October 3, 1867. ) 



JOURNAL OP HORTIOOIiTORE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



249 



CULTURE OF ROSES ON THE MANETTI 

 STOCK— No. 2. 



WING drscanted on the 

 history, introduction, and 

 comparative advantages of 

 tlie Manet ti Rose, I now 

 approach the subject of cul- 

 tivation, which is tlie chief 

 object of this dissertation. I will endeavour to be as con- 

 cise as I can consistently with efficiency, and to avoid the 

 reproof of Addison, " Some men's ideas are lost, like some 

 fruits, in the superabundance of foliage." 



SOIL. 



Any soil will do for Manetti Roses, if a sufficiency of 

 manure is added to it according to its quality. If I wore 

 to make a soil suitable for Roses generally. I would mix 

 and pound up in a mortar in equal parts stiff unctuous 

 clay, sand to keep it open, and decayed manure. If no 

 sand or ashes were used, unfermented manure would be 

 better than that which is decayed, because the former by 

 fermentation would open, and keep open, the soil better. 

 If the land were sandy, chalky, or gravelly, I would use 

 decayed maniu-c. Cow-manure is good for Roses, espe- 

 cially in hot land. Clay or loam is essential for some 

 Koses, and without it they will do nothing, or flourish only 

 for a short time. I could do nothing at Rushton witli Ma- 

 dame Itivers and Madame Vidot for lack of clay, but in the 

 strong sandy loam at Okeford Fitzpaine they have bloomed 

 superbly, and as fast as Jules Mavgottin. I may say, in 

 passing, that I have seen no light Rose to approach them 

 for beauty and jjorfection, except Miss Ingram, whicli is 

 whiter tlian Madame Rivers, the forms of both being the 

 same, cither globular or flattened spheroidal, like tlie planet 

 Saturn. There is no land so poor tliat it cannot be made 

 good enough for Manetti Roses generally. 



ADAPTATION OF ROSES TO THE STOCK. 



Tlus stock is not, as I have before intimated, suited to 

 dwarf growers or slow growers. Such do not take up the 

 sap quicldy enough, and hence it is forced back on the 

 stock in a crudi' state, and also causes the stock to emit 

 suckers, whicli must be at once removed. Strong growers 

 with bold healthy foliage are the only Roses adapted to the 

 stock. Such Roses as Madame Furtado and Colonel de 

 Rougemont, wliich succeed badly upon any stock, do worse 

 upon tliis. It is curious, but true, that Roses wliich do 

 but indifferently on any stock ^\aU sometimes do altogether 

 well on their own roots, and vice vrrs-ii. Louis XIV. is a 

 baa grower on cither the Manetti or the Briar, but it grows 

 well 5.nd blooms abundantly when it is on its own roots. 



SELECTION OF ROSES. 



However good a selection of Roses may bo. " novelties ' 



Ko, 510.— Vol Xlll. Vjw Sertes' 



will supersede some of them slowly. I say slowly ; for, 

 with the exception of Maurice Bcvnardin's year, which was 

 the most proHiic in good Roses that I remember, not more, 

 perhaps, than from threi? to five per annum can be called 

 varieties, or Roses that should stay in a select catalogue 

 for any length of time. I believe the best thing the inex- 

 perienced can do is to go to a nurseryman's Rose garden, 

 and see them in the season of blooming, making some 

 allowance for the superiority of tlie soil : and the next 

 best plan is to deal with respectable men, and teU them 

 what are your circumstances and ^^•islles, and I believe 

 they will do their best to gratify you and retain your 

 custom. Deal -iWth the man that seiwes you best, true to 

 sort, and charges the most moderate price. Catalogues 

 generally are too long ; they only bewilder. As, however, 

 tastes differ, as well as soil's and circumstances, the caia- 

 logues should not be cut too short. 



PREPAR.ATION FOR PLANTING, AND PL.VNTING. 



Have your holes dug, your manure put in, your stakes 

 erected to tie to, and your bast cut to a proper length, so 

 as to put your Roses in as soon as you can on arrival. 

 A little water should be poured into the hole, if the soil is 

 dry (and it can never be too dry for planting, because you 

 can tread firmly mthout smearing — Nature never was a 

 bricklayer), wlueh will make a grateful puddle. Ha-idng 

 done tliis, plant them as fast as you can, for the less tbe 

 roots are dried the better. 



It requires two persons to plant well. One should spread 

 out the roots after they have been cut to the general radius, 

 and hold the tree steadily, and the other should lift the 

 earth up in the spade, and drop it (not shovel it in Uke a 

 sexton I. carefully on the roots so as not to double them 

 back. The earth" should reach to two inches over the point 

 of union and be firmly trodden. The plant should then be 

 tied to a stake. I use for this purpose hurdle stakes, which 

 cost, can-iage included, £i ^s. per lonf) : these will last 

 four or five years, or more. "V\nien they rot. they may and 

 should be fresh pointed, as rotten wood fosters fungus. 

 The plants should be planted with their roots in one direc- 

 tion. and then when water is scarce you will know where 

 to apply it most advantageously. 



It is essential to tie all kinds of Rose plants to a stake, 

 especially gi-afted plants, as the wind ^^^U greatly clisturb the 

 point of "union, and probably break the Rose oil". Should 

 the pomt of union be disturbed by wind or travel, if it is 

 not entirelv broken off tie bast finnly round tlie disturbed 

 place, and" tie the tree to the stake so firmly that it can- 

 not be moved by wind, and it will quickly imite again. 

 Wlicn you dig up Roses do not let the man dig and pull : 

 he will break the plants off at the point of union. It 

 requires two persons to perform this operation. Frequently 

 on arrival we find the plants broken at the point of union : 

 this occurs from the packer drav\-ing a Willow band close 

 over tho point of union as hard as he can with the foot 

 on the bundle. . 



"V\%ether plants are just received, or removed, you should 

 always look for eyes in the stock, and cut them out. 



When the Rose"s are planted, dry mulching in winter, and 

 wet mulching in summer, greatly help them. Do not cut 



No. 9fi2.-Voi. XXXVIII., Old Series. .• 



