176 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
growth to make satisfactory plants when standing alone. 
They are unlike most shrubs in this respect. Therefore I 
would advise planting them in masses, or groups. Set them 
from two and a half to three feet apart, using in each group 
only varieties of the same general habit. I would also advise 
giving them a place at the side or rear of the lawn rather 
than a prominent position on it. “They are more ornamental 
than any other plant can be, when in bloom, but when not in 
bloom they are not as attractive as most other shrubs. There- 
fore plant them where they can be enjoyed by the family, and 
throw upon shrubs with more ornamental foliage and habit 
the responsibility of decorating the lawn. 
One of the drawbacks of spring planting is the wet soil in 
which the roots must be set, if the work is done early in the 
season—and it is not safe to wait until buds are pushing. 
Because of this, fall planting is preferable. Let it be done 
in October, as soon as the foliage has ripened. Let it be well 
done and good protection given a month or six weeks later, 
and you will have every reason to expect some fine roses from 
them next spring. Nota full crop, by any means, but enough 
to give promise of what the plants can do when they become 
fully established. It takes an entire season for a rose 
to do that. All roses ought to be pruned well at 
pruning time. Some of their roots have to be 
sacrificed, no matter how careful you may be, 
and a corresponding amount of branches 
should be cut away to balance condi- 
tions. If any roots are broken or 
bruised they should be cut back to 
sound, healthy wood. The larger 
roots should be shortened to induce 
the production of small feeding roots. 
It is impossible to formulate any in- 
flexible rule for pruning the top, but, 
as a general thing, it is safe to cut 
away fully one-half the old branches. 
This does not mean the removal of 
the entire branch, by any means, but 
a shortening of all the branches to an 
amount equal to one-half the original 
size of the plant. Sometimes it is ad- 
visable to cut back the entire plant 
to within a foot of the ground. This 
applies most forcibly to varieties of 
weak habit. 
Spring is the proper time for prun- 
ing established plants, for then we 
can tell what branches have suffered 
during the winter and set about the 
work of pruning intelligently. Thin 
out all superfluous branches and leave the wood of last sea- 
son’s production in preference to that which is older. In this 
way we renew the plant, to a great extent, each year and 
keep the plant at its best. 
Hybrid Perpetuals will require a second pruning in late 
July. This will encourage the immediate growth of new 
branches, upon which a crop of flowers will be borne, in due 
season, if all conditions are favorable. In order to facili- 
tate this growth feed the plant well. 
Tea roses will bloom in two or three months after planting, 
and as they are constant bloomers, they are very desirable for 
summer beds. ‘lwo-year-old plants are preferable to the 
small ones which dealers advertise so cheaply. Cut the plants 
back sharply when you set them out, and mulch the bed well 
during the hot weather of summer. Grass clippings from the 
lawn are good for this purpose. Spread them about the roots 
of the plants—which should be set about a foot apart to the 
depth of an inch or two. When they begin to decay remove 
them, or dig them in about the roots of the plants and put on 
fresh clippings. After each crop of flowers go over the plants 
The “ Liberty ”” Rose 
March, 1906 
and cut them back at least one-half the length of the last 
branches produced. If this is done there will soon be a de- 
velopment of new branches from which another crop of 
flowers can be expected; provided, that is, that you feed your 
plants well. Much depends upon that, as I have already said. 
Tea roses, while aristocrats in whose veins run the bluest 
blood of the rose family, have the same unromantic appetite 
which characterizes the sturdier members of the guild. 
No garden is complete without its La France roses. “These 
are Hybrid Teas, charming in form and color, and exquisitely 
sweet in fragrance. A half-opened flower, with its petals curl- 
ing back just enough to show the silvery luster of the under- 
surface in contrast with the soft, pale pink of the upper, and 
with delicious fragrance exhaling from the blossom heart at 
every movement, is the ideal flower. You may not be able 
to take your plants through the winter, but the flowers they 
will give you through the entire summer will repay you a 
thousandfold for all the expense involved. 
In buying plants for spring setting do not go to the dealers 
in greenhouse-grown stock. Send your orders to the dealers 
who have nurseries of their own, and they will furnish you 
with plants which were taken up in fall and kept in cold 
storage over winter. These plants will be entirely 
dormant, and in every way stronger and better 
for your use than stock which has been kept 
in the gfeenhouse during the winter season. 
The rose has its enemies. “The aphis 
and the leaf-roller, the rosechafer 
and the slug, will all do their best— 
or worst—to injure it, if left alone, 
and they will soon spoil your plants. 
I have found the preparation put on 
the market under the name of sulpho- 
tobacco soap a very effective insecti- 
cide. Dissolve it in water, using in 
the proportion advised on the pack- 
ages in which it is put up, and apply 
it to your plants early in the season, 
with a sprayer such as gardeners use 
in their operation among small-fruit 
plants. If this is done before the 
enemy arrives it will prevent them 
from taking possession of your 
plants. Care must be taken, how- 
ever, to have it reach all parts of the 
plant. Let some one bend the bush 
over while you operate the hose of 
the sprayer, and you will find it an 
easy matter to get the application 
where it is most neeeded, which is 
the underside of the foliage. I would advise the use of this, 
or other insecticides, as a means of prevention, for “‘an ounce 
of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’’ It is much easier 
to keep insects away than it is to get rid of them after they 
have established themselves on your plants. Bear this in 
mind, and act on the offensive, instead of the defensive. The 
leaf-roller is most effectively fought by crushing it between 
flat sticks—if you are too fastidious to use thumb and finger 
properly incased in leather gloves. 
Of late years roses have been troubled by a disease, which 
is called “‘blackspot,” because of the appearance which 
characterizes the foliage of the infected plant. Bordeaux 
mixture, such as gardeners use in spraying small fruits and 
other garden products, will, if used promptly and persistently, 
overcome it in a great degree. If nothing is done to check 
it it will soon kill the plant it attacks and spread it to the 
others. Wage war against it as soon as you discover black, 
rusty spots upon the foliage of your plants. Bordeaux mix- 
ture is now put up in concentrated form, and your florist can 
procure it for you, if he does not keep it in stock. 
