60 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 22, 1886. 
while the scarlet Roses come magnificent in colour and true 
to description. 
Manure is good, and so is good soil, and these we can 
supply to our Roses if we will; but in this neighbourhood 
there is one thing we cannot buy, or bfg, or borrow, or steal, 
or come at in any way—that is sunshine. The rich deep 
shade of the darker varieties, or the beautiful tint of the 
lighter Roses grown in the south and west of England—and 
I should not forget their wonderful depth too—can in my 
opinion never be equalled by us in this neighbourhood. I 
may be wrong in saying this—I hope I am ; but I do not 
intend to be disheartened, and I do not intend to leave off 
trying to equal them until I have thoroughly proved it, and 
perhaps not then. 
There is a theory, and I believe a true one, that plants 
part with a certain amount of useless matter; I do not refer 
to what is exhaled through the leaves, but something that 
passes out through the roots. This is part of the theory of 
rotation of crops, and this rotation business, as far as Roses 
are concerned, is carried out in most of the large nurseries. 
It is a fact further bearing on this subject, that when natural 
forests decay other forests spring up of a different kind of 
tree. I do not need to tell a society of gardeners that when 
land is apparently exhausted by repeated crops of one vege¬ 
table, that good crops of another kind may still be grown 
there ; and probably you have all heard of land being Clover- 
sick. All this, in my opinion, goes to prove that the soil you 
wish to grow Roses on must be renewed now and again. 
This is easy in a large garden, where they are grown in 
rows like Cabbage or Kidney Beans, but is not the case 
where they are in permanent beds on lawns. In the latter 
case the only plan is to lift the plants, and after renewing 
the soil to replant them again. 
Roses cannot have too much manure, that I am sure of ; 
but do not please rush away with the idea that I advocate 
your getting a load of fresh stable manure and planting your 
Roses in that. No gardener would do this of course, but 
m$,ny would do what is nearly as bad, and that is to place 
fresh manure in such a position that the roots of the newly 
planted Roses would be in contact with it. I may as well 
give the reason why this is bad practice, and that is that 
fresh manure will rot the roots, and particularly if they 
happen to be dormant, as is the case when most Roses are 
planted. Half soil and half manure is not too rich for Roses. 
The few pot Tea Roses we grow are all potted in old sods 
and cow manure in equal parts, both well decayed. This is 
the first season they have been so treated, and they are far 
finer and healthier than I ever remember to have seen them. 
Now, as to stocks. Being on light poor soil I was 
advised when I began to grow all on the Manetci, and have 
done so until lately, but I am now trying the seedling Briar; 
but while I am of opinion that it will answer, I cannot 
say that I have tested it sufficiently to pronounce an opinion. 
All I can say is that a severe winter kills off a great number 
of Manetti, while I am told that the Briar is very hardy and 
long lived. I hope it is. Standards, I am pleased to say, 
are going out of fashion. I think a standard Rose tree in 
this neighbourhood is one of the most ridiculous things I 
know, generally more resembling a mopstick than any¬ 
thing else. There are very few varieties of Roses suitable 
for standards, and the average winters cut them back so, 
that it is useless to attempt to form a good head. In milder 
neighbourhoods I have seen them something in shape like an 
open umbrella, with probably twenty long branches, the 
whole one mass of bloom, the branches drooping gracefully 
on every side. There I confess I was delighted with them, 
but I never yet saw a properly grown standard Rose tree 
about Sheffield, and I do not believe I ever shall. If it is 
absolutely necessary to have standards, the best plan is to 
da strong shoot grow up in the spring, when it is high 
enough top it, and you will soon have a standard. 
Do not have too many varieties. Amateurs generally 
seem to prefer collecting together a lot of absurd names in 
preference to having fewer sorts well proved, good growers, 
and bloomers, and—mark this—sorts that do well with them. 
Among all the Roses that are grown in all our gardens there 
is in each case one or two Roses that take the lead of all the 
others. They are more at home, they grow better, and they 
bloom better than other varieties. This is a theory of mine, 
and will, I think, be borne out by those who will use their 
power of observation. With me La France is No. 1, a loDg 
way ahead of all the others; so it ought to be, being a Hybrid 
Tea which should be at home in a hot dry burning soil in 
which Teas flourish. Baronne de Rothschild does splendidly 
with me too, probably only second to La France. On light 
soils I think the pink and white Roses will always come 
nearer perfection than the dark ones. I have nearly as many 
La France and Baronne de Rothschild as I have of all the 
other varieties put together. I would advise all growers to 
grow more of the Rose that does best with them. Which 
looks best—twelve splendid blooms of one variety <x twelve 
varieties of inferior merit ? I know which I prefer. 
A word about pruning. Mr. Wm. Paul says it is the most 
important part of Rose culture, because without it there can 
be no result. He gives long directions, which a man might 
thoroughly master if he had about two years to devote to 
them—not less! No doubt in the case of standards it is 
necessary to study the matter, but not so in the eass of 
dwarfs. My system of pruning is very simple; anybody can 
learn it in five minutes. I learnt it myself in that time. A 
very severe winter killed the whole of my plants down to the 
ground, and all the pruning I had to do that year was to cut 
away the dead wood. The following season the Roses came 
so fine—the wood was so strong and healthy—that ever 
afterwards I imitated Nature, and shall continue to do so 
until I come across someone who can teach me better. 
One word more. My very latest experience of the Rose 
is that no other flower can be grown with so little trouble, 
and which gives such grand results. 
CULTIVATION OF THE STRAWBERRY. 
C Continued, from page 37.) 
WINTER TREATMENT. 
Beyond a light stirring of the surface to render it more per¬ 
meable to air and rain, nothing is required. Digging between 
the rows with a spade or even with a fork deeply is positively 
injurious, but a close surface that will not allow the water to 
enter freely is equally, if not more, objectionable. A mulch of 
partially decayed manure is beneficial in enriching the soil and 
in assisting the plants to withstand severe weather, it being a 
well-known fact that plants not having the roots frozen or pro¬ 
tected with a mulch will suffer less injury at the top than those 
with bare soil about them. 
DURATION OF THE PLANTATIONS. 
Soil and treatment influence the necessity or otherwise of 
renewal. On shallow and fight soils they are best treated as 
annuals—viz , planted in July one year and removed after fruiting 
the nest, it is the only way to get fine fruit, the cultivation 
requiring to he of the highest order in manuring, in mulching, 
and watering. In the second year they will give good fruits, 
quantities for preserving, and in the third it is so small as scarcely 
to be worth gathering. In medium loams the plants are fairly 
satisfactory up to the third year; but even in these the treat¬ 
ment must be liberal, and good surface dressing being given so 
as to encourage rooting from the base of the plants. Beyond 
the fourth year they are not profitable. Deep loams will support 
plants for a long time, but I have not found the results after the 
third season equal those preceding. In five, or at most six years, 
they should be off the ground. Strong loams, especially those 
on limestone formations, will continue in bearing and profitably 
over a very lengthened period. I have known them bring good 
crops up to ten and a dozen years, but then they were cultivated, 
not allowed to go wild—an entangled mass of runners. Five or 
six years is, however, as long as they ought to remain to l ave 
fruit of a size suited to modern tastes Nearly everything 
depends on how the plants are managed. If kept free from runners 
and divested of the old leaves after the fruit is gathered, mulched, 
watered, and properly attended to, the beds or plantations may 
be allowed to remain much longer ; fihan plants that are negleated 
