74 ON THE CULTURE OF ROSES. 



should be shortened, leaving them from four to ten feet high ; by 

 this method the blooming season is prolonged, and finer clusters 

 of blossoms are produced. 



The Perpetual, or the Four Seasons Roses, require very rich 

 soil, which may readily be made so by manure, and improved by 

 plentiful supplies of manure water in August and September. The 

 flower buds which grow in June and July, should be cut off ere 

 they burst into bloom, and in winter, pruned as closely in as those 

 designated Garden Roses. If a sheltered situation can be given, 

 it is a great advantage, as the cold winds in September and Octo- 

 ber have a bad effect on the opening buds, at that season. In a 

 soil naturally wet, the beds should be drained, as too much mois- 

 ture at the roots in the time of flowering, is also injurious. This 

 class is worthy of a little extra trouble, being so splendid when 

 well grown. 



The Climbers, for pyramids and arches, require an opposite 

 treatment with the knife, for if pruned after the manner of other 

 Roses, they can never produce many flowers. Two or more stems 

 should be grown as long and strong as possible, by very rich soil ; 

 at least half a barrow of well rotted dung for one, at first planting, 

 and half that quantity every succeeding year. When the stems 

 get too numerous, (say from seven to ten,) cut out one or two of 

 the weakest every winter, and shorten the largest lateral branches, 

 to keep them in that form the owner's taste may require. 



The Odorata, or by some termed the Tea-scented Roses, will 

 grow best on an elevated bed, well sheltered from the north and 

 west. And if the ground has at all a tendency to retain wet, the 

 sub-stratum should be made with broken stones, six inches thick, 

 and the bed raised from fifteen to twenty inches above the level of 

 the garden. They require but little pruning, besides cutting out 

 the dead wood ; and if taken up in autumn, potted, and put into a 

 frame, or covered with a hand glass in the bed where they grow, 

 will do much better than if exposed all winter. While the plants 

 are weak, part of the flower buds should be cut off, as they fre- 

 quently flower themselves to death. 



Standard Roses. — These require the eye of the gardener fre- 

 quently upon them, to cut off the wild suckers and branches as 

 they make their appearance. Great care should be taken in the 

 winter pruning to make the heads as proportionate as possible, for 



