Xovember 20, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
453 
COMING EVENTS 
20 
21 
22 
Tn 
P 
Hull (two days), Taunton, Aylesbury, and Dublin Shows. 
s 
Loughborough Show. 
28 
SUN 
24th Sunday after Trinity. 
24 
M 
25 
TU 
Manchester, Liverpool, Basingstoke, and South Shields Shows (two days). 
26 
W 
York Show (three days). 
LIFTING AND PLANTING KOSES. 
0 flower garden can be considered complete with¬ 
out its bed or border of Koses. The sweet and 
handsome flowers of the Eose are admired by 
all, and fortunately can be produced by owners 
of even small gardens. To cultivate the queen 
of flowers successfully it is necessary to make 
good preparation at the commencement, for if a 
hole is merely dug just large enough to hold 
the roots, as is too frequently the case, failure 
is most likely to follow. Few garden flowers are easier to 
grow well than the Eose, and if those intending to commence 
their culture follow the directions that will be given success 
may fairly be expected. 
There can be no question about the best season to plant 
Eoses. The wood is now well ripened, but still carrying 
foliage. This is the condition in which they should be 
planted if strong vigorous growth and large flowers are looked 
for another year. When planted before the leaves fall 
numerous young fibres are produced before the winter, but if 
planted later when destitute of foliage they do not make 
roots before the approach of spring, and consequently are not 
in the same condition for making strong robust growth the 
first season after planting. This applies with equal force to 
both Hybrid Perpetuals and Tea varieties as well as all other 
Eoses. 
Frequently the planting of Tea varieties' is advised to be 
left until the spring when severe weather is past. An old 
and yet very general system is to lift all these varieties and 
heel them in at the foot of a wall or other suitable position, 
and protect them during the winter if necessary. Those who 
practise this system never think of planting Tea Eoses before 
the end of February, but this is a mistake, for they are as 
hardy if not hardier than Hybrid Perpetuals. I have on 
many occasions seen the last-mentioned killed in large num¬ 
bers, while the former have endured the weather uninjured. 
My advice is. Plant at once, and protect afterwards as will be 
described if very severe weather is experienced during the 
winter. 
Failure in many instances has resulted from the in¬ 
judicious selection of a position for these plants. If possible 
they should have a sheltered place, yet fully exposed to the 
sun and where abundance of air can play amongst them. It 
is much wiser to plant them entirely in the open with no 
shelter whatever than to select places for them closely sur¬ 
rounded by evergreens and trees. Many Eose gardens that 
I am acquainted with are in such positions, and cannot be 
too strongly condemned, for air and light are excluded from 
the plants, preventing the thorough maturation of the wood, 
which is killed in winter, and in summer the plants become 
a prey to mildew. This is by no means the only objection to 
such places, for if they are within reasonable distance of 
large forest or other strong-rooting trees these soon take 
possession of the soil, impoverishing it, so that the Eoses 
cannot grow strongly. If shelter can be given and the evils 
No. 230.—VoL. IX., Third Series. 
pointed out avoided, it is beneficial; if not, select the most 
open position that can be found for them. 
It is useless to plant Eoses in poor soil. In the majority 
of instances the natural soil will grow them well, provided 
it is liberally enriched with manure. If the soil be heavy 
it may be necessary to work road scrapings or coarse 
sand to render it porous. Charcoal, coal ashes, or even 
sandstone crushed is very useful for this purpose. If the 
ground is very heavy a portion may be removed, and the 
remainder intermixed with a lighter soil. Eoses, especially 
Hybrid Perpetuals, like strong soil, and do much better in it 
than in that of a light sandy nature. If the soil is very 
light and poor it should be removed to the depth of 18 inches 
and replaced by good loam, the top spit of an old pasture 
being very suitable. This, if possible, should be obtained 
where the subsoil is formed of clay; but this cannot always 
be done, and the next best course to adopt is to dry clay and 
reduce it to powder, then add one barrowful to every seven of 
soil. In this condition the clay can be incorporated with the 
soil much better than when chopped up and used in a moist 
condition. 
Where the soil is suitable in texture it should be trenched 
deeply. If the land is poor and removed to the depth indi¬ 
cated the bottom should be well dug and liberally enriched 
with decayed manure, freely mixed with some of the new 
soil, and then left at the bottom, the better soil being placed 
above it. Eoses, whether standards or dwarfs, should never 
be planted in soil that has not been deeply dug, for they will 
not make nearly such satisfactory progress. 
The most suitable manure, especially on light or inter¬ 
mediate soils, is cow manure, but it should not be used in a 
fresh condition, for it might prove disastrous. It should be 
stacked for at least three or four months previously. This 
manure should not be used on heavy soils, for it is too close, 
horse manure being preferable. If cow manure cannot be 
obtained any good decayed farmyard manure will answer the 
same purpose. The quantity to be used entirely depends 
upon the richness or poorness of the soil. A few half-inch 
bones may with advantage be applied whether the soil is 
light or heavy; these should be used at the rate of one 6-inch 
potful to each barrowful of soil that may be placed into the 
beds. 
The soil for Tea varieties should be very much lighter 
than for Hybrid Perpetuals, and nothing is better for 
rendering it light than coarse red or river sand with a good 
quantity of wood ashes and leaf mould freely intermixed. 
The beds should be kept well above the surface of the ground. 
This is especially necessary when planting in a wet locality. 
The ground upon which Eoses are planted should be well 
drained, or the roots will soon perish. No broken bricks or 
clinkers will be needed at the bottom of the beds. If the 
beds are by the side of a walk or near to a main drain the 
work of draining is simple, for a 2-inch pipe can be run 
through the beds at a depth of 2 or 2^ feet and carried into 
the nearest drain. The ordinary burnt clay drain pipes 
should be used, and over them a few clinkers or broken bricks 
can be placed to prevent the soil entering the pipes. Such 
precautions in drainage only are needed in low districts where 
the rainfall is heavy and the subsoil clay. No artificial 
drainage is needed when the ground is at a higher elevation 
and the subsoil formed of gravel or rock. 
Planting Eoses must not be performed when the soil in 
the beds or borders is in a saturated condition. The best 
plan is to have the Eoses in readiness and plant them directly 
the beds have been dug before heavy rains come. They do 
better afterwards, and commence forming roots at once if the 
foliage is upon them when planted in moderately moist soil. 
If the plants are upon their own roots so much the better, 
for the majority of Eoses do well in this way, and last longer 
on either light or heavy soils than worked plants. If 
the soil is heavy those upon the Briar are decidedly the best, 
and will last much longer than those worked upon the 
No. 1886.— VoL. LXXL, Old Series. 
