, especially where 

 close pruning is not practised. 



Hellebore dusted on the leaves early in 

 May when the second leaf appears on the 

 young shoot, will destroy the leaf roller or 

 slug. Usually two applications are sufficient 

 unless washed off by the rains. When the 

 white thrips or hopper appears, it indicates 

 lack of moisture in the soil; this thrips will 

 not attack the plants only in the hot, dry 

 weather when the ground is deficient in 



moisture. 



requ 



the force 



pump or hydrant hose, syringing the bushes 

 on the underside of the leaves. Do not 

 wait for the elements to supply water; delays 

 are dangerous. 



For exterminating aphis, frequent syring- 

 ings with force pump or hose will prove 

 effective and beneficial. For mildew, sul- 

 phur dusted over the affected plants will 

 allay this disease. For rose or Hessian bugs, 

 hand picking is the only effectual remedy. 

 A good preventive is to plant near by some 

 small white shrubs, viburnum or white 

 weigelas; this will attract the rose bugs. A 

 white flower has a pecuUar attraction for 

 them. You have noticed how they select 

 the white or lighter-colored roses rather than 

 the darker colored. This bug is the most 

 detestable and destructive pest to contend 

 with. 



The Hybrid Tea. 



This may be properly called the true ]>er- 

 petual rose. Wliile the number of varieties 

 which have proved hardy enough to withstand 

 our climate is not large, there are at least 

 fifteen varieties which prove most satisfactory 

 with careful cultivation and protection. This 

 class of rose requires a light sandy soil for its 

 best growth and development. The hybrid 

 teas are Krowinu in favor each year. This is 



the ciiiiiii' ii -i , .!iiil 1,1 ill ■ , il ii 1, \Tars 



I prnli. , I • . , -■ - I " , ,1,' the 



hybri.l ,■;,■... I :,, !.,:•_•. ,,■,,. l„'i- of 



new van, 111.. .UuJi .-.ill U im,..,lu.i,l with- 

 in the iie.xt two years, together with the 

 varieties proving hardy and already being 

 grown here, will make a Ust of everblooming 

 roses. 



This rose appears to withstand our severe 

 winters as it becomes acclimated. To my 

 surprise, I found Madame Abel Chatenay 

 to have stood the winter by simply drawing 

 the earth up around the base of the plants; 

 no other protection being provided. Mois- 

 ture or wet, heavy soil is not suited for the 

 hybrid tea, therefore a Ught sandy soil well 

 enriched is desirable; the lighter the soil, the 

 drier and warmer. To carry these through 

 the winter the soil should be drawn up 

 around the base of the plants not later than 

 November fifteenth; this tends to ri]ien up 

 and harden the wood to better withstand the 

 winter. A layer of course beach hay placed 

 over the surface of the ground and around 

 the plants answers well, and it does not hold 

 the water. Over this place some evergreen 

 branches to protect the plants from the sun 

 and cold winds. The cold March winds and 

 strong bright sun cause much injury to all 

 roses as well as to trees and shrubs. 



The following list of hybrid teas is most 

 desirable: 



Augustine Guinnoseau, Caroline Testout, 

 La France, Bessie Brown, Gruss an Tcplitz, 

 Maman Cochet (white), Mainan Cochet 

 (pink), Mme. Abel Chatenay, Madam Joseph 

 Combet, Ferdinand Jamain, Flush o'Dawn, 

 Kaiserin .i^ugusta Victoria, Papa Gontier, 

 and Pre.sident Carnot. 



Hybrid tea roses require little pruning, 

 cutting out the weak shoots and dead wood 

 being sufficient. The long season of bloom- 

 ing of this beautiful class of roses beginning 

 in mid- June and continuing until November, 

 together with their beautiful colors and frag- 

 rance cau.ses them to be inuch in demand. A 

 rose which will bloom all summer and prove 



h.ir, ly with careful protcc tion. will he the popu- 



l.ir t^.irden rose. Thi-,,la i 1., in, reased 



in I his country as well ,, ,,, I ■ , : ,1 Ireland, 

 and Germany, the ,,„; i, ;,,;;■ ;. i il„se new 

 varieties being strong t., \\ iil,.,uii,<l our severe 

 climate. The rose hybridizers in the United 

 Slates are at work to improve and perfect 

 this new class of roses, a work which is natur- 

 al!, . .!,.w, there is work being done and in 



,!,,: r,. r.Milts will be known. This can- 



I„ a. , ,,ni|,lished in one year or two as 



will, , .irnatii.ns; il rc-i|uires at'least five years 

 before the i h.iia, lia ami ,|iiality of the.se new 

 ro.ses become |„riiiaii,iiiK fixed. The writer 

 has one plant :-.im n v, ,i ,.ld, flowering this 

 season for the first liin, I'atience is a virtue 

 the rose hybridist should i)os.sess. Often- 

 times it requires two years for rose seeds to 

 germinate, while in some instances the seeds 

 will germinate in about four to six weeks. 



Nature is not lavish in giving us improved 

 varieties, therefore they cannot be produced 

 at will. Thousands are raised and tested, 

 but only a few chosen. The quaUty and 

 standard of roses are improved and it be- 

 comes more difficult to produce new and 

 meritorious varieties than was the case ten 

 years ago. All gardeners and florists should 

 interest themselves in this most fascinating 

 work, possess themselves with patience and 

 experiment on the fines from which in their 

 goorl judgment they would get the best results. 



Within the past ten years there has been 

 introduced what may be called a new race of 

 climbing decorative roses for the garden. 

 These are being grown by many at the pre- 

 sent time in various forms giving much 

 [jleasure and satisfaction, as hardy cUmbing 

 or traifing roses. These hybrids are the 

 result of hybridizing, using the Japanese 

 varieties as parents. They are valuable 

 acquisitions to the already long list of varie- 

 ties being grown at the present time. They 

 produce a most artistic effect. When in 

 bloom the contrast of fofiage and flower, to- 

 gether with the delicious fragrance, places 

 them easily in the front rank. These flower 

 about the first week in July, prolonging the 

 rose season in the garden fully four to five 

 weeks. Some varieties flower a second time 

 from September to frost. These may be 

 used to great advantage grown as ground 

 roses for covering banks, rockeries, etc. 

 Thev grow most rapidlv in ordinary garden 

 soil well enriched. They require Ught prun- 

 ing, merely cutting the tips of the shoots. 



The following named are considered 

 among the best in this class: 



Carissima, Debutante, Farquhar, Gaiety, 

 Hiawatha, Lady Gay, La Fiamma, Phila- 

 dcl|>hia Rambler, Manda's Triumph, Dorothy 

 Perkins, and Wedding Bells. These roses 

 m:iv be used for edging for bcils Ijy pegging 

 down, and they are very etTec live with their 

 mass of blooms. 



Never in the history of this country has 

 the rose been in such demand as at the pre- 

 sent time. The popular interest and awaken- 

 ing in the garden rose is the best proof of the 

 high esteem it commands as the Queen of 

 the Garden. A most hopeful and encourag- 

 ing sign of the times is the increased inter- 

 est for garden roses, the work being done in 

 making and planting new beds, the inquiries 

 for the best garden roses and the new varie- 

 ties, the increased demand for the rambler 

 class, and the increased intelligence by the 

 amateur class in matters relating to rose 

 growing. It is evident the rose takes first 

 and the prominent place in the garden and 

 will maintain its title and position wiiile 

 flowi-rs are grown. There is no flower that 

 appeals so strongly to one as the fragrant 



.May the developing and perfecting of the 

 rose continue, and may each year bring forth 



.\merican types which 



ador 



rose gardens 

 flower. 



grow this be 



