CULTIVATIOX OF FIELD-GROWN ROSES. 125 



able lesson. He may also learn that the bee's visit to the flower is 

 of equal benefit to both the flower and the insect. The professionalist, 

 the amateur, the bees, and the flowers form a united band, and in 

 assisting each other, are themselves richly rewarded. A thread, invis- 

 ible as the perfume of flowers, binds together all who work in harmony 

 with nature, and, in the words of Burbidge, "Among and around the 

 hearts of all true gardeners, there is woven a thread of twisted gold." 



All hail to the bright green hills of San Francisco, and to the 

 flower-kirtled valleys between them, and may the future generations 

 he worthy of their rich inheritance. 



San Francisco, Gal. 



CULTIVATION OF FIELD-GROWN ROSES FOR THE TRADE. 



BY JOHN GILL. 



The culture of roses in open ground varies but little from other 

 nursery stock. The cuttings or rooted stocks are planted during the 

 winter or early spring months in ground that has been prepared for that 

 purpose. They should be planted in straight rows of about four feet 

 apart, and from eight inches to one foot apart in the row; this allows 

 ample room to hoe between the plants in the row, and between the rows 

 to plow and cultivate, which should be done in a most thorough manner 

 throughout the season. This not only gives the plants a chance to make 

 a good growth, but it has a tendency to keep that troublesome pest, the 

 gopher, out, as he has very little use for well-cultivated land. 



Roses like new land; it is a great mistake to try to take several 

 crops off the same piece of land, and it can not be done with good results. 

 When grown on fresh soil, many of the stronger-grown kinds will make 

 fine plants the first year, but the slower-grown kinds will take from two 

 to three years to make salable plants ; it is well, also, to grow them with- 

 out irrigation, as they will make plants which will give the purchaser 

 much better satisfaction, being more dormant than irrigated stock. They 

 will start much better, and they can be grown very successfully in this 

 vicinity without any irrigation. 



Roses are mostly started from cuttings or from rooted stocks or seed- 

 lings imported from Europe. When cuttings are to be used, they should 

 be made from good hard wood during the winter or early spring months 

 and planted as soon after as the ground is in condition to receive them. 

 Imported stocks may also be put in at the same time. 



Two methods of growing roses in this state are principally used, 

 namely, on their own roots and budded. To the latter I wish to call 

 especial attention, as I consider them by far superior to plants grown on 

 their own roots, as it has a tendency to make the weaker-grown varieties 



