CULTUEE OF THE ROSE. 15 



escape. Fill the space around the cask or barrel with 

 stones, and then cover the whole with earth. If your bed 

 is of considerable extent, a drain, laid in stone or tile, 

 should be made under or beside the bed, at the depth of 

 three feet, and so constructed as to lead to the sunken 

 barrel. Throw out, if necessary, a portion of the worst 

 soil of the bed, substituting light loam, rotted leaves, and 

 coarse gritty sand. Then add an abundance of old stable 

 manure, as in the former case. 



In the great majority of gardens, however, such pains 

 are superfluous. Any good garden soil, deeply dug, and 

 thoroughly enriched, will grow roses in perfection. Neither 

 manure nor the spade should be spared. Three conditions 

 are indispensable, sun, air, and exemption from the 

 invasion of the roots of young growing trees. These 

 last are insidious plunderers and thieves, which invade 

 the soil, and rob its lawful occupants of the stores of 

 nutriment provided for them. 



A rose planted on the shady side of a grove of elm or 

 maple trees is in one of the worst possible of situations. 

 If, however, the situation is in other respects good, the 

 evil of the invading roots may be cured for a time by 

 digging a trench, three feet deep, between the trees and 

 the bed of roses ; thus cutting off the intruders. The 



