io8 GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



eighteen inches to twenty-four inches each way is better. Many growers 

 for exhibition prune their plants severely (a practice alluded to under 

 the head of pruning), then fourteen inches is sufficient. Standard Eoses 

 are usually given a distance of two feet six inches to three feet each way. 



Stocks for Roses. Many beginners, when ordering Roses, desire 

 them on " their own roots." It should be clearly understood what an 

 own-root Eose is: it is one raised from a cutting of any particular 

 variety ; but an ordinary bush Eose is one that is budded or grafted 

 upon a foster stock, either in the stem near the root or upon the 

 root itself. Own-root or cutting Eoses are very satisfactory for some 

 varieties, but they are not always procurable. The foster stocks 

 usually employed are the Manetti ; Hedge Briars from cuttings known 

 as the Briar-cutting; Briars from seed known as seedling briars, 

 Hedge Briars to make Standard or Tree Eoses, De la Grifferaie, and 

 Polyantha stocks. But Eoses may be budded upon almost any variety 

 of Eose in fact, one could bud an old Eose all over with a modern kind 

 if so desired. Where a foster stock is used there is always a danger of 

 suckers springing up and choking, as it were, the kind we desire to 

 possess. We have known instances where Marechal Niel has been 

 planted and the plant killed by frost. The owner, however, was 

 unaware of this, and instead of the Marechal Niel he cultivated for 

 some time the stock that sprang up from the roots, and wondered why 

 it produced only tiny pink flowers instead of rich blossoms filled with 

 perfume. It may be as well to briefly describe the Manetti, Briar, 

 De la Grifferaie, and Polyantha stocks. 



The Manetti Stock cannot be mistaken for the cultivated Eose. 

 The foliage is of a tender grass-green colour, the leaves seven in number, 

 whereas most of the Hybrid Perpetual, Tea, and Hybrid Tea tribes have 

 five only ; the wood in the young sucker state is a reddish brown, and the 

 prickles of the same colour. In about two inches of its growth there are 

 two or three large prickles, interspersed among them being numerous 

 tiny prickles resembling the cylinder of a musical-box. 



The Briar Stock is so well known that it seems superfluous to 

 describe it. There are, however, many varieties of the Wild Briar, 

 some of them much resembling the Ayrshire Eoses, but the usual form 

 is very prickly, the foliage of a dull dark green, and there are seven 

 leaves on a stalk. 



The De la Grifferaie Stock may deceive the novice. It has large 

 leaves like a cultivated Eose, but they have a peculiar downy appearance 

 and are purplish-green in the young state. The wood is thick and of a 

 red colour, spines large and about equal in size. The tip of the growth 

 has quite a mealy look. 



The Polyantha Stock has a flower like the Blackberry, nine leaves 

 on a Btalk, very pale but dull green, and the edges are prettily notched. 

 The tip of the growth is downy, and the wood is green with brownish spines. 



As the best bush Eoses can be obtained from the leading growers from 

 ninepence to one shilling a piece, probably it would not pay the beginner 

 to bud his own Eoses. Later on, however, he may wish to do so. As 

 the cuttings are inserted in September at the same time as those of cul- 



