Gardening for Amateurs 



243 



Roses. This bad effect can be guarded against, 

 to some extent at least, by planting the Roses 

 in the first instance at a distance from the 

 wall, and by putting the roots in the soil 

 in a slanting position, that is to say, slanting 

 away from the wall ; the ends of long tap 

 roots being farthest from the wall, and so 

 placed that they will grow still farther 

 from it in the soil of the border. A climbing 

 Rose often grows well and luxuriantly, and 

 really thrives splendidly 

 with its roots under a 

 gravel path. 



The Value of Hoe- 

 ing. When the dry 

 \\ruther comes, probably 

 in June or July, if the 

 owner of the Roses lives 

 near a brewery, or is in 

 a position easily to pro- 

 cure such material as 

 spent hops, he or she will 

 find that these make an 

 excellent mulch or soil 

 covering, and, in addition, 

 provide much useful 

 humus in the soil after- 

 wards if turned in. In 

 clayey or loamy soils the 

 mere hoeing of the surface 

 of the beds to a depth of 

 2 or 3 inches 3 inches 

 >hould be the maximum 

 depth provides a natural 

 mulch which it is difficult 

 to excel. Of course con- 

 stant hoeing precludes the 

 planting of Violas or other 

 freely flowering plants in 

 the beds beneath the Roses; all that can 

 be done is to put the Violas or other small 

 plants as an edging or border round the 

 beds, in which position they look very pretty, 

 but even there they prevent, to some extent, 

 the hoeing that is so beneficial. Roses are 

 plants that like no bedfellows ; they un- 

 doubtedly flower better, keep healthier, and 

 freer from mildew and other diseases if 

 grown entirely alone and the soil under and 

 around them kept open and porous by con- 

 stant hoeing. I do not think this fact can 

 be over-emphasised. 



Watering should be done seldom and well 



rather than often and badly. Few plants 

 thrive if watered day after day a little at a 

 time. When so treated they make too many 

 surface roots. This remark does not refer 

 or apply, of course, to overhead syringing in 

 hot weather. This is not watering in the 

 true sense of the word, as such treatment 

 only washes and refreshes the foliage and 

 does not supply much moisture to the roots. 

 Some Troublesome Pests. If the season 



._ 



Rose Gloire de Chedane Guinoisseau (Hybrid Perpetual), a handsome 

 crimson variety ; better for exhibition than for garden. 



be a bad one for cuckoo-spit, constant atten- 

 tion will be needed to keep the pest down. 

 The best remedy is the same as that for 

 caterpillars, that is, deal with each case by 

 hand. This may be a slow process, but it is 

 a sure one. The froth may be removed with 

 any instrument handy for the purpose ; a leaf 

 will do, a piece of stiff paper, or a thin piece 

 of wood. As soon as the froth has been 

 removed notice how quickly the blunt and 

 ugly, pale green or yellow insects with 

 strongly marked eyes scuttle away and hide. 

 In some seasons we seem to escape this pest 

 almost entirely, which is also the case with 



