XIV 
AMERICAN HOMES AND. GARDENS 
June, 1911 
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GARDEN NOTES 
will be published in this department. 
ROSE GARDENS 
By CHARLES DOWNING LAY 
ROSE GARDEN now holds much 
more delight than a rose garden 
twenty years ago, because our 
roses are now much better and their va- 
riety is greater. 
The old rose garden was a place set 
aside for growing the finicky and, at most 
seasons, unlovely hybrid perpetuals, and 
its object was not only to give the roses 
a place where soil and situation were 
the best, but also to keep them out of the 
flower garden, where they were in com- 
petition with other flowers when in bloom 
and where their own presence was unde- 
sirable after they had bloomed. 
A rose garden now, however, should 
look well at any season, and should be 
full of roses from June to October. 
The formal rose garden should be en- 
closed by a lattice fence or by a pergola 
on which to grow climbing roses. If it 
is a lattice fence, let the strips of wood 
in the lattice work be stout, say, 3@xe 
inches, and let them be set not closer than 
5 inches for the vertical slats and 8 
inches for the upright ones. This gives 
about the minimum space for weaving 
the roses in and out as they grow. This 
is far the prettiest way of growing them. 
It is much better than tying to a wire. 
The fence should be high; 8 feet would 
be good, but better, 10. 
The climbing roses are perhaps the 
most notable recent addition to the rose 
family. They are in every shade, from 
the crimson rambler to the pure white 
Wichuraiana. 
The following are good varieties: 
Dorothy Perkins, Lady Gay, Daybreak, 
Wedding Bells, Hiawatha, Flower of 
Fairfield, Tausandscho, South Orange 
Perfection, Gardenia, Debutante, Minnie 
Dawson, W. C. Egan and Dawson. All 
are perfectly hardy without protection. 
Other climbing roses are Climbing Clo- 
tilde Soupert, Climbing Belle Seibrecht, 
Devoniensis, and many others having tea 
blood and being, therefore, slightly 
tender. 
As a border inside the trellis I should 
like to have many of the best species of 
roses. Multiflora for its pure white 
flower and delicious fragranec; setigera 
for its late pink bloom and graceful stem ; 
rugosa for its brilliant color, and rugosa 
alba for its delicate whiteness. The 
Lord Penzance hybrids of the sweetbriar 
would have a larger space. They are won- 
derful in color, and no fragrance is so 
sweet. With these could be planted some 
of the old-fashioned roses, among them 
the damask rose, the moss roses, the cin- 
namon rose, Harrison’s yellow and Per- 
sian yellow, and, of course, Mme. Plan- 
tier. 
This would be the place too for the hy- 
brids of rugosa and, if the garden is a 
large one, for all the beautiful native 
roses which prolong the season of bloom 
and are beautiful flowers. The white va- 
(Continued on page xx) 
This department is conducted by an experienced and practical landscape architect, who extends an invitation to the readers of 
5 sO 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS to send to the Garden Editor inquiries on any matter pertaining to 
garden and the home grounds. Letters accompanied by return postage will be answered promptly by mail. Replies that are of general benefit 
the developing of the 
WATERCRESS: ITS CULTURE AND 
USES 
By] ELMA IONA LOCKE 
N° farm, or home grounds, with a 
spring or running stream should 
be without the piquant water- 
cress. Wherever there is a perpetual water- 
course, it will grow. It may be grown 
either from seeds or from roots or cut- 
tings. The places best adapted for rais- 
ing it are gently flowing brooks or quiet, 
shallow waters, supplied by springs, and 
of a depth of from one and one-half to 
four or five inches. The cresses will not 
reach their best estate in sluggish water. 
A gravelly or chalky bottom is the most 
favorable and if only a muddy bottomed 
stream is available, the mud may be re- 
moved and gravel substituted. 
If growing plants are not available for 
a start by roots or cuttings, the seeds 
may be obtained from any large seed 
house, and may be started in the house in 
early spring, in shallow boxes of moist 
earth. When large enough to handle, 
the young plants are then transplanted to 
the borders of the stream, and set about 
one foot apart in rows, eighteen inches 
or more between the rows. 
In a few weeks the growth should be 
sufficient to allow of cutting for use, and 
the gathering should always be done by 
cutting, never by pulling or breaking, as 
that destroys the roots. With a good set 
of plants and in a favorable situation, 
cutting may be done as often as once a 
week. 
The beds should be cleaned twice a 
year, doing but a small section at a time, 
the roots lifted, divided, and replanted, 
to assure a perpetual supply. All weeds, 
mud and rubbish should be cleaned away, 
and in replanting, the youngest and best 
roots selected and returned to the bed, 
where each may be retained in its proper 
place by a stone placed upon it. 
Through May and June the first re- 
plantings may be made, assuring a sup- 
ply for August salads, and the second 
cleaning, during September, October and 
November, in preparation for the spring 
supply. 
In summer, the cutting should be very 
close. After three or four cuttings, the 
plants begin to grow stocky, and there- 
after may be cut freely and often. 
If grown for market, and there is al- 
ways a good demand for it, the fresh, 
tender sprigs should be cut about four 
inches from the top and tied in bunches 
about as large as can be conveniently 
grasped by the hand, the stems even, 
like bunches of asparagus, and all tough 
or wilted sprigs rejected. The gather- 
ing and marketing should be done in 
the early morning, to insure delivery 
while fresh and crisp. 
A southern woman describes how pin 
money was made from watercress, even 
where a stream or spring was not avail- 
able, as it was in the city. The seeds 
were planted in a flower pot, in soil well 
mixed with sand and gravel; a paper 
