62 FAMILIAR OARDEN I'LUWERS. 



combined with the liaudsorae foliage and full rich Howers 

 of the two great sections that have mainly conti'ibuted 

 to their j>Toduction. 



In forming a jjlantation of roses it is desirable to 

 p'ant a fair proportion of dwarf bushes as well as of 

 standards^ and it is a great point to secure those bushes 

 "on their own roots" — that is to say, the plants should 

 have been raised from cuttings, and not In' grafting or 

 budding, as is necessarily the case with standards. If 

 amateurs would lean towards own-root roses^ and abandon 

 the enstom of planting standards chiefly, thej' would 

 considerably augment their garden pleasures, for the 

 many disappointments that the inexperienced have to 

 endure in the growth of roses are, in great part^ at- 

 tributable to the prevailing belief in standards as the 

 best form in which to grow the " queen of flowers/' 

 This is a very important matter, and one but little 

 understood. If own-root bushes cannot be secured^ those 

 grafted on the manetti stock may be planted to form 

 bushes, and a watch must lie kept upon the suckers that 

 rise from the root-stock, because if these are allowed to 

 groWj the jilantation will soon become worthless. But 

 own-root roses may be allowed to throw up suckers, for 

 they are necessarily all of a piece, root and branch, and 

 it is their nature to renew themseh'es, as do raspberries 

 and blackberries, by the production of strong sh(jots from 

 the root. This power of renewal from the root is neces- 

 sarih- destro}-cd by grafting and budding on brier stocks, 

 and thus the artiiicial form of the tree has an insecure 

 tenure of existence. 



The best soil for roses is a deep, rich, and rather 

 moist loam. Almost any fairly good soil will grow roses 



