THE AMATEUR'S ROSE GARDEN: 



you do not know what bantlings are, 

 they are plants sent out by mail, 20 for 

 $1.00. Of course you get a beautiful 

 catalogue with them and a colored plate 

 of roses. Look well at the picture, as it 

 is about all the roses you will see from 

 plants sent out by mail. If you have a 

 greenhouse to nurse them in for a sea- 

 son, you may succed with them, but 

 one honest two year old pot grown rose 

 i5 worth fifty of the baby roses that are 

 sent out by mail. 



In planting the bed, if of more than 

 one variety, the strongest plants should 

 go in the centre of the bed and the 

 weakers ones at the outside. 



The pruning of roses is one of the 

 most important features connected with 

 their culture. All roses that come from 

 the open ground should be pruned im- 

 mediately after planting, as the shock of 

 transplanting must be met by a shorten- 

 ing of both shoots and roots. The shoots 

 being shortened, the number of buds to 

 draw upon the sap is reduced and a 

 more vigorous growth follows. Pot 

 grown roses will not require pruning the 

 first year they are planted, as there is no 

 disturbance of the roots in planting them . 

 Plants of delicate habit should have 

 severe pruning. Do not prune till the 

 spring, as you can better see then the 

 damage that has been done by frost. 

 Besides pruning the plants in early 

 spring, a summer pruning in the middle 

 of July is helpful in order to induce the 

 formation of flower buds later in the 

 season. 



Just here, it would be well to say a 

 few words about planting the rose. I 

 will not take up your time by telling you 

 all the ways it is done by amateurs, but 

 I will tell you the right way. The 

 heaped up mound of soil that would 

 make a pretty bed of geraniums is not 

 the style of bed for roses. Vou may 

 elevate your bed above the level if you 



like, but it should be as nearly flat as 

 possible on top and moderately firm. 

 .Make an e.xcavation with a trowel, or 

 anything suitable, one inch deep and two 

 inches wider than the ball of the plant 

 you are going to plant, place the plant 

 in the centre of the excavation, press the 

 soil around the ball of roots and fill up 

 level to the surface. Be sure you plant 

 them firmly, as more plants are lost by 

 loose planting than by insects. The 

 distance to plant is about two feet apart. 

 If planting them in a low border, I 

 would plant them 18 inches apart in the 

 rows, and three feet between the rows. 

 This, with a good watering, will com- 

 plete the operation of planting. If you 

 syringe well every fine bright day, you 

 will find in ordinary weather that it will 

 keep the soil moist enough. 



About the first of June, after the 

 roses have broken freely is the time to 

 put on a mulch of rotted manure. The 

 plants will also be benefited by digging 

 in the manure after the summer crop of 

 roses is over and applying another mulch 

 on top, cutting all weak growth out and 

 shortening back the flowering shoots. 

 If you follow this up, you will be glad- 

 dened by very fine roses in September 

 and October. Manure, if new, should 

 never be applied to come in contact 

 with the roots, but should be spread on 

 the surface of the earth as a mulch. All 

 animal manures are useful for roses. 

 Horse manure mulch is better for heavy 

 soil than for light soil. Well rotted, cow 

 manure, is best for light sandy or light 

 black soils, but do not use it for any soils 

 that are inclined to be wet and sticky. 

 Before you can grow roses in a wet or 

 stocky soil, it might be underdrained. 

 There are also other good fertilizers for 

 the rose, such as root, spent-hops, flower 

 of bone and bone meal, also a dressing 

 of lime when you dig in the winter mulch 

 in the spring and another dressing before 



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