300 



AROUND THE YEAR IN THE GARDEN 



out every spring, only hundreds go into beds that have been 

 given thorough preparation. In spring there is never time 

 to do the job so well as it should be done, and you will have 

 lost the advantage of winter's action on the soil and the 

 pre-digestion of the manure and bone, which make an ideal 

 condition for spring planting. 



Stake out a bed of the desired size, allowing eighteen 

 inches each way for teas and hybrid teas, and twenty-four 



LEVEL 



inches for hybrid perpetuals. Select a position that is 

 naturally well drained, sheltered if possible from north and 

 northwest winds, but exposed in other directions, so there 

 will be free circulation of air about the plants an impor- 

 tant point. Dig out the bed to a depth of two to three feet, 

 the latter depth being necessary if artificial drainage must 

 be added. Place the sod and the good soil in separate piles 

 along one edge of the trench, and the poor soil and subsoil 

 along the other edge. Break up the subsoil at the bottom 

 of the trench with a pick. 



First put in the drainage, if required eight inches of 

 coarse gravel, broken stone, old plaster, clean cinders, or 

 any similar material. Over this put a layer of sods, grass 

 side down, or long manure. Fill in to within six or eight 

 inches of the surface level with good soil the heavier the 

 better well enriched with rotted manure and coarse or 

 inch bone. The last six or eight inches should be of soil that 



