ROSES 



9 



cut made in the stems of the brier should be raised, and the 

 piece slipped in at once, before it has time to get dry. It must 

 be tied in gently but firmly with worsted or raffia-tape. If the 

 bud remain fresh and green at the end of a fortnight it is safe, 

 although it may not grow until the following spring. If it shrivel 

 it will not grow, and another had better be tried. In order to 

 provide for this it is wise to reserve 

 one or two shoots on each brier at 

 the first budding. 



Soil and Planting. Now let us 

 consider our bought plants. We shall 

 probably procure them in the autumn, 

 and directly the order has been sent off 

 we must prepare the ground. Those 

 who have a choice between light and 

 heavy soil had better choose the latter. 

 Roses like what gardeners call " hold- PLANTING ROSES 



ing " SOil, SUCh aS Strong loam Or Clay. Left-hand figure. A, A, bruised roots to be 



cut off; B, fibrous roots to be preserved. 



Light, sandy, gravelly or chalky land Right-hand figure. wide, shallow hole 



with the roots well spread out. 



is not so good. The ground ought 



to be treated in this way: (i) Mark a strip two feet wide right 

 across one end of the bed ; (2) take out the soil to a foot deep 

 and wheel it to the other end of the bed ; (3) spread a coat of 

 manure in the trench and dig it into the subsoil ; (4) fill up the 

 trench with the topsoil from another two-feet strip; (5) so proceed 

 until the end of the bed is reached ; and finally (6) fill up the 

 end trench with the loose soil that came from the first strip. This 

 greatly enriches and deepens the ground. Allow the soil a week 

 or two to settle down, and then plant the Roses, not deeply, but 

 work the soil very firmly about the roots. 



Pruning. As regards newly planted dwarf or standard Roses, 

 it is generally agreed by experienced cultivators that the branches 

 are best pruned back to three or four buds about the end of March ; 



(2,299) 2 



