AUTUMN CARE OF ROSES. 



541 



worked. Plants so grown will blossom much better 

 than when the seed is sown later, and it does not injure 

 them in the least if they are moved after they begin to 

 bloom. They should be set nine inches apart in rows, 

 the rows being a foot apart. The plants will blossom 

 all summer and until the ground is frozen hard or they 

 are covered with snow. They are ready to begin again 

 at the first breath of spring, and will remain in bloom 

 some weeks, though the blossoms will not be so large 



as on young plants. Never expect very large blossoms 

 through the heat of the summer. The pansy loves cool, 

 moist weather. Allow the seed to ripen from a few of 

 the handsomest and largest flowers, being careful to 

 mark them so that you may make no mistake in gather- 

 ing your seed. Ctil the blossoms freely. If you allow 

 much seed to ripen the plants will soon cease blooming ; 

 to have plenty you must use plenty. — E. L. B., Tomp- 

 kins Co., N. Y. 



AUTUMN CARE OF ROSES. 



E have cultivated roses in ama- 

 teur fashion ever since I can 

 remember. At first only the 

 old fashioned June bloomers 

 brightened our garden. A lit- 

 tle later, '^while I was still a 

 child, such hardy perpetuals as 

 Giant of Battles and Prince Al- 

 bert were added to the stock. Then Caroline Mar- 

 niesse, a rose much less hardy, came, and in teach- 

 ing ourselves how to keep that alive through the 

 winter we learned to care for more tender varieties. 



Roses have many enemies, but it is not nearly so dif- 

 ficult to succeed with them as many flower lovers sup- 

 pose. Most insect pests yield to sprinklings of hellebore 

 in water, or kerosene emulsion. Rose bugs are not very 

 troublesome on a clay soil, and such a soil is well 

 adapted to their needs. 



We never take our roses from the ground to protect 

 them, having learned that it can be done much more 

 effectually where they stand. What is called an "open'' 

 winter is much more severe upon roses than is steady 

 cold, even though it be below zero. Our method of 

 protection for winter is to draw the earth up around the 

 base of the plant for perhaps six inches. A quantity of 

 leaves is then put over it and the whole is covered with 

 bagasse, the refuse from an amber cane mill. Ever- 

 green boughs are equally good over the leaves, and I 

 have no doubt but that corn stalks might answer if 

 there was no grain to draw mice. 



There is a Perle des Jardins in our collection which 

 is eight or nine years old, which has several times 



frozen off to the earth, but it always sprouts again and 

 has never failed to yield a generous number of roses 

 every season. The old Caroline Marniesse failed to 

 come up at all one summer and we thought it entirely 

 dead, but the next season it sent up a few shoots, and it 

 is strong and vigorous now. It is not safe to remove all 

 the covering from the bushes at once in spring, as a cold 

 dry wind does them as much injury as a freeze. We 

 throw the coarse litter from the top, remove the leaves 

 and throw back the litter, leaving it till the branches 

 have time to dry off and harden. Then all the covering 

 is removed, the bushes are pruned, the earth leveled 

 and cultivated and a generous coating of stable manure 

 is worked into the soil. 



Roses should not be covered till the approach of real 

 winter. On that last day when the ground freezes a lit- 

 tle all day, put them into their winter overcoats, and 

 the chances are that their sleep will be sweet and their 

 awakening joyous. We rarely lose more than one 

 bush in a dozen, and that is not discouraging. 



There are four roses in our garden which are sure to 

 be replaced whenever one is lost. These are Princess 

 Vera, Safrano, Papa Gontier and Catherine Mermet. 

 Safrano is the least hardy of the four. Princess Vera 

 and Catherine Merment have exquisite buds, and are 

 very full and perfect when fully opened. Papa Gontier 

 and Safrano have long, lovely buds, but the opened rose 

 is semi-double. La France does not do well in our clay 

 loam, and Madame Louis Henry, though exquisite, is 

 but a shy bloomer. 



Roses are not greatly injured by light frosts, and the 

 ever-bloomers will yield a handfull of buds almost until 

 snow flies. S. A. Little. 



