EARLY SPRING ROSES. 227 



given to them occasionally in the summer. The 

 effect of roses growing in the highest state of 

 luxuriance in a^ wilderness was most charming. 

 The inside diameter of these tubes is 16 inches, 

 their length 30 inches, so that they go below the 

 roots of weeds, which would otherwise soon devour 

 the rich compost in which the roses delight. 



Every alternate year in November the tubes 

 should be emptied, filled with fresh compost, and 

 the roses replanted in them. 





EARLY SPRING ROSES. 



THE Hybrid Perpetuals are the only roses adapted 

 for this mode of culture, which is very simple. 

 About the end of August select some plants in a 

 bed of roses, that you wish to bloom very early in 

 spring ; then cut all the weak shoots and shorten 

 all those that are strong and vigorous to within 

 five or six buds of their base. A moderate-sized 

 tree, whether dwarf or standard, will furnish from 

 five to seven of these vigorous shoots. They will, 

 soon after being pruned, put forth numerous young 

 blooming spurs ; in October thin out these spurs 

 so that the tree is not crowded, and pinch off the 

 bloom buds, giving no other pruning^ and in 

 spring they will reward you with a crop of flowers 

 earlier by ten days than roses managed in the 



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