ROSES 107 



seedling briar, which makes a long tap-root, and must be shortened to 

 prevent it going too deep into the cold soil below the first spit. 

 Place the junction between scion and stock an inch below the surface 

 (not more). The roots having been dipped in water, hold the plant 

 in the left hand and arrange the fibres to the right and left. It is 

 not labour lost to prepare ready a bushel or two of fine soil for placing 

 immediately over the roots. Give them a thin covering of this, and 

 lift the plant gently up and down to allow the soil to run among the fine 

 roots. Put some more soil on and tread firmly. Hoses like firm 

 planting when the land is not wet. Do not quite fill up the hole. 

 When a saucer-like cavity is left around each plant this facilitates 

 watering should the weather remain dry. After the plants have been 

 in the soil about a week give one good watering, unless rain has inter- 

 vened, then fill up the cavity with fine dusty soil and allow this to 

 remain as loose as possible. Do not plant when the ground is wet 

 and sticky, but leave the plants in the trenches. When planting is 

 finished the surface soil should be left rough, not raked over and made 

 neat. Earth up the bushes in November in the same way one would 

 potatoes, hence the wisdom of planting the bushes in rows. All the 

 growths covered with the soil are quite safe from severe frosts. The 

 Hybrid Perpetuals should be eartheid up as well as the Teas. One never 

 knows the kind of winter to expect, and there is comfort in the thought 

 that the Roses are safe. Even when the soil is frozen very hard the 

 growths remain uninjured. When Roses for some good reason cannot 

 be planted in November wait until February and March unless one is 

 blessed with a fine January. In the case of deferred planting prune the 

 plants back to three inches or four inches from the base before planting. 

 Many thousands of Roses are killed every year through adopting the 

 " filling up gaps " practice. By making a hole and planting a Rose 

 between two established plants this hole attracts an undue share of 

 moisture, and the roots suffer considerably. Far better replant the 

 whole border or bed, and remember that it is unwise to allow fresh 

 manure to come immediately into contact with the roots. 



To plant a bed twenty feet by five feet containing a good repre- 

 sentative collection, and arranged according to habit of growth, having 

 the strongest in the centre row, the following diagram will indicate the 

 position of each variety according to the number against the name : 



20 feet. 



Distance to Plant. Bush Roses may be planted as close together as 

 fourteen inches in the rows, and eighteen inches from row to row, but 



