9 
plants in the summer, and you can proudly say that those are the result of careful, common-sense 
treatment in transplanting. The above illustration shows the best way to get hush Roses on their own 
roots ; plant all dwarfs so that the base of the budded wood is below the ground line (.see engraving) ; 
if this is done, the wood grown from the bud will soon make new roots, the original ones on the Briar 
will waste away, and in two years all will be own rooted Roses. 
Why and How Plants look Sickly and Die. 
Often in the autumn in some nurseries a jack-of-all-work is called in to handle a fork or spade, and 
it frequently touches his dignity, or rather his temper. This is the beginning of a failure, whereas in a 
large nursery they keep regular diggers who do this sort of nork of taking up trees with far more case 
and skill than a green hand. When planting they will break up, pulverise and powder the -soil ; this 
is better for the roots, which should by no means be exposed to light, the sun in particular, for if so they 
soon become dried and withered, the woody roots harden, and the little white librous ones are 
destroyed. As an instance, we often see at railway stations straw bundles with roots protruding; if 
so you can see a failure coming. This often occurs when plants are bought at auctions, through 
chea[) advertisements, or from nurseries where there is often a scarcity of packing material or 
inexperienced packers. These are dear even if they only cost the charges of carriago. It is said that 
there are not a dozen (inns in the kingdom that keep competent packers with proper tools and materials 
to carry out this work, whereas we have competent order clerks and staff, and, again, we grow our own 
straw, osiers and moss, make our own baskets and boxes, and it is quite a profession to do this work 
well. [See letter from a gentleman who sent 2s. Qd. for the packers.] It is also necessary to 
have stakes, wire and old sacking in readiness at planting time for keeping the trees in their proper 
upright position and steady ; for months after planting we have often seen them lying sideways or nearly 
flat on the ground. Then in the spring the nurseryman, or something other than the actual common- 
sense cause, is blamed for trees doing badly. Thesecret is to induce the making of new librous roots quickly. 
Lot them be at the railway station for days after arrival, the porter tells you he has taken care of 
them under cover, whereas had they been turned out in the rain, it would have revived life, tiiey would 
have been much improved, and even a little frost would have done no serious injury to hardy trees so 
long as the roots were not exposed. The moment you receive the trees, or oven your own, from 
e 
