26 CULTURE OP THE ROSE. 



spring, the earth of the ridge was drawn back into the 

 trench with a hoe, and the roses pruned with great severity; 

 some of the weak-growing Perpetuals and Mosses being 

 cut to within two inches of the earth, and all the weak 

 and sickly stems removed altogether. The whole ground 

 was then forked over. The bloom was abundant, and the 

 flowers of uncommon size and symmetry. Had the prun- 

 ing been less severe, the mass of bloom would have been 

 greater, but the individual flowers by no means of so good 

 quality. 



Of budded roses we shall speak hereafter, in treating of 

 propagation. There is one kind, however, which it will 

 be well to notice here. In England and on the Continent, 

 it is a common practice to bud roses on tall stems or 

 standards of the Dog Rose, or other strong stock, some- 

 times at a height of five feet or more from the ground. 

 The head of bloom thus produced has a very striking 

 effect, especially when the budded rose is of a variety 

 with long slender shoots, adapted to form what is called a 

 " weeper." 



In France, standard roses are frequently planted near 

 together in circular or oval beds, the tallest stems being in 



