38 THE HYBRID CHINA ROSE. 



this mound ; or, if you wish for a variegated pillar, 

 plant three plants in the same hole, two pale-^ 

 coloured and white, the other a dark variety : 

 cover the surface with manure, and replenish this 

 as soon as it is drawn in by the worms or washed 

 in by the rains. Water with liquid manure in 

 dry weather, and probably you will have shoots 

 eight or ten feet in length the first season. Three 

 of the most vigorous should be fastened to the 

 stake, and the spurs from these shoots will for 

 many years give abundance of flowers. I scarcely 

 know whether to recommend grafted roses on 

 short stems for this purpose, or plants on their 

 own roots ; this will in a great measure depend 

 upon the soil, and perhaps it will be as well to try 

 both. Most roses acquire additional vigour by 

 being worked on the Dog Rose ; but some of the 

 robust varieties of this family grow with equal 

 luxuriance when on their own roots : finally, for 

 dry and sandy soils I am inclined to recommend 

 the latter, unless plants can be procured budded 

 on the Manetti rose, which, of all others, is the 

 best adapted for dry soils. 



Pruning. 



When grown as large standards, these roses 

 require peculiar pruning. If their shoots are 

 shortened too much, they will grow vigorously, 

 but give no flowers : they should therefore be 

 thinned out so that the head of the tree is not at 



