210 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF GARDENING. 



PREPARATION OF THE BEDS. — Too much care cannot be devoted to the preparation 

 of these beds, whether they be in the garden or elsewhere, for the future success of the 

 plants very greatly depends upon this being properly done. If the soil be a good deep loam, 

 it should be well trenched, and a liberal dressing of farmyard manure and half-inch bones 

 incorporated with it. Poor and light soils will be much improved by the addition of some 

 turfy loam, as well as the manure and bones. Heavy ground, if the subsoil be also very 

 retentive, will require draining in the first instance, for although Roses are very partial to a 



cool and 

 moist 

 b o t t o m , 

 they, like 

 most other 

 plants, will 

 not thrive 

 in that 

 w h i c h is 

 water- 

 logged. 

 But should 

 the soil be 

 stiff, a n d 

 yet not so 

 clayey as 

 to require 

 d r a i n i n g , 

 the beds 

 will be 

 greatly im- 

 proved if 

 some burnt 

 earth be 



mixed with it, as this will serve to keep the ground porous and aerated. For this class of 

 soil horse manure is preferable to either farmyard or cow manure. Let the beds, which 

 should be 5 ft. wide, so as to hold three rows of plants, be ready, if possible, by the end 

 of the summer, so that the autumn rains may have a chance of settling the soil in them 

 before the planting time arrives in November. The length of these beds can be easily 

 calculated, knowing they are required to accommodate three rows of plants, and that the 

 distance between the Poses is to be i8in. 



THE SELECTION OF VARIETIES. — The beds having been carefully prepared as previously 

 described, it will be next advisable to decide on the sorts to be grown in them, and the 

 number of plants of each variety that will be required. The selection becomes a little more 

 simple when we learn that exhibition Roses belong entirely to one or other of the two following 

 classes: (i) The Hybrid Perpetuals, with which may be grouped the Hybrid Teas; and (2) 

 the Teas and Noisettes. 



If required for exhibition, the selection will depend upon the number of blooms the 

 amateur intends to show. It may at first sight appear surprising that, in order to stage 

 successfully from six to nine blooms, it will be necessary to cultivate altogether from 300 to 

 500 plants; to show twelve blooms, from about 800 to 1,000 plants; and to show eighteen 

 or twenty-four blooms, from 1,500 to 2,000 plants. But it must be borne in mind that the 

 six, twelve, or twenty-four blooms, as the case may be, have to be cut on a single day, that 

 only choice specimens are of any service, that they must be staged in perfect condition on 



MER I'EILLE DE LYUN. 



