134 SATURDAY IN MY GARDEN 



ninepcnce each. A few varieties will run to a shilling or one and 

 sixpence, while the climbers will vary from a shilling to half-a- 

 crown. Orders should not be delayed beyond the end of October, 

 since the rule, " First come first served," applies to the sale of rose- 

 trees as to most other things. 



It is a good plan, if possible, to buy rose-trees that have been 

 propagated in your own neighbourhood, or to procure them from 

 a district in which the soil approximates most nearly to that in 

 your own garden. If, however, you have any doubt on this point, 

 tell the rose-grower from whom you are ordering your trees what 

 is the nature of your soil, and leave the selection of suitable 

 varieties to him. 



The next point to decide is the kind of roses that are to be 

 planted. Shall they be standards or bushes, or both ? This is 

 entirely a question of taste. Standard roses will cost more than 

 bushes. No satisfactory specimen of the best established varieties 

 can be obtained for less than half-a-crown, and many of the newest 

 kinds cost a good deal more. The tall standard has in recent 

 years gone somewhat out of favour, owing to an inherent tendency 

 to succumb before the rigours of a severe winter. Experience 

 has shown that dwarf bushes are much hardier, and on the whole 

 produce finer blooms. Bearing these facts in mind, therefore, 

 the prospective purchaser of new rose-trees can make his own 

 decision. If he feels that his rose-bed will not be complete unless 

 a standard rose-tree stands guard at each corner, let him by all 

 means try the experiment, and at any rate include a few half 

 standards in his collection. But I am certain he will derive most 

 pleasure and reap a richer harvest of flowers from a small collection 

 of Hybrid Perpetual and Hybrid Tea bushes. 



Meanwhile the amateur who has not hitherto attempted the 

 cultivation of roses on any well-considered plan will have a short 

 interval in which to determine his course of action. If his garden 

 be a very small one he will have no option but to make the best 

 attempt he can to grow his roses in beds and borders already 

 devoted to other plants. But where it is at all possible an effort 

 should be made to provide a special bed or beds in which it will 



