288 APPENDIX. 



suppose, the trouble of staking ; and indolence has its usual result 

 — debihty. Let the Briers also be planted as soon as received, 

 and see that they are young, straight, well-rooted — not dry, " hide- 

 bound," crooked, fibreless, and only good for Hockey. 



You may shorten now to six or eight eyes the laterals of your 

 budded Briers. The established Rose-trees should now, if the 

 ground be dry and the weather fine, have a good dressing of farm- 

 yard manure dug into the beds around them. And in 



December 



you should take advantage of the first hard frost to wheel in a 

 similar supply for the new-comers, the freshly-planted Rose-trees 

 and stocks. In the latter case the manure must remain upon the 

 ground to protect and to strengthen too, and need not be dug in 

 until March. At the same time, it will be wise to give a munifi- 

 cent mulching to Roses of a delicate constitution, planted out of 

 doors — the little Banksian, for example, or Tea-scented Chinas, on 

 their own roots, against our walls. Thus defended, we shall feel 

 less anxiety for them, when 



Ja7iuary 



shall bring storm and cruel frost. Though we see our fair fleet 

 scudding with bare poles in the tempest, we shall know that below 

 deck there is life and safety. We must make up our minds to 

 some losses among the old and young, of the worn-out in our Rose- 

 gardens, and of the weakly bud, perhaps the best we could obtain of 

 some new variety, or of some delicate Tea, among our Briers ; but, 

 with our ground well drained, and our Rose-trees well secured and 



