46 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



incorporated in the soil. Ttiin turf, from an old pasture, well 

 decayed and mixed with the manure, several times turned, is one 

 of the best of rose fertilizers ; another good one is composed of one 

 part Peruvian guano, three of decayed turf and six of cow manure, 

 all well mixed and made fine. The turf should be from some rich 

 old pasture, just thick enough to embrace the main part of the grass 

 roots. Pig dung, soot, and wood ashes, are each and all good, 

 when composted or applied as top-dressing and well worked into 

 the soil. All manures should be administered in allopathic, instead 

 of homoeopathic doses. Soapsuds are excellent fertilizers and 

 renovators, applied to root and branch. Solutions of guano and 

 other manures in water are excellent, and are generall}' best applied 

 at night or just before rain. If applied to the roots at any other 

 time the top soil should be removed, making a sort of basin around 

 the stem, the liquid poured in and the soil returned ; in this wa}' no 

 crust forms on the surface. 



Planting the Rose. Tender and half-hardy roses, when planted 

 in the open ground, should be planted only in spring ; the hardy 

 sorts may be planted either in spring or fall, although I prefer 

 spring planting. It should always be early spring or while they 

 are dormant when the plants are set. Tea-scented and other 

 tender sorts should not be planted out-doors until the danger ot 

 spring fi'osts is past. To plant a rose properly the roots require 

 the first attention ; every bruised, ragged, or torn root should be 

 cut off smoothly above the wound ; tap or downward growing 

 roots should be shortened to discourage downward growing : cut 

 back the top at least one half, if not alread}' done, in order to 

 keep the balance. Have the holes dug sufficiently large to receive 

 the roots when full}- spread ; loosen up the ground in the bottom, 

 and mix in several inches of rich surface soil for the rose to stand 

 in and over. Place the plant in the centre of the hole, so that its 

 collar will stand even with the level surface of the ground, unless 

 it be a budded or grafted one, when it should be set deeper : then 

 fill in the rich soil so that every root and branchlet of root shall 

 be closely embedded therein ; the soil should come in close con- 

 tact with every portion of the root, for on this depends the success 

 of planting. Moderate firming of the soil, only sufficient to hold 

 the plant firmly, is all that is necessary, when the soil is in con- 

 tact with the whole root. Unless the plant is of the dwarf sort, 

 a stake should be firmly set and the plant tied to it. The mode 



