Editorial Miscellany. 3T9 



The Rose Garden. — The Rose garden may be of any size or 

 form, according to the taste of the cultivator, but a deal may be 

 done on a small plot of garden. As a matter of course, much 

 depends upon the soil and situation, I find them to do the best 

 when the ground has a gentle slope to the south-east, and is of a 

 rich turfy loam. Twenty-four yards by thirty is the size of my 

 garden, in which there is a nine-foot border all round. On this 

 border I plant my standards, which are about three feet in height, 

 and they consist of the best summer roses in cultivation. The 

 other part of the ground I divide into three chains of circles, 

 eight feet across, with a circular connecting border between each, 

 and on each side there is a path two feet wide. When thus laid 

 out, and it has been well worked with rotten manure to a good 

 depth, I commence planting the first row of beds with hybrid 

 perpetuals, either on dwarf stocks, or on their own roots ; the 

 latter I prefer for several reasons, for you may peg them down 

 and layer them, and they are not so liable to be killed by frost. 

 In each bed I plant nine trees round the edge and one in the cen- 

 tre, being careful to pick them as similar in growth as possible. 

 In the second row of beds J plant Bourbon and tea-scented Roses. 

 These may either be planted separately or mixed, and in the cen- 

 tre I plant some of the best sorts of noisettes. In the third row 

 of beds I plant hybrid perpetuals, as before. On the outside 

 border I plant dwarf hybrid perpetuals and Bourbons. When all 

 this is done, I give a good top-dressing of well-decomposed ma- 

 nure, and do not prune them till March, which I like much better 

 than autumn pruning.^ I fork the ground well over about the 

 beginning of May. As soon as the bloom buds show sufficiently, 

 I pinch off, where there ai'e too many, for by that means I have 

 much finer flowers. For hybrid perpetuals I would advise a good 

 mulching of well-rotted manure, about the middle of June, be- 

 cause it will incite them to bloom much longer and make extra 

 growth. 



In the spaces intervening between the roses on the border and 

 beds, there will be plenty of room for choice Phloxes, of which 

 there is now so great a variety, and Pompone Chrysanthemums 

 and Scarlet Geraniums, which would materially add to the embel- 

 lishment of the Rose garden, 



J. G. 



