ABOUT ROSES in 



to make the gardener miserable too ; unhappiness is 

 infectious. 



Grow roses, wherever you are. Don't be put off by 

 those who tell you it is impossible to grow them in this or 

 that or some other place. 



The Culture of Roses : For our purpose it will be 

 sufficient to divide roses into climbers and dwarfs. 



The culture of the climbers is the simplest. Generally 

 speaking, they will thrive and flower freely over arbours 

 or arches if planted in a good sunny position and watered 

 in dry weather. They should not be pruned at all, beyond 

 removing dead wood, although many people remove practi- 

 cally all the wood produced during the summer of the 

 year before, and only train in this year's shoots. 



Neither is the culture of dwarfs fraught with much 

 difficulty. If the soil is strong clay, it will, if treated in 

 the manner described in Chapter XXIV, produce wonderful 

 crops of roses. It is light soil which requires the greatest 

 improvement to make it quite suitable for the Queen of 

 Flowers. 



In our own garden rose cultivation was at first more 

 difficult than in most cases. There was soil of fair quality 

 to the depth of about 12 ins., not more, and below this was 

 shale and rock from the coal measures. It is no good 

 trying to grow roses on a shallow soil, so we got to work with 

 our tools. We took off the good soil, and then, using pick- 

 axe, crowbar, and sledge hammer, we removed shale and 

 stone, till we had a total depth of about 2^ ft. We were 

 able to get some good meadow loam, and, mixing it with 

 the good soil, we gradually filled up the trench so formed, 

 putting a layer of good manure 12-18 ins. from the surface. 

 This was rather expensive, but it was worth it. Then, after 

 a few weeks, we planted the roses. 



The position in which our roses do best is on both sides 

 of a path running roughly North and South. They get all 

 the South sun, and are sheltered to some extent from cold 

 East winds. 



Planting is best done in November, February, or March, 



