EOSAEIES. 



QO much has been written about roses from time to time that it might be thought 

 ^ the subject was exhausted ; but it has to be remembered that each year brings 

 many new varieties, also thanks to the enormous number of cultivators of our national 

 flower we are naturally improving in methods of culture ; and it will be admitted that 

 the great majority of lovers of flowers give the palm, for beauty, variety, and sweetness, 

 to the queen of all — the rose. 



Although roses may be freely utilised with other plants in the flower garden 

 and shrubbery, they are seen at their best when a part of the garden can be devoted 

 to them entirely. This is usually termed a rosary or, as latinised, rosarium ; but the 

 heading "Eosaries" is intended to be more comprehensive, and has reference to 

 collections of roses, large or small, in accordance with the definition of the word 

 rosary as "a bed of roses, or place where roses grow." 



The selection of position for rose cultivation is of greater importance than soil, 

 seeing that the latter can be easily made suitable as explained in the remarks upon 

 soils on a subsequent page. Roses like abundance of light and air, and yet need to 

 be sheltered from strong south-west, keen north and east winds. A few trees, or 

 high hedges, growing twenty or thirty yards away on the north and north-east, also 

 on the south-west, are of great service in afl'ording protection against heavy winds 

 at a time when the plants are in full growth and bloom. But the trees must be 

 sufiiciently far away to allow the whole day's sun free access to the rosary. The 

 success and beauty of a rose garden depends much upon arrangement; care should 

 be taken not to place weak and strong growers side by side, nor to have a 

 short grower at such a spot as would amply accommodate a variety of vigorous 

 habit. 



It is a diflicult matter to give a plan of a rose garden that would be suitable 

 for all persons. The space at disposal may not allow of the design being carried out, 

 or there may be no walls or positions suitable for the climbing Teas and tender 

 species. The accompanying plan is an ideal rosary, including almost all of the best 



