150 CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 



throws in the soil ; or if one alone is planting, let him hold the 

 stern just above the root with one hand, and throw in the soil with 

 the other, moving the stem from side to side, and occasionally 

 pulling it upward a little and shaking the root until the soil has 

 worked well among the fibres ; on which much of the subsequent 

 prosperity of the plant depends. If the weather is dry, a little 

 water may be placed in the hole, which should then be filled up 

 and the soil well trodden down about the stem. When planted, 

 it should be very little if at all lower in the ground than before ; 

 very little of the stem should be buried ; and when trodden down, 

 the root should be made firm and solid. 



In planting climbing or pillar roses, care should be taken to 

 set the trellis, or pillar, or whatever may be used for their support 

 before the plant is put in the ground ; for if such should be set 

 after the plant has commenced growing vigorously, it will in all 

 probability damage the roots, and give the plant a check from 

 which it will not recover the whole season. 



The Rose, even in the best soils, should be taken up every three 

 or four years, and have its roots shortened and pruned ; a portion 

 of the soil in which it grew should also be removed and replaced 

 by soil of the character before described. Where the soil is poor, 

 they should be taken up every other year, and replanted, after 

 renewing the soil as above, or digging it with plenty of manure. 



Van Mons states that in Belgium the plants are uniformly 

 taken up at the end of eight years and placed in fresh soil, or 

 they are thrown away and young plants substituted in their place. 

 This substitution of young plants is perhaps the most certain 

 mode of ensuring a continual supply of strong, healthy wood and 

 well-formed flowers. 



The Rose may be transplanted at any season, provided the 

 shoots are pruned closely and deprived of all their leaves, and 

 the soil in which they are planted kept well watered. The flow- 

 ering also may be retarded in this way, and those roses that bloom 

 only once in the season, if they are transplanted just before 

 they are coming into flower, and properly pruned, will bloom in 

 autumn. 



