ROSES. 367 



seeing them in our own grounds. Besides this facility of propa- 

 gation and dissemination, which is ohtained hy budding on the 

 Manetti, there are some varieties which emit roots so feehly that 

 they are grown with difficulty on their own roots, but when 

 worked on Manetti stocks they grow luxuriantly, and bloom in 

 profusion. Many varieties, also, wiU produce much finer flowers 

 when grown on Manetti stocks than on their own roots. Yet, 

 these advantages are at the cost of some care, lest shoots and 

 suckers from the stock should be permitted to grow and choke 

 out the Eose. 



The further cultivation will consist chiefly in keeping the 

 ground loose and friable, free from aU grass and weeds, and pro- 

 tecting the roots from the severe frosts of winter and droughts of 

 summer by a suitable mulch. If the summer mulch be three or 

 four inches of well-decomposed stable manure, and the coarser 

 mulch of winter be worked into the soil in spring, the Rose 

 groimd will be kept, as it must be to secure fine blooms, well 

 enriched. Yet once in three or four years it will be found to 

 be of great advantage to give the Eose grounds some fresh soil 

 formed of well-rotted sods, which have been gathered and com- 

 posted in the manner already mentioned. This may be spread 

 on the surface, to the depth of three or four inches, in the spring, 

 and forked in with the winter's mulch. If it be likely to raise 

 the bed too high, a few shovelsful of the old soil may be removed 

 as occasion may require. 



Pruning the Eose should never be done in our climate in 

 the fall. Somehow the wounds of the pinning-knife seem to 

 open a door for the frost to enter; be that as it may, expe- 

 rience has taught us that Eose trees pruned in the fall are very 

 sure to suffer from the winter, even while those that are unpruned 

 escape. The best time to prune is early in the spring, after 

 severe freezing weather is past, and before the &ip is in active 

 circulation. Pruning should be suited to the variety of Eose 

 under the knife. Eoses of very vigorous Iiabit of growth should 

 be moderately pruned, for if they are severely cut back they will 



