CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



81 



large number of bushes every winter 

 from decay. 



Dampness gathers where ventihition 

 is impossible — the iiot suns of early 

 spring turn the imprisoned moisture 

 into steam, and when the snow is gone 

 and the roses come to be examined one 

 is aghast at the mouldering blue-blaek 

 mass of jelly that was once a rose bush, 

 often not more than one or two inches 

 of healthy wood surviving al)Ove ground. 



This disaster is wholy confined to the 

 hardier roses, which, with their stout 

 woody stems are more readily a prey 

 to decay tlian the leathery pliable 

 stalks of the tender varieties. 



My La Frances ( nearly a dozen of 

 them ) all vigorous growers have sur- 

 vived many winters, but have never 

 lost one inch of wood from any cause 

 but the pruning-knife, and the Gloire 

 de Dijon, a pure tea, has passed equally 

 well through one winter quite out in 

 the open ground. 



The Jacqueminots, (on the other hand) 

 and all that hardy Baroness Rothschild 

 race, and the mosses and the provinces, 

 (the hardiest of all,) have come out of 

 their winter sleep little heaps of black 

 ruin. 



My experience proves that the hard- 

 est of the roses (that is icy hybrid per- 

 petuals, mosses and provinces), will 

 pass the winter without the slightest 

 injury, quite uncovered, if they are 

 planted near a close high fence, and 

 that if planted (juite in the open and 

 left perfectly upright and uncovered 

 the wood will only be killed back to 

 the snow line ; as that is about the ex- 

 tent to which they should be pruned, 

 there will l)e but little damage done 

 to either the bushes or their season's 

 bloom from theii- winter's exposure. 



1 have found that, to lessen the risk 

 of decay, it is better not to cover the 

 hardy roses until December, although 

 it is well to peg them down in Novem 

 ber. The teas, hybrid t(>as and poly- 

 anthas should be covered in November 

 — and well and deej)ly covered for a( 

 least a foot or more from the stem 



all around. Leaves, earth, evergreen 

 l)ranclies, then more leaves and ever- 

 green branches — a goodly pile, — but for 

 the victims of decay nothing does so 

 well as a very light covering of very 

 dry straw. 



In regard to pruning, several systems 

 are recommended, and 1 have tried them 

 iiU, svith the result that the few concise 

 and simple rules given by George Paul 

 ( the president of the English rose 

 growers,) have proved by far the best 

 for us as well as for England. 



He makes it a i-ule without excep- 

 tion, to cut out altogether all wood 

 more than two years' old, and to shorten 

 the strongest shoots about one-half. 

 Cut out altogether the weakest and the 

 crowding shoots, and the less vigorous 

 branches cut back to three eyes. 



These rules apply to hybrid perpet- 

 uals only — Madame Plantier, Charles 

 Lawson, Blairii and all of that class, 

 should have all the wood that has 

 flowered cut out entirely, directly the 

 flowering season is over, thus encourag- 

 ing an immediate growth of new shoots 

 from which the next season's bloom 

 will come. 



In regard to insects, mildew, etc., I 

 have seen nothing new suggested for 

 some time, but I think that effectual 

 remedies are well known to all rose 

 growers, and only untiring fidelity in 

 using them is required. 



It may not be generally known how 

 much common soot will add to the 

 beauty, brilliancy and substance of a 

 lose. It should be well mixed with 

 the earth close to the roots, and a very 

 few weeks will show its benefit. 



It is very inq)ortaMt to keep the rose 

 beds well mulclu^d during the heat of 

 summer, and their foliage sprayed as 

 often MS possible after sunset. 

 (To bt' concluded.) 



Fuchsia "Storm King." 



Ul'K readers who have selected the 

 Storm King Fuchsia from our plant 

 distribution will perhaps be interested 



