196 ON THE CULTURE OF THE TREE ROSE. 



springs at the end of it. This is the reason why forest trees look 

 so ill when shortened as old ones, viz. that the taper appearance 

 is destroyed, and wood of five or six years' growth is continued 

 by the shoot of a single spring, and thus a piece of wood, of the 

 diameter of half a dozen inches, has a little mean looking shoot, 

 or in all probability half a dozen, not thicker than horsewhips, at 

 the end of it. 



Whatever it is worth while to do, it is worth while to do well ; 

 work properly commenced does not require that constant super- 

 intendance which a bad beginning is certain to render necessary, 

 and which eventually involves a much greater expenditure of 

 time than any labour bestowed at the outset could have demand- 

 ed. 



Having thus brought our subject to a close, as to the operative 

 part, in preparing and perfecting the tree, it may not be amiss to 

 spend a few moments in the consideration of the effect expected 

 to be produced by it when planted out. 



There are three causes of beauty in a tree, shape, foliage, and 

 flowers. Shape (to a certain degree) we artificially gain, foliage 

 and flowers must depend upon the sort ; the foliage is the more 

 permanent, the flower the more striking. Planting out, then, 

 must depend entirely upon the effect desired, and the taste of 

 the party planting, as to variety of foliage, height, flower, its 

 colour and continuity; a tree with rambling shoots suits one place, 

 and with a cauliflower head another. The tree roses never look 

 well in a round clump ; they must have a single appearance, or 

 be in some sort of line. 



If your roses are to look, when finished, like a sloping bank, 

 plant your heights in succession, viz. each under each ; but if they 

 are to have a less forced and regular appearance, and a more 

 single and light look, leave out an intermediate height, as thus : 

 a two-feet in front of a three-feet, &c. 



Be it observed, that a three to four foot standard is most 

 in keeping with the head it carries, and being nearer the ground, 

 has a very natural and steady effect, and in confined places, it is 

 unquestionably best in its appearance; but if the tree is to be 

 distant from the eye, or the shrubbery, or walk be large and 

 increasing indistance, a four-foot standard is certainly more dis- 

 tinguishable, and has a much greater effect. 



A foot standard is of little or no use, except it be intended to 

 approach the edge of a border, or is grafted for the conveni- 



