for March, 1922 



87 



flower as a rule only early in the Summer, but as an 

 offset we are rewarded at that time with a greater abun- 

 dance of larger and longer keeping blossoms. Many va- 

 rieties, not only produce a wealth of flowers during June 

 and part of July, but do so at intervals all the season 

 with an increase towards the Autumn. This is especially 

 the case if, after the first blooms are over, the bushes are 

 cut back to encourage new growth of wood, for, with 

 these, as with almost all others, it is only upon new wood 

 that flowers are produced. 



A rose garden is practically only a garden for the pro- 

 duction of roses of the highest quality in the greatest 

 quantity, in the same way as a vegetable garden is for 

 the production of vegetables, therefore everything should 

 be subservient to these ends. 



For convenience as much as for anything else a rose 

 garden should be rectangular in shape and its beds laid 

 out along formal lines. Fancy beds of intricate patterns 

 are not only entirely out of place but at the same time 

 create considerable inconvenience and cause waste of 

 room. In addition to the fact that these roses are not 

 themselves any addition to the appearance of a landscape, 

 the formalness of a garden of this kind renders it objec- 

 tionable as a part of a harmonious natural planting, there- 

 fore some means must be taken to prevent it producing 

 a discordant note in home surniundings. 



A rose garden or rose border should be in an open 

 spot away from high buildings and tall trees so that the 

 plants can obtain plenty- of sun and air, and the ground 

 may have a little slope in any direction, but all other 

 conditions being equal, a gentle slope to the southeast is 

 preferable. 



Having chosen the situation and decided upon the ex- 

 tent of ground to be devoted to this purpose, some method 

 of planting the surroundings must be devised so as to 

 avoid making the rose beds part of the landscape. I 

 have known rose gardens to be merely surrounded by a 

 closely clipped privet hedge, which neither from a lands- 

 cape point of view nor from any other, does anything to 

 relieve the situation ; in fact it would be better to have 

 a rose garden entirel_v exposed and part of the landscape 

 than to surround it by a formal unsightly hedge. It is 

 better to screen a rose garden and any other special gar- 

 den by some natural planting arranged so as to har- 

 monize with the general landscape plan, so that, as far 

 as one can know from looking towards it, it might be 

 the boundarv planting of a lawn witli nothing but the 

 street on the other side. It is important that the con- 

 nection between the screen of the special garden and the 

 other planting be invisible and that the entrance or en- 

 trances be arranged with this idea in mind. It is of 

 course impossible to make hard and fast rules regarding 

 whether this garden should be screened all round or not, 

 .generallv speaking one side at least may be open without 

 bad effect. At all events, considering the rose garden 

 from the inside — whatever may be planted around it — a 

 space all along the inside of the boundary should be left 

 to the width of about eight feet, which can be devoted 

 to a border of five feet and a walk of three feet. It is 

 very effective to have this border devoted to the roses 

 comprised in the shrubbery group combined with herba- 

 ceous pereimials. The rest of the area can be divided 

 into beds three feet wide leaving two main walks three 

 feet in width at right angles across the center, with such 

 subsidiarv walks two feet wide as may be necessary to 

 the area.' These walks are for the purpose of enabling 

 everything connected with the culture and care of the 

 roses to be done without stepping off a walk. 



While thorough preparation of the soil is important 

 for all plants it" is especially so for roses as they are 

 gross feeders and it is practically impossible to make the 



soil too rich, provided all other conditions are right. 

 The first step is to see that the soil is properly drained. 

 If it is not so, then drainage must be provided, as roses 

 are always injured and frequently killed by stagnant 

 water remaining around their roots for any length of 

 time. In the case of a single rose bed only, draining 

 can generally be accomplished by taking out the soil to a 

 depth of three feet, (keeping the raw subsoil by itself 

 so that the surplus can be removed away) and placing 

 a foot of broken stone, bricks, or coarse cinders at the 

 bottom and filling up with the best of the soil. If this 

 method is not found sufficient to remove surplus water, 

 then resource must be had to tile drainage. In any case 

 the latter is always necessary when any sized area re- 

 quires draining. 



The ideal soil for roses is a deep loam ; if the soil is 

 very clayey a foot of the clay subsoil should be removed 

 and some sandy top-soil substituted. Clay soils should 

 be made lighter, and sandy ones made heavier, according 

 to the class of roses to be planted. The hybrid perpetuals 

 thrive best in a clayey loam, while teas and their hybrids 

 must have a soil which is lighter and warmer. It is 

 therefore well when all these three classes are grown, 

 to plant them in beds to themselves so that the soil may 

 be so regulated as to suit the special likes of each. 



In preparing the ground for roses it should be spaded 

 and thoroughly broken up to a depth of not less than 

 two feet where the subsoil is sandy : when the latter is 

 clayey one may go a foot deeper with great benefit ; at 

 the same time six inches of half decayed stable, or cow 

 manure for preference, should be incorporated with it. 



The best and in fact the only practicable method of 

 carrying out this operation is by trenching. Top soil, 

 to the depth of a foot, is taken out of a trench eighteen 

 inches wide across the bed and placed on one side. As 

 rose beds, and in fact all flower beds, should be two or 

 three inches below the surface of the walks or surround- 

 ing ground when the plants are in position and the soil 

 has settled, it is necessary to take out three or four inches 

 of the subsoil which should be thrown out on one side 

 to be subsequently carried away. The manure should 

 then be thoroughly mixed with the soil at the bottom of 

 the trench ; it is not enough merely to turn this bottom 

 soil over in lumps but it must be thoroughly broken up 

 and mixed with the manure. After this the top soil from 

 the ne.xt trench should be turned over into the first trench 

 and the work proceeded with as before. When the end 

 of the bed is reached the top soil from the first trench is 

 used to fill up the last one. After this trenching is com- 

 pleted hydrated lime, or what is better, sulphate of lime 

 or gypsum, together with pure ground bones should be 

 applied to the surface at the rate of half a pound of each 

 to the square yard and worked in with a rake or hoe. 

 This soil preparation should be done as long before plant- 

 ing time as possible, but the surface work should not be 

 done when the ground is sticky. Autumn trenching is 

 best for Spring planting, especially when the soil is at 

 all heavy, in which case the surface work is better left 

 until Spring, except that the lime may be spread over it 

 at the time of spading ; lime should never be spaded 

 under. 



Excepting in climates where the Winters are mild, 

 Spring is the best time for planting, the actual date de- 

 pending first upon the earliness. or otherwise, of the 

 season ; one can plant earlier in a sandy soil than in a 

 clayey one. Dormant roses may be generally set out by 

 the middle of April in the latitude of New York, pro- 

 vided conditions are suitable, but those which are not 

 dormant and which have been wintered in pots under 

 such conditions of temperature that their foliage has re- 



