280 



Gardening for Amateurs 



deal to be learnt, and the best way to com- 

 mence is to attend a few really good Rose 

 shows and taken note of things seen. It 

 seems to me that a Rose generally looks its 

 very worst in an exhibition box, where, 

 fixed in a metal tube surfaced with moss, the 



Rose Mrs. Stewart Clark (Hybrid Tea), bright 

 should be pegged down. 



bloom looks stiff and formal, as well it may, 

 away from its natural surroundings and with 

 but little foliage to show up its true loveliness. 

 The modern development of exhibiting a 

 certain number of roses in wicker baskets or 

 in vases is more in the right direction and 

 cannot be too heartily commended or too 

 warmly welcomed. 



Maiden Plants. It is a fact that the great 

 majority of prize-winning Rose blooms are 

 grown upon " maiden " plants. It has been 

 said that fully three-fourths of the blooms 

 shown by trade growers are cut from maiden 

 plants, which seems to indicate that in order 

 to succeed in winning 

 prizes in open competi- 

 tion the amateur must 

 grow a large number of 

 " maiden " plants, and 

 this would mean that he 

 must practise " bud- 

 ding " his own roses on 

 a large scale, for the 

 object is to secure a 

 bloom or two on each 

 plant in the summer 

 following that in which 

 budding was practised. 



Severe Pruning is an 

 important factor in the 

 production of exhibition 

 blooms. Only a very 

 few inches of the strong- 

 est and best growths of 

 last year may be re- 

 tained at pruning time, 

 all others being cut away. 

 Shape and appearance of 

 the bush are not taken 

 into account when the 

 intention is to obtain 

 prize- winning blooms. 

 As they grow, the shoots 

 must be firmly tied to a 

 separate stick or stake, 

 to prevent their being 

 blown about or broken 

 by the wind and from 

 being chafed or torn. 

 Severe disbudding must 

 also be performed. 

 Some people remove all 

 buds but one, generally 

 the central and the largest one. Personally 

 I prefer to leave two buds, at least for some 

 time, in case of accident. 



Then the plants must be extra well fed. 

 Before supplying liquid food always water 

 well with rain water not the plant, but the 

 soil at its roots. The food supplied should 

 be liquid manure made from cow manure and 



pink, vigorous 



