354 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



nier and autumn, and will do so if properly treated. That mine 

 never failed to yield this continual floral harvest, my old neighbors 

 will all testify. 



The causes of failure in this matter are various. One general 

 cause is that such roses are treated like June, or annual, roses, whik" 

 the}' require especial and much higher cviltivation. Tlie veriest tyro 

 in farming can tell us the result to his corn or potato crop if the 

 surface of the soil is merely scratched over sufficiently to keep 

 down the weeds. It is exactly what happened to the roses under 

 the care of the ordinary hired man. 



In the first place, the roses are possibly not carefully planted. 

 The soil should be mellow and thoroughly pulverized, and minute 

 hand work should press it securel}^ about all the tender roots, and 

 ever after the soil should be kept in that condition -no skimming 

 of the surface with the hoe, but at each stroke sinking it to the 

 helve. This oj^ens the pores of the soil, as one might say, and 

 gives dew and water full effect. When I see a rose mound, with its 

 finical, smooth surface, I feel sorry for the roses. 



Another very common defect is the lack of pruning. I do not 

 hold with some florists that roses, either annual or perpetual, 

 should be verj^ much pruned in the spring. Nature, at that season, 

 is lavish of her bounties. Her teeming bosotn yields its rich nutri- 

 ment in limitless profusion, and there is no reason whj' the branches 

 should not be left in their natural gracefulness and bear their 

 fragrant and lovely blossoms even to their tips. 



But, in the treatment of perpetuals.the knife should coine in play 

 as soon as the flowers are faded. New shoots should now appear 

 from the roots, which will give the second period of bloom, and the 

 old wood must be unsparingly cut back to produce another set of 

 blooming stems, and this process repeated through the season. 

 Some object that such treatment destroys the sj'mmetry of the 

 bushes. That may be, but the immutable fact remains — spare tlie 

 knife, and you have no roses. 



In regard to the method and amount of pruning, experience is the 

 only real guide. It was my only teacher, and I found that different 

 roses required different treatment. Those that send up continu- 

 ously from the root strong shoots must, have heroic treatment, 

 while others of more delicate growth will thrive with less pruning. 

 I usually cut back to eighteen inches, but sometimes, when the buds 

 look weakly, to four inches. 



Meanwhile, the new stems will have reached maturity and have 

 begun to unfold their wealth of bloom. These, in their tiirn, must 

 fall beneath the knife, except, as sometimes happens, strong lateral 

 branches should develop, in which case the pruning process must 

 be delayed. 



All rose bushes have more or less weak and unproductive branch- 

 es which should be cut out luisparingly at anj' season. 



Under tliis discipline, my Jaqueminots used never to be without 

 roses the season through and would be full of buds when frost 

 came. 



