ROSE GROWING IN OREGON. 175 



A ROSE YEAR IN OREGON. 



Let me give you a brief summary of a rose year in Oregon. 



For convenience I shall, in this paper, start my rose year in the fall, 

 about the middle of November. Then I always cover the beds to a depth 

 of several inches with new cow manure. It acts as a protection against 

 freezing, and it is rich in ammonia, which seeps into the ground. Occa- 

 sionally I first cover the beds with a thin coating of bone-dust or flour 

 not bone meal; the latter takes so long to disintegrate. 



I have given up the use of brush and other coverings for the winter. 

 I find that in Oregon it enfeebles the bushes and makes them more liable 

 to damage by freezing weather. We have many winters when we have 

 no ice. If brush is used, it should be piled near the beds, and should 

 not be put on the bushes until freezing weather begins. 



Care must be exercised in removing the brush. After the danger of 

 freezing weather has passed, the brush should be taken off, a little at a 

 time. The last should be removed in rainy weather, which will harden 

 the tender shoots. If taken off in clear, warm weather, the sun may 

 kill all the new shoots and greatly damage the bush. 



FREEZING WEATHER. 



Every few years we have a "cold snap/' when the thermometer falls 

 to about ten degrees above zero, but rarely lower. When this comes, it 

 is usually about the middle or end of January, and sometimes does 

 damage, often killing the more delicate of the tea roses to the ground- 

 But this usually acts merely as a severe pruning, and the tea roses rise 

 again with renewed vigor. This killing to the ground of delicate roses 

 occurs when the bushes have considerable sap in them, for our ordinary 

 December and January weather is but slightly colder than in California, 

 and the bushes often begin putting out new shoots in January. Our 

 roses do not fall asleep heavily in November, but sink gently to rest, 

 expecting an early awakening. 



If a freeze occurs in December, usually little damage is done to the 

 bushes, for they are then comparatively free from sap. I have seen 

 Marechal Mel bushes in Oregon exposed to severe freezing weather for 

 three weeks in December and not hurt at all. But the Marechal Niel 

 starts growing earlier than almost any rose, and, when in sap, is easily 

 killed by what may be called moderate freezing weather. And this is 

 the reason why this queen of all roses is so difficult to grow in Oregon. 

 Like all other tea Noisette roses it blooms only on the old wood. When 

 conditions are favorable so that it has wood three or four years old, no 

 finer Marechal Niels bloom anywhere than in Oregon. I have seen a 

 bush loaded with several hundred roses and buds of the largest size, and 

 of a deep golden color. It would seem as though there never could be 



