xxvi. ROSACEJE: RO'SA. 



fully exposed to the sun during the whole day, may have a useful degree of 

 shade given to it by the distribution of a few standard roses of not less than 

 8 or 10 feet in height ; or by the introduction of frames of wood or wire, in 

 the forms of obelisks, gnomons, crosses, columns surmounted by globes, or 

 cones, on which climbing roses may be trained. These would produce no 

 bad effect by their drip, and yet by their shadow, which would vary with the 

 position of the sun, they would afford a salutary protection to the dwarf 

 roses by which they were surrounded; and thus produce, in some degree, the 

 same object as a cool situation and exposure. The rose is one of those plants 

 that will not thrive in the neighbourhood of towns where the prevailing fuel 

 is pit-coal ; hence the roses grown within a circle of ten miles of the metro- 

 polis are much inferior in beauty to those grown at double that distance. 



In country residences, roses are generally distributed in the margins of 

 shrubberies along witn other flowering shrubs: but, considering the culture 

 they require, it is impossible they can thrive in such a situation ; and, even if 

 they did thrive, the kind of beauty which they would produce would be of a 

 character so different from that of a general shrubbery, as to require their 

 exclusion from it. The only roses fit to be planted in a shrubbery are the 

 single kinds, in their wild state. Roses, and all other kinds of shrubs 4>r 

 trees, that are far removed from a state of nature, and valued for something 

 produced by art, either in their flowers, fruit, habit, or leaves, should be grown 

 in situations where the art which produced the artificial effect can be em- 

 ployed. Hence all fruit-bearing trees and shrubs should be grown in orchards, 

 in kitchen-gardens, or in some place by themselves, so as to admit of pro- 

 perly cultivating the soil, and managing the plants. Roses, and all double- 

 flowering shrubs, ought, in like manner, to be grown by themselves ; and the 

 same principle will apply to shrubs having any peculiarity in their foliage, and 

 even in their mode of growth. The continuation of the peculiarity may not 

 always require a rich soil ; on the contrary, it will generally be found to have 

 been produced by a soil and situation of a peculiar nature : but that peculi- 

 arity of soil it is as much the object of art to imitate, as it is to form the rich 

 soil, and favourable situation, which produce large or double flowers, or large 

 and succulent fruit, or variegated leaves. Hence, to cultivate roses properly, 

 they must be grown either in groups by themselves on a lawn, or in a flower- 

 garden ; or be connected into a system of groups or beds, in a rosarium, or 

 rose-garden. On this subject, and on the pruning, and general treatment of 

 roses, we must refer to the first edition of this work, where it will be found 

 given at great length, illustrated with numerous diagrams, having reference to 

 propagation, training, pruning, the formation of rosariums, for which several 

 plans are given, and the destruction of insects. 



Rosarium, or Rosetum. Where jt is intended to plant a collection of roses, 

 the best effect will be produced by devoting a group to each section ; such as 

 one to moss roses, another to Noisettes, a third to Scotch roses, &e. These 

 groups ought generally to be planted with dwarfs rather than standards; be- 

 cause the former are more conveniently looked upon by the spectator : but a 

 handsome standard may, frequently, occupy the centre of each group, if it is 

 a circle or a square; and two or three in line, or radiating from a point, if 

 it is of a long or an irregular form. Sometimes a group may be surrounded 

 by a row of standards, which, in that case, should have clear stems, not less 

 than 7 ft. high, through which the dwarf roses may be seen by persons walking 

 round the group. Standard roses, in general, have the best effect when formed 

 into an avenue along the margin of a walk; and for this purpose they are 

 very suitable for common flower-gardens, where the groups, instead of being 

 planted with dwarf roses, are filled with herbaceous plants. The sizes of the 

 different groups in a rosarium ought to be proportioned to the number of va- 

 rieties belonging to the section to be planted in each, the bulk which they 

 attain, and their habit of growth. For these purposes, the Abridged List of 

 Messrs. Rivers may be taken as a basis; and, as it contains 27 groups, these 

 may i>e represented by 27 beds of different dimensions. 



