IV. 



POSITION AND SOIL. 



HE first requisite in the culture of 

 roses is the selection and prepara- 

 tion of a suitable place for plant- 

 ing. This is very important, as 

 all that follows depends upon the care used 

 in this first step. 



To begin with, then, choose the best place 

 you have in the garden, a place where you 

 can offer sufficient protection by means of 

 hedges or board fences from bleak sweeping 

 winds. When fences are used, their general 

 ugliness can be most appropriately clothed 

 by roses themselves. A warm, sunny posi- 

 tion is also requisite; if so situated that 

 there is an exposure to the morning sun, and 

 the hot rays during the afternoon are in part 

 or wholly shaded, all the better, but a certain 

 amount of sunlight is as essential to a rose's 

 welfare as to our own, though many of us do 

 not show our appreciation of the blessings of 

 sunlight as gratefully as do our roses. Be- 

 71 



