HANDLING RAMBLER ROSES 509 



favorities of thirty years ago, such as Baltimore Belle, Seven Sis- 

 ters and others. 



If you are anxious to propagate and grow on young stock, this 

 is easily done even if you only have a house of 50 deg. In Sep- 

 tember take cuttings from your plants in the field; avoid the very 

 soft growth such as is found on the side-shoots of the long canes. 

 It is best to leave three eyes on the cuttings and place them in a sand 

 bench with your Geraniums or such other stock as you usually root 

 at that time. It may take the cuttings several months to root, but 

 they will root eventually even without bottom heat. Later on 

 pot them up and carry them in a Carnation house until ready to 

 plant them out the following Spring into the field; while not extra 

 heavy, they will be strong enough by Fall to be lifted and potted 

 up to be sold the following Spring. 



SOIL FOR OUTDOOR ROSES 



You can grow Roses outdoors in almost any soil, but if yours 

 consists of a heavy clay the deeper it is worked over before planting 

 the better. However, it isn't necessary to go to great expense in 

 the preparation of beds or borders. You may have among your cus- 

 tomers those who insist on that and if they are willing to pay for 

 it, go ahead and do it; it won't hurt the Roses. But no matter how 

 you prepare a bed, if the stock later on is not taken care of, given 

 proper cultivation, watered in dry weather and kept clean by 

 spraying with a nicotine solution, the plants won't be nearly as 

 good as those planted in ordinary garden soil and taken care of 

 afterward. 



If there is any particular soil that Roses in general like it is a 

 good, stiff loam with a 6-in. layer of old cow manure spaded in. 

 If you can't get cow manure use well-decomposed horse manure. 

 In light soil spade in the manure and a month or so after planting, 

 just after the bed has been cultivated, apply a light layer of short 

 manure as a mulch. The appearance of yellow-colored leaves on 

 top is due more frequently to poor drainage than to over-feeding. 

 Good drainage, a fair soil kept moist and cultivated, plenty of sun- 

 light and keeping the insects down go to make up success with out- 

 door Roses. 



WINTER PROTECTION FOR OUTDOOR ROSES 



All such roses as Hybrid Teas, Hybrid Perpetuals and so-called 

 hardy climbers, if exposed to zero weather, should have proper 

 protection in order to overwinter safely. When a customer tells 

 you that her beautiful Dorothy Perkins Rose makes eight or ten 

 feet of growth each year, but hasn't bloomed since the first year it 



