Gardening for Amateurs 



257 



show that February is, as a rule, a some- 

 what dry month rather than an excep- 

 tionally wet one. George Eliot was right, 

 February is a " hopeful " month. We begin 

 to feel that the year is making progress. 

 There are always in this short month a few 

 most lovely days, days of blue sky, fleecy 

 cloud, and sunshine, when one feels that it 

 is good to be alive. Now it is that one hears 



rain, and at this period of the year they are 

 more needed and more valuable than at any 

 other time. 



Having thus briefly run through the full 

 Rose work of the seasons I will ask the reader 

 to follow me whilst I endeavour to describe 

 shortly the distinctive characteristics of the 

 various types of Roses, which I propose to 

 deal with as simply as possible in subsequent 



Rose Lady Ashtown (Hybrid Tea), a good deep pink variety. 



for the first time the rich piping of the cock 

 blackbird and the full-throated sweet melody 

 of the thrush or throstle, preludes to the full 

 chorus of bird song soon to burst on us when 

 March comes with its light and its sunshine, 



il- I'lltcr <M-t \\ind- ;m<l it- dii-t. M.uvli is 



the great month for the spring planting of 

 Roses, which must be plentifully watered in 

 April, May, and June, if they are to do well, 

 unless Dame Nature perform this operation 

 for us without stint. There is nothing really 

 that can take the place of warm showers of 

 17 



pages. Several of the types enumerated 

 have but scant interest for the ordinary 

 amateur Rose grower and can be described 

 but briefly in a work of this size and scope. 



STANDARD AND HALF STANDARD 

 ROSES. 



A standard Rose is a Rose grown upon a 

 straight stem 3 feet or more in height, and 

 a half-standard is a Rose grown upon a 

 stem 2 to 3 feet high. The stem consists of 

 a single shoot of dog Rose, brier, Rugosa 



