800 



AHBORETUAI AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



=^ 5'37 



standard ; and answers best for those climbers which take their origin from li. 

 seniperflorens and R. indica ; bnt for such vigorous-growing chmbers as R. sem- 

 pervirens, and of all the varieties that partake of the nature of R. arvensis, single 

 stems, with a spreading top, will have the best effect ; because, in these kinds, 

 the beauty, for the most part, consists in the grace of the pendulous shoots, 

 and their numerous tnfts of foliage and flowers. 



Walls covered with Roses. Roses are frequently trained against walls ; and, 

 where a collection of climbing sorts is so displayed, a very good mode to keep 

 each sort within bounds, and to afford all an opportunity of equal display, is 

 to place the plant in the centre of the space devoted to it, and to spread two 

 leading shoots horizontally from it to the limits of the space allowed, and 

 afterwards to train these |L-^,__ 



shoots perpendicularly up- i if >-'='*=s=s=^=— j 



wards, as in fifi. 537. The — .,*^^=*=«^=_=_ 



side shoots which are pro- 

 duced by these boundary 

 stems are partly to be cut 

 off, and partly to be trained 

 horizontally, as indicated in 

 the figure. This mode of 

 training is very well exem- 

 plified in the Horticultural 

 Society's Garden ; but the collection not being all placed together in regular 

 series, it does not produce so much effect as it otherwise would do. 



Covering Rockivork ivith Roses. Some of the very low-growing kinds, such 

 as R. spinosissima, produce a very good effect when planted among large 

 blocks of stone, or in the crevices of natural rocks ; but it must not be for- 

 gotten, that, in such situations, the soil cannot be properly cultivated, and, 

 therefore, only unimproved varieties should be employed. 



Baskets of Roses are frequently formed, in flower-gardens and on lawns, by 

 pegging the branches of the roses close to the ground with hooks, and sur- 

 rounding the group, which should be of a round, oval, or basket-like shape, 

 with a low frame of wire, or lattice-work. In this case, the ground between 

 the plants has a good effect when covered with live moss, pebbles, or shells. 

 Sometimes roses of the dwarf-growing kinds are elevated in rustic basket- 

 work, and placed in the rosarium or the flower-garden, or on the lawn. 

 These baskets, and sometimes, also, the beds formeil in imitation of baskets, 

 have a handle placed over them to increase the illusion, over which climbing 

 roses are trained. 



Edgings to beds or borders, formed of low-growing roses, and hedges, as 

 already mentioned (p. 790.), are not unfrequent in flower-gardens; but, as in 

 the case of rockwork, these modes of growth are not adapted for the more 

 choice kinds, from the difficulty of applying the proper cultivation. 



Patches of Roses in Flowci--Borders. The rose, both as a standard and as 

 a dwarf, is one of the commonest ornaments of mixed flower-borders ; and, 

 since the introduction of the different varieties of /?. indica and R. semperflorens, 

 such borders have been farther enriched by planting annually patches of the har- 

 diest and most free-flowering of these varieties, and treating them as herba- 

 ceous plants. Some of the Noisettes, and of the very dark-flowered varieties of 

 i?. indica, thus treated, produce a splendid effect. The plants may be struck from 

 cuttings in heat the same season ; or they may be raised in sand under a hand- 

 glass, in a shady border, the preceding year, potted in autumn, kept in a cold- 

 pit through the winter, and planted out in April or May, in holes filled with 

 leaf-mould or rich free soil. 



Projoagation. The rose, till nearly the end of the eighteenth century, was, 

 both on the Continent and in England, almost always propagated by taking 

 up the plant, and dividing it, or by layers. Whether the practice of budding 

 roses originated on the Continent or in England, we are uncertain ; but we 

 think there can be very little doubt that it was first practised in France : and 



