THE GARDEN 35 



Belvidere, is a deep salmon pink., blooming early in July, and half 

 way thru Aguust. Colquelicot is a wond-erful fiery red, like a glowing 

 flame, that will brighten your whole border. Mrs. Jenkins is snow white, 

 early in July and Strohlein is an early orange variety. 



GETTING THE ROSE BUSHES READY FOR WINTER 



Adequate protection against the severities of our variable winters, is 

 the guarantee of sure success in the matter of producing healthy roses 

 in early summer and late autumn. For many a long year, the difficulties of 

 rose growing in this country were considered too great and too many 

 to fight against. By degrees, however, and constant experiments, with 

 imported stock, by crossing one variety with another, and by the raising 

 of seedlings, new and hardier material has been obtained. 



Acclimatization of many beautiful varieties has been managed, and, 

 today, Ontario stands first among the Dominion provinces, as far as rose- 

 growing matters. 



Only those who have struggled valiantly with a tender or unhealthy 

 bush, can form any idea of the constant vigilance against disease and 

 pests, that our pioneer rose growers have been forced to exercise. For it 

 is the hardest task among all gardening projects, to grow a satisfactory 

 rose. One of the most important factors in this production of hardy, out- 

 door roses is the factor of winter protection. 



No rosebush — no matter how hardy that especial variety is said to be 

 — no rosebush should be allowed to stand thru the winter unprotected. 



True, we have some who say that a certain amount of necessary 

 pruning is accomplished by hard frosting. But that is a theory that we 

 have not — most decidedly not — found either safe or successful in after- 

 production of bloom. 



If your bush needs pruning, and pruning it does need, the knife is 

 the proper thing to use. While it is all very well to trust nature to at- 

 tend to certain matters according to her own methods, yet, do not forget 

 that the rose bushes now being cultivated are not the pure products of na- 

 ture, but the trophies, hardly won, too, of a long struggle with many ad- 

 verse agencies all working against rose culture. 



Now to work. Where your roses have grown straggly, and sent up 

 many long, thin canes, take your clippers and cut down some of the tops 

 sufficient to level off a foot of the bush. Now drive three or four stout, 

 high stakes around the bush' — and do not drive them in too close to the 

 main stems, else the roots will be interfered with. 



Drive in these stakes, then, a good distance from the bush, and let the 

 tops slant inward, so that they touch at the top. Shake plenty of rich 

 mulching inside the inclosure, banking it well up around the stems six 

 inches or so high. Next wind some long ropes of hay — or straw will do 

 as well — and with these hay ropes shut your bush in warm and tight for 

 the winter, by winding the whole length around the driven-in stakes. This 

 will form a close, Indian-like tent, in which the bush may sleep sound thru 

 the winter. 



Some gardeners simply wind up their bushes without the aid of the 

 stakes, by winding the straw ropes in close contact with the stems of the 

 bushes. However, where the bushes are high and none too sturdy, the 

 weight of the snow and ice upon this unsupported covering of hay will 

 cause the whole bush to sag downwards, the result often being a broken- 

 down bush. Then, too, if the straw covering is too close to the stems, it 

 will form a cosy shelter for the winter nests of devastating field mice. 



