ROSES FOR EXHIBITION 219 



be vigorous as the sire. Let these be planted as soon 

 as he receives them — his collector bringing them in 

 daily, and not keeping them at home, as the manner 

 of some is, until he gets a quantity — in rows, the 

 briers i foot, the rows 3 feet apart. 



The situation and the soil for your briers must be 

 just as carefully studied as though the Roses were 

 already upon them. These stocks are not to be set 

 in bare and barren places, exposed to ridicule and to 

 contempt, as though they were the stocks of the 

 parish ; nor are they to be thrust into corners, as I 

 have seen them many a time. They should occupy 

 such a position as one sees in the snug ^ quarters ' 

 of a nursery — spaces enclosed by evergreen fences, 

 which, somewhat higher than the trees within, protect 

 them from stormy winds. 



Watching their growth in spring, the amateur 

 should remove the more feeble lateral shoots, leaving 

 two or three of the upper and stronger. Suckers from 

 below must also be removed. The latter operation is 

 most easily and effectually performed when rain has 

 just softened the soil around ; and weeds, which 

 evince in times of drought such a rooted antipathy 

 to eviction, may then be readily extracted without 

 leaving fibre or fang. 



The stocks may be budded in July, and I advise 

 the amateur who wishes to bud them to learn the art, 



