THE ROSE 



When you have it on the ground, you will have 

 to hold it there until it is covered with earth, un- 

 less you prefer to weight it down with something 

 heavy enough to keep it in place while you cover 

 it. Omit the weights, or relax your grip upon it, 

 and the elastic branches will immediately spring 

 back to their normal position. Sometimes, when 

 a bush is stubbornly stiff, and refuses to yield 

 without danger of injury, it is well to heap a pail- 

 ful or two of earth against it, on the side toward 

 which it is to be bent, thus enabling you to curve 

 it over the heaped-up soil in such a manner as to 

 avoid a sharp bend. Never hurry with this work. 

 Take your time for it, and do it thoroughly, and 

 thoroughness means carefulness, always. As a 

 general thing, six or eight inches of dry soil will 

 be sufficient covering for Roses at the north. If 

 litter is used, the covering can be eight or ten 

 inches deep. 



Do not apply any covering early in the season, 

 as so many do for the sake of " getting the work 

 out of the way." Wait until you are reasonably 

 sure that cold weather is setting in. 



Teas, and the Bourbon and Bengal sections of 

 the so-called ever-bloomers, are most satisfac- 

 torily wintered in the open ground by making a 

 pen of boards about them, at least ten inches 



138 



