HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 311 



the plants were set out the ground looked so bare, that annuals 

 were planted between them, fast growing kinds that soon cov- 

 ■ered the ground, and the bushes, too; to their detriment, how- 

 ever, as they soon ceased to grow, and fall found them but very 

 little larger than in the spring, and consequently with but little 

 vitality to endure the winter, which was a severe one. Spring 

 found many of them injuretl, killed back to the ground; but 

 after awhile new growth started from the roots in profusion, 

 some of it being four, five, or even six feet long. What a won- 

 derful wealth of flowers would be mine another year! I made 

 a memorandum of these rapid, strong growers, and also 

 recommended them to friends. The uninjured plants made 

 fair growth and gave a reasonable amount of blossoms 

 through the season. In the fall all were carefully covered 

 again. The following spring they came out beautifully, partic- 

 ularly my rapid growers of the previous season, and were 

 alive to the tip bud; but for some reason they would not blos- 

 som, although they branched out and grew finely. In imagina- 

 tion I could see how beautiful those tree like bushes, way above 

 my head, would look covered with blossoms. Last spring, how- 

 ever, when the month of roses came — the secret leaked out — 

 all the luxuriant growing kinds I have mentioned, put out a very 

 few blossoms each, and they were exactly alike, a small single 

 rose. I waited until fall, and then had them grubbed out. No 

 more budding roses for me, unless they are top worked as tree 

 roses. So, to begin with, be sure that your roses are grown on 

 their own roots, and not grafted on wild stock, and then all the 

 growth from the roots will be the pure article, ready to bloom if 

 given a chance. If the roses are to be grown in beds plant all of 

 one kind or color together. Do not mix the shades. Study har- 

 mony in color if you desire your roses to appear to best 

 advantage. I have in mind now two splendid dark roses, Pierre 

 Netting and Fisher Holmes, with just a shade of difference be- 

 tween them, growing side by side; the branches interlacing. An 

 artist would say they kill each other but when arranged in sepa- 

 rate vases or boquets each is a rich, beautiful rose. 



In starting a rosery, unless the soil is A No. 1 in every re- 

 spect, dig it out to the depth of a foot or more and fill in with 

 the best you can get. making a soil if necessary, for roses, to do 

 well, must have it rich and mellow. There is little, if any, dan- 

 ger of having it too rich. 



