114 AMERICAN 
Kaiserin Augusta Victoria Rose 
was practically pure muck taken from the bottom of a shal- 
low pond, and enriched with cow manure, and they have 
done excellently. If you have to choose between heavy soil 
in a low spot and light soil well elevated, take the latter, 
and by adding heavy soil put it into shape. 
The drainage must be efficient. With poor drainage you 
cannot have good Roses, no matter how much care you may 
take of them otherwise. If the drainage is not good 
naturally—which will usually be shown by a sandy or 
gravelly subsoil—it must be made good. This can usually 
be accomplished by digging the bed out to a depth of 
two or three feet, loosening up with a pick the soil be- 
low this, and filling in eight to twelve 
inches with broken stone, brick, old 
plaster or some similiar material. 
Over this put inverted sod or strawy 
manure to keep the dirt from work- 
ing down into the cracks. 
FERTILIZING 
The soil for the beds should be 
thoroughly enriched. The best thing 
for this purpose is well-decayed barn- 
yard manure, though mixed manure 
will do. It should be thoroughly in- 
corporated into the lower part of the 
made soil in the beds, but the top 
eight to twelve inches should be of 
clean, fine loam, without fresh ma- 
nure, in order that the roots may be 
induced to strike down. Ashes, bone 
(preferably meal and flour mixed), 
and nitrate of soda make a good 
mixture for top dressing and work- 
ing into the soil. Mix in the pro- 
portion of, say, ten pounds nitrate 
of soda twenty of bone and twenty 
of ashes, and sow thinly, just enough 
HOMES AND GARDENS 
The well- chown Crimson Rae 
April, 
Ig12 
The White Dawson Roce 
to coat the surface over thoroughly, then work in with a 
fork or rake. If just before a rain or a thorough water- 
ing, the result will be perceptible very quickly. If the bed 
is up in good condition, the soda alone will give most 
astonishing results. 
BEDS AND PATHS 
The ‘“‘beds” may be three to five feet wide; it is best to 
keep them narrow enough so that they can be tended and 
the flowers gathered without having to step upon the soil. 
The Hybrid Perpetuals should be put about two feet apart, 
and the Hybrid Teas eighteen inches to two feet, accord- 
ing to habit of growth, so the proper width in any case geen 
ceayg, readily be figured out. 
= uf The paths may be of grass, gravel 
I or cinders, as taste or convenience 
may dictate. Grass has the disad- 
vantage of being wet very frequently 
in the early morning, which is the 
best time to cut the flowers. ‘The 
edgings may be made permanent, of 
small stones or something similar, 
but personally I prefer a border of 
box or, in localities where that kills 
out, of some low annual, such as 
Sweet Allysum. 
PLANTING 
The setting of the plants should 
be done carefully and thoroughly. 
While planting is sometimes done in 
the Fall, from Philadelphia north, 
Spring planting will,-as a rule, give 
the best results. The Hybrid Per- 
petuals can be set out as soon as the 
ground is dry enough to work, but 
the Hybrid Teas and Climbers had 
better be kept back until after the 
late frosts, say until about the mid- 
