102 ROSE GARDENS 



hybrids and the tea hybrids, because the rugosa makes the best 

 bush, has the prettiest foliage, and is the most resistant to insects 

 and diseases, while the tea rose is the only species that blooms all 

 summer. There are only two traits that we want from the per- 

 petuals or European roses the deep colours and richer perfume. 

 Everything else the European roses have to give us we must get 

 rid of their ugly habit, inability to withstand insects and dis- 

 eases, cabbage-like flowers, and short season of bloom. It is a 

 glorious game for American amateurs. It may need two cen- 

 turies of work to get big, double, ever-blooming roses in all forms, 

 colours, and odours, but it may be only twenty years until we have 

 hybrid teas in all colours that will be hardy enough for all but the 

 northern tier of states. 



What can we do while waiting? Buy the costliest plants, in 

 preference to the greenhouse-grown-and-sent-by-mail plants. 

 The leading American rosarians will grow only imported roses that 

 have been budded in the open. We can get our varieties "worked 

 low" on the Manetti stock (which is an almost unmitigated curse 

 in England, but not so bad here) and then give the varieties a 

 chance to become independent of the stock. To accomplish this, 

 set the plants two or three inches lower than they were in the 

 nursery, so that roots may come from the stem above the union. 

 Also scrape a little off the lower part of the stem to facilitate the 

 escape of roots above the union. Arsenate of lead will positively 

 save a great many flowers from the rose bug if you keep the foliage 

 covered with it practically all the time the bug works. True, this 

 is unsightly, but there is an equivalent preparation that is incon- 

 spicuous. On sandy soil the bug can be controlled only by using 

 this treatment and buying varieties that are worked upon the 

 brier. Other improvements in the ceaseless warfare we must 



