WINTER- PROTECTION 27 



Obviously, there is no danger where there is no frost. 

 Where the thermometer falls below freezing, the less hardy 

 varieties should be partly covered, and all roses will be the 

 better for some protection, at least about the roots. If you 

 are visited with zero weather, let "preparedness" be your 

 rule. To begin with, bank up the soil cone-shaped, with the 

 apex 6 to 10 inches high around the stem of each bush. 

 Ashes are sometimes used, but nothing we know of is better 

 than soil. In very cold countries, the roses may be lifted 

 entirely and buried in trenches for the winter, and they will 

 come out in fine shape for replanting in spring. After you 

 have drawn the soil nicely around them (see calendar), leave 

 them alone till the ground is frozen with a crust hard enough 

 to bear the weight of a stone-laden wheel-barrow. By this 

 time the moles or mice, or other creatures, will have secured 

 their winter abode elsewhere, and not be tempted to make 

 nests in the protecting material you will next apply. Now 

 do not smother your roses, or they may die. Cover them 

 thoroughly, as high up as you attempt to protect them, but 

 always allow for the circulation of air. A 3- or 4-inch 

 blanket of good, heavy stable-manure will keep out much 

 cold. Over this fill up from the bottom of the bed to a depth 

 of 10 or 12 inches with nice, dry leaves, and with some light 

 material on top to keep them in place. A 12-inch fence 

 of poultry-wire staked round the bed will help keep the 

 leaves in place. The boughs of fir or pine trees, hay, straw, or 

 cornfodder, or other material that will break the force of 

 cold, biting winds, will serve in place of leaves, and where 

 most careful protection is required, boards may be arranged 

 roof-fashioned to turn off the rains. This will also protect 

 your roses from exposure to direct sunshine when nights are 

 freezing-cold, and avoid alternate thawing and freezing, 

 which is dangerous, and in early spring prevent the premature 

 excitation of plant-growth and tender buds. For this reason, 

 too, remove protection in spring gradually, and not all at 

 one time (see calendar). 



A method that has proved successful in one of the coldest 

 sections of the United States is thus vividly described : 



