LOCATION AND PREPARATION 



accommodate. Unless formal or landscape gardening 

 is desired the most practical form of bed for roses 

 is one three to three and a half feet wide, as explained 

 under planting, and long enough to accommodate 

 the number of plants desired when they are spaced 

 at an average distance of twenty niches, center to 

 center.* Some of the weaker growing roses will do 

 better if set only fifteen inches apart, while the 

 stronger growing varieties should be placed as far 

 apart as three feet; but for a working rule, unless 

 you expect to order only the very largest roses, an 

 allowance of twenty inches will be found to give 

 roughly the number of plants which the bed will 

 hold. On Multiflora allow a trifle more. 



Having decided on the number of plants, consider 

 what steps are necessary to make the beds properly 

 and have them in absolute readiness for the arrival 

 of the plants. Then proceed with the actual ordering 

 of the varieties, instructions for which will be found 

 in the following chapter. The beds should be made 

 some weeks before planting to allow for settling 

 and if they should have settled too much below the 

 ground level additional soil may be added, although 

 to conserve moisture the actual finished level of the 



* "Pictorial Practical Rose Growing," by Wright, gives four very 

 clever sketches for formal ro^e gardens. " Gardens for Small Country 

 Houses," by Gertrude Jekyll and Lawrence Weaver, would be a 

 great help to any one desiring to do more than lay out a few beds. 



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