Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Climbers 41 



He grows just a few varieties on a large scale in the same way that he 

 grows Gooseberries, Currants, or Raspberries. It is not unusual to see 

 hundreds, if not thousands, of such kinds as General Jacqueminot, La 

 France, Baroness Rothschild, Mrs. John Laing, John Hopper, Liberty, 

 Richmond, Ulrich Brunner, &c., planted out about 2 ft. apart every 

 way beneath standard or half -standard fruit trees simply for supplying 

 cut flowers during the summer and autumn months. The cultivation 

 given is often of the roughest description, just the same as accorded to 

 Gooseberries, Currants, and Raspberries. The ground is dug about once 

 a year, hoed about once or rarely twice a year, and the plants are so- 

 called pruned by labourers who are often paid by piecework; they prune 

 so many bushes by the 100 or 1000 for so much in the same way that 

 Gooseberry bushes are often cut. Needless to say, this method of Rose 

 culture, owing to its very cheapness, produces poor results. Half the 

 number of plants, properly cultivated and pruned, would yield three 

 and four times the quantity of better flowers. In these days of keen 

 competition the best flowers not necessarily the choicest and rarest 

 varieties sell best; and second- and third-rate stuff must wait till the 

 markets are cleared, and then perhaps they will only fetch the lowest 

 prices that dealers will condescend to give. The unfortunate and short- 

 sighted grower must either accept the price offered or throw his goods 

 away, as they will probably not pay for carriage home again. 



The trade in Rose blooms is going on nearly the whole year round 

 in some way or another, either in home-grown material or in the flowers 

 that come in from the Riviera. The foreign flowers, however, rarely 

 interfere with the home-grown products, as they come in just between 

 the seasons, and enable the florists to maintain a good supply for their 

 customers. 



The blooms are used for all kinds of things and in all sorts of ways 

 for table and house decorations, banquets, and public functions of all 

 kinds, coat flowers and sprays, wedding bouquets, and funeral emblems 

 of every description. Even the poorest people will buy a Rose from the 

 street sellers when they will not look at any other flower. Thus every- 

 one, rich and poor alike, is the Rose-grower's friend. 



PROPAGATION OF ROSES. This business is commercially in the hands 

 chiefly of nurserymen, although not a few market gardeners and private 

 individuals also indulge in it. The stocks principally used by British 

 growers are the Manetti and the Brier or Dog Rose, but the Bour- 

 sault, de la Grifferae, the Celina, and rugosa are others used, often by 

 Continental growers; and plants are grown as bushes, half -standards and 

 standards. As a rule most of the Tea Roses and Hybrid Teas are worked 

 on the Brier Stock, while most of the Hybrid Perpetuals are budded or 

 grafted on the Manetti stock. The stocks themselves are usually raised 

 from cuttings, but the Brier stock is often raised from seeds thus produc- 

 ing the seedling Brier stock that some favour so much and others 

 just as strongly dislike. 



