i86 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



soils, there would be other things of interest to determine length of 

 bloom and endurance of the grafted plant, as compared with plants 

 on their own roots my own view being that own root plants 

 generally would give the most continuous and finest bloom in the end, 

 good cultivation and soil being understood in each case, and that in 

 hot seasons, of which we have had severe examples of late years, the 

 own root plants are far the best. 



THE MANETTI STOCK. Often I have reason to wish that Signor 

 Manetti of Naples had never been born or given his name to the 

 wretched Rose stock that bears it, as among my blighted hopes is a 

 wall of Marechal Kiel Rose, the plants on which have remained 

 " as they were " at first for the last five years ; but this year beside 

 one of them is in bloom the poor Manetti Rose, on which the Marechal 

 was grafted, and, as the Tea Rose will not grow, the Manetti begins 

 to take its place. In some soils and conditions, the Manetti may give 

 some apparent advantages for the first year in making the plant 

 grow rapidly, and perhaps giving one or two flowers to be cut off for 

 a show, but afterwards it is all the other way ; the Rose fails on it, 

 and Tea Roses do not grow on it at all. It is quite distinct in 

 nature from them, and nurserymen who use the Manetti for Tea 

 Roses do no good to their own art or to gardens. People ordering 

 Tea Roses should be careful to order them never to be sent on Manetti 

 stock. But even if they do so they may be disappointed, as the large 

 growers have often to buy from others and so send out Tea Roses 

 on the Manetti stock, an absolutely sure way to prevent the Roses 

 growing or ever showing their extraordinary beauty. 



Why do trade-growers do this sort of thing to the injury of their 

 own art and the loss to the buyer who supports them ? Unfortunately 

 routine takes hold of every business and has taken deep hold of this 

 to its real injury. Roses are not only propagated by the trade for 

 the garden, but also for forcing, for sale, and for showing ; and it is 

 the quickest way to make a presentable growth that is taken. In 

 various cases the plant is only wanted for one year, as when florists 

 want to get strong blooms and throw the plants away afterwards. 

 In this case the life of the plant does not matter, but to the private 

 grower the result could not be worse. 



ROSES AND MANURE. In most gardens where people pay any 

 attention to Roses the ground in which they grow is in winter densely 

 coated with manure, often raw and ugly to see in a flower-garden 

 perhaps under the windows of the best rooms of the house. This is 

 the regulation way of catalogues and books, but it is needless and 

 impossible in a beautiful Rose garden. Most of our garden Roses 

 being grafted on the Dog Rose of our hedgerows, which does 

 best in the heavy, cool loams of the midlands, if we want the 



