234 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



finer varieties. Most people know tliat there is a red rose, a 

 white rose, and a pink rose, and that they blossom once in 

 Jrnie ; and this is the extent of their information. The 

 bushes they have seen were in the " front yard," standing, 

 perhaps, in a poor soil, amid coarse, matted grass and over- 

 grown shrubbery, where they had stood for many years with- 

 out any cultivation. They live — for the rose is a patient 

 thing under hard treatment — but do not thrive, nor develop 

 half their beauty. So long as the rose continues to suffer 

 this comparative neglect, our horticultural papers should often 

 present its claims to careful cultivation. 



To succeed well with this flower, the ground should be 

 trenched two feet deep, and enriched with barn-yard manure. 

 For the finer sorts of perpetuals, six or eight inches of small 

 stones should be thrown into the bottom of the bed to drain 

 (Off all surplus water. Without such drainage, the plants will 

 iiiot grow and bloom satisfactorily, and, unless the soil is nat- 

 lurally quite dry, they will be very likely to die in winter. 

 iDuring the growing season, the ground should be kept loose 

 ^nd free from weeds, and in dry weather an occasional water- 

 ing with soap suds or weak guano water will not be labor 

 lost. In the fall, the beds should be covered with several 

 inches of manure to serve as a winter protection to the roots 

 and for the enrichment of the soil. This may be forked into 

 the ground in spring. Roses in beds should be set from two 

 to four feet apart, according to their habits of growth, the 

 larger in the rear and the smaller in front, so as to bring all 

 into view at once. Or, if the bed is surrounded by a walk, 

 Ihe taller kinds should be planted in the middle, duite an 

 agreeable effect can be produced by a studied arrangement of 

 colors. A favorite plan with many amateurs is to set the 

 different colors in beds by themselves. Others recommend to 

 set the extremes of color at opposite ends of the bed, and 

 then to shade off into each other. In large, circular beds, 

 some dispose their plants in zones of color strongly contrasted. 

 Hardy roses should be planted in the fall, or very early in 

 the spring. This work should be done with the utmost care, 

 avoiding mutilation of the roots, resetting them in the finest 



