THE ROSE AXD ITS CULTURE. 



2Go 



been painfully impressed with the paucity or miserable 

 condition of the Roses. Two e.xtuses are mostly 

 forthcoming for this — the smoke-dried air, and " our 

 soil won't grow Roses." The latter excuse has often 

 a real foundation in fact, for not a few town gai-- 

 dens are wholly denuded of soil ; a. mere heap of 

 builders' rubbish, bai-rcn subsoil, or puddled clay, 

 cased over with a smother of fair-looldng loam an 

 inch or two thick, being all that is left. Others 

 better furnished have soils that have never been 

 distuihed nor enriched in the memory of man, and 

 certain traditions are handed down from tenant to 

 tenant that Roses have once been tried, and all died. 



But the cultivation of Roses in pots in the open 

 air renders the cultivator independent of the soil 

 in his garden. Each pot may be filled with the 

 most perfect soil for feeding the roots of Roses; 

 neither can the roots get away from the good soil, 

 and travel into that which is had, to their own 

 injury or destruction. The portability of plants in 

 Dots is another advantage. 



The majority of Roses are more or less ephemeral, 

 although the Teas, Hybrids, Chinas, &c., may he 

 truly defined as perpetual growers and bloomers. 

 Xo sooner, however, does a Rose in a pot go out of 

 flower, begin to ripen its leaves, or look unsightly, 

 than it may be removed from its coign of vantage 

 or niche of beauty, and another Rose or plant set in 

 its place. 



Raised beds or borders might be furnished with 

 Roses in pots merely plunged in the soil, or 

 covered with moss, or planted out in a virtually 

 enlarged pot, box, or basket, from which robber 

 roots could be shut out by concrete bottoms or sides. 

 The first mode would be rather more trouble, but 

 with a bttle extra care it would answer weU. The 

 second .lifEers nothing from ordinary methods of 

 planting out. excepting that the soil is raised above 

 . the surrounding surface as a rule, and is reserved 

 for the sole use of the Roses. In damp situations 

 sloping banks may verj- often thus he formed with 

 admirable effect, and Roses seldom thrive better, 

 never perhaps look so charming, as on a sloping 

 liank from ten to fifteen feet wide. 



Standards from two to four feet high prove 

 most useful for -wide steps, or stone stairs, landings, 

 balconies, gravel terraces round the house, back 

 or front yards, centres of Rose-beds, backs of 

 borders, forming groups, or single specimens on 

 lawns, &c. Pyramidal, weeping, and climbing 

 Roses can also he grown in pots, vases, or boxes, 

 the chief point being to adapt the size of the pot as 

 much as possible to the size of the plant, or the area 

 it is expected to fill. This done with judgment 

 and skill, combined with a Hberal regimen after- 

 wards, there is hardly any limit to the area or space 



that Roses in pots may furnish with beauty, and fill 

 with fragrance. 



Roses in Pots in our Crowded Towns. — 



The second difficulty about the cultivation of the 

 Rose in crowded towns may be overcome by a 

 judicious selection of varieties. First of all, the 

 sorts chosen should have smooth leaves and few 

 prickles. This may seem a small matter, but it 

 is almost a vital one to success. The rougher the 

 leaves, and the thicker-set the prickles, the more 

 fast and firm all dirt and impurities of every sort stick 

 to leaf and branchlet, and the more surely will the 

 Rose he virtually suffocated into disease or fouled 

 to death in consequence. This is so obvious that it 

 need not be further insisted on. And as there is a, 

 goodh' collection of smooth-leaved and scantUy- 

 prickled Roses, it is easy to make a selection of such 

 for Rose-culture in the open-air in or near large 

 towns. Then town Roses should have a vigorous 

 constitution. All varieties that merit the character 

 of mifSness should be rejected. Fragrance is another 

 quality ever welcome in Roses everywhere, but 

 specially so in those brought close to the cultivator in 

 pots, and grown in towns. 



Fortunately there are a goodly number of Roses 

 that possess most of these qualities, the following 

 being among the very best for pot-culture under 

 more or less or very unfavourable conditions :- 



HYBRID PERPETl'ALS. 



Boule de Neige, f . 

 Captain Christy. 

 Charles Margottin, f . 

 Conntess of Oxford. 

 Ihite of Edmbiirgh, f. 

 Dapuy Jamain. 

 Etienne Levet. 

 rrajKjois Michelon- 

 Hypolyte Jamain. 

 John Hopper. 



Jules Margottin. 

 Jules Finger. 

 lia France, f . 

 ]VIada.nie Chas. Yerdier, f. 

 DVIadame Marie Finger. 

 Mrs. Hany Tnruer. 

 Paul Neron. 

 Star of Waltham. 

 Victor Verdier. 



Among the Hybrid Chinas the best varieties for 

 town gardens are : — 



I Paul Ejcant. 

 Madame Plantier 

 Blairii, No. 2. 



Coupe d'H^^. 

 Charles Ijawson. 

 Paul Verdier. 



Most of the Bourbons are also smooth-leaved, and 

 especially that finest of the family, the Bourbon 

 Souvenir de la Mabnaison, and most of the Noisettes 

 and the Teas (with one exception, Comtesso de 

 NadaiUac) have smooth wood and leaves, and are 

 well adapted for pot-culture in towns. 



Potting Roses.— As this wUl be virtually the 

 same whether the Roses are forced or fostered under 

 glass, or grown in the open air, it wOl be described 

 with sufficient detail once for all. 



Some start with maidens ; others with plants of 

 considerable size ; the simplest and safest plan is to 



