$H$% ROSE CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA «#|gj| 



written entertainingly and well about rose growing, and 

 H. B. Ellwanger's book on roses is the sort of a text-book 

 that will never grow old, and will give a basis for study in 

 rose culture that no other book with which I am acquainted 

 can give. 



"Why," I hear some one say, "roses just grow without 

 any care here. All one has to do is to put them in the 

 ground and see that they get some water once in a while. 

 Why all this study and making work of it?" 



Well, well! So roses do grow, rampantly and luxu- 

 riantly, under these sunny skies, but some one did a lot of 

 experimenting in the years gone by to find just what sorts 

 will grow best under the peculiar conditions found here. 

 Remember that Nature gave but two, possibly three, roses 

 to California when dispensing her stores about over the 

 world, and neither of these resembles, either in appearance, 

 habits or requirements, the French, English, Scotch and 

 American variations that we are so eagerly seeking for in our 

 gardens today. 



Perhaps in your Eastern home you have been very suc- 

 cessful in rose culture, and you have always secured your 

 stock from Messrs. So-and-So of some place in Pennsyl- 

 vania, where they use only so-called hardy stock; so in 

 starting your new garden in the West you duplicate your 

 last year's order, and your roses come by express. They 

 run the gauntlet of weather below zero all along the line, 

 reaching you a month or so later than they should, and our 

 brilliant sun does the rest. You say a few unkind words 



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