152 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



June, 1913 



time to drink it. In the morning the 

 sun gets up early, and dries the moisture 

 before the plants have had time to take 

 in all that they require. Then again, you 

 have in the early morning more light to 

 see to do your weeding than you possi- 

 bly can in the dim light of the evening, 

 especially in the early part of the aut- 

 umn. Then the earth is softer and more 

 easily worked after a night's watering, 

 than it would be after a hot baking sun. 

 I cannot say this often enough : Keep 

 the earth loose. Run the trowel through 

 it, around the plants. In other words, 

 keep stirring the earth and you will 

 keep down the weeds, for there is one 

 thing you can depend upon to grow 

 without care if you have good rich gar- 

 den soil, and that is weeds. 



An uncared for garden is an eye-sore 

 to anyone who loves flowers. A little 

 care, every morning and evening, will 

 net you results that will surprise you, so 

 give it to the garden. All flowers like 

 to be loved, petted and cared for. 



If you have paths in your garden 

 keep them clean and well swept, as a 

 well kept path shows tiie garden off to 

 much better advantage. I know that a 

 garden to look well means work, which 

 takes up time and strength. Give it 

 that, give it a little thought, give it a 

 little attention, give it a little care, give 

 it a little love, give it a little of your 

 time, such as an hour each morning be- 

 fore breakfast, and an hour each even- 

 ing after supper, and the result will 

 not be little but will be large. 



Rose Culture 



By an 



SO much has been written on this 

 subject that one cannot expect tc 

 say anything new ; the most one 

 can hope to do is to point out the chief 

 causes of failure on the part of begin- 

 ners, to accentuate the few essentials to 

 success, and incidentally remove the im- 

 pression that to succeed with roses re- 

 quires extraordinary skill and entails a 

 vast amount of labor. 



The chief causes of failure are the 

 choice of the wrong sort of plants and 

 improper planting. As long as people 

 will persist in buying roses which are 

 sold at the rate of fifteen or twenty for 

 a dollar, so long will the percentage of 

 failures be high. These plants suffer a 

 three-fold shock, the shock which every 

 growing plant suffers when it is trans- 

 planted, the additional shock which it 

 receives in having all the soil washed off 



Amateur 



its roots in order to lessen postal char- 

 ges, and the further shock in being 

 transferred from greenhouse tempera- 

 ture to that of the open ground. Only 

 a small proportion survive this treat- 

 ment, whereas if only two years old 

 dormant budded plants are used and 

 these properly planted, very few will fail 

 to grow, because they are in the very 

 best possible condition for transplanting. 

 The proper method of planting is to 

 dig a hole sufficiently large to accommo- 

 date the roots, spread out in their nat- 

 ural manner of growth, which is hori- 

 zontally. In shipping, they are usually 

 compressed until they appear to be in 

 a straight line with the branches, but 

 this is not their natural form. They 

 should be set so that the junction of the 

 bud with the stock is from two to three 

 inches below the level of the ground. 



This prevents to a large' extent the 

 growth of suckers from the stock. If 

 any such appear they must be at once 

 removed, as they will otherwise very 

 quickly crowd out the valuable rose. 

 Fortunately these suckers are readily re- 

 cognized by their lighter green color, 

 and by their having seven leaflets on 

 each petrole, whereas the greater part of 

 the valuable roses have only five. 



In planting, it is necessary to see that 

 every part of the root comes in contact 

 with the moist earth so that they should 

 Ije set as firmly as a post. If the earth 

 is very dry some water should be used 

 when the hole is partly filled and allowed 

 to drain off before the filling in is com- 

 pleted. Immediately after planting, the 

 bush should be pruned and about two- 

 thirds of the wood removed, leaving the 

 plants about eight inches high. This is 

 .ibsolutely necessary, because in remov- 

 ing the plant, no matter how carefully it 

 has bt^n done, the most of the small 

 fibrous roots have been broken and no 

 growth will be made until these have 

 formed again, and until then there is 

 nothing to support the growth of the 

 top. The removal of the top forces into 

 growth the strongest buds, which are 

 nearest the base of the plant. 



After pruning, rake over the surface 



The O. A. C. Rose Garden 



A partial riew of the Eose Garden at thp 



Guelph Aericultural Colleee, Is here ehown. 



Mr. Wm. Hunt, the well-known contributor 



to The Canadian Horticulturist, may 



be seen in the foreground. 



soil to form a dust mulch, which con- 

 serves the moisture. Frequent stirring 

 of the soil, especially after rains, will 

 provide all the moisture necessary, ex- 

 cept in a particularly dry season. The 

 essentials to success are first a genuine 

 love for the flower itself, and secondly, 

 a suitable location for the rose bed. 



Roses require and must have full 

 sunshine for the greater part of the day ; 

 if somewhat shaded from the hot after- 

 noon sun the blooms will remain in good 

 condition longer than if fully exposed. 

 If shaded from the morning sun you 

 will have a better opportunity for see- 

 ing your roses at their best, which is 

 when covered with dew in the early 

 morning. 



