104 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 10,1887. 
nent site. Is it too much to hope that the Commissioners, 
who hold the land for public purposes, will grant a 
Jubilee gift to the Society that has done so much on the 
estate and for the property adjoining? A grant was 
made for the School of Music and the Royal Albert Hall. 
Perhaps the turn of the Royal Horticultural Society may 
come next, and, a site assured, a building would follow. 
But cannot something be done this year to reduce the 
financial deficit ? If those who have the power have the 
will to represent the horticultural industry by a great 
honorary commemorative Jubilee Exhibition in the con¬ 
servatory and arcades, it would be a practical method of 
displaying sympathy with the Society, esteem for the 
Sovereign, and would bring the resources of cultivation 
effectively before the public. Then there remain for con¬ 
sideration special exhibitions or congresses—say of 
Rhododendrons, Palms and Ferns, Roses, Grapes, with 
other things that will suggest themselves if any such pro¬ 
gramme should be entertained by the authorities and by 
the great body of cultivators who could so well carry it 
out. 
ROSE-GROWING FOR BEGINNERS. 
( Continued from page 85.) 
TRANSPLANTING ROSES. 
This operation, which, if we wish to grow blooms up to exhibi¬ 
tion standard, will require to be done every three or four years, 
may be carried out in a similar way to ordinary planting in the first 
instance, except that there will be more old thick roots to cut back 
than in the case of the young, or maiden plants as they are called. 
The soil should be loosened and the plants raised out of the ground 
with a fork ; a spade should not be used, as it cuts away and so 
destroys the fibrous roots, which are to be preserved as much as 
possible. Large tap roots should be boldly cut back short, and 
when the soil has been renovated and improved the plants may be 
replanted as before. I expect some Rose growers will object to 
moving the plants every three years, and in cases where the natural 
soil is good, and one desires large trees, a longer interval might be 
allowed ; but I would remind those who wish to object that I spoke 
of exhibition blooms, which cannot be cut from plants whose roots 
have been allowed to wander out of the reach of the stimulants and 
manure we wish to apply to them. 
In planting or transplanting remember that the roots of plants 
naturally are always in the moist ground ; their office is to draw up 
water and convey it into the branches. This action is always going 
on, summer and winter, so it is easy to see that if you dry the 
roots at all you interfere, for the time, with the life of the plants. 
Remember, therefore, in planting, always to keep the roots moist, 
and you will never get far wrong. 
DISTANCE APART TO PLANT. 
Where the wind and sun have free access, dwarf plants may 
be planted 1 foot apart in beds ; in rows the same distance from 
plant to plant, but about 2 feet between the rows ; near houses or 
large trees or plantations more room must be allowed. Standards 
and the larger growers among the dwarfs should not be placed quite 
so close together. Indeed standards in places where they grow 
luxuriantly should be at least 3 feet apart. In any case Roses do no 
good crowded, air and sun being necessary to ripen the wood. 
WINTER TREATMENT. 
All Roses, planted in the open are very much benefited by having 
a good mulching or layer of manure spread over the surface of the 
ground, which serves to protect the roots from severe frosts, sup¬ 
posing these occur, during the season. Their shoots should be 
firmly staked and tied, so that the winter storms shall not loosen the 
roots m the ground. Often have I seen Rose trees rocked to and 
fro in the wind until quite a hole was worked round the base of 
the stems. In wet weather this hole soon becomes filled with water 
tind in retentive soils will not benefit the roots. A s before men- 
tioned, all Rose trees, newly planted or otherwise, may have their 
shoots cut back to about 18 inches in the late autumn, which gives 
the wind less power over them. 
In very exposed places dwarf Roses may be earthed up like 
Potatoes in the autumn, and though the frosts may kill the stems 
down to the soil, the fine plump buds round the base will burst 
forth in the spring and carry blooms that will astonish the beginner 
with their quality and size. Tea Roses in the open ground should 
always be treated in this way, in addition to having their branches 
covered with dried fern or hay tied loosely round with bast or 
string. Even then these branches often perish in this neighbourhood, 
one reason being that the wood of Tea Roses rarely is ripe ; in this, 
as in the former case, the earthing up gives the plant a double chance 
of surviving. 
WHERE TO PLANT ROSES. 
I remember at a flower show admiring a box of Roses I had staged 
earlier in the day. Here let me pause to warn beginners and others 
from expressing their opinions on the merits or otherwise—especially 
otherwise—of boxes of Roses they see at shows too freely while 
they are in close proximity to the aforesaid boxes, for the ex¬ 
hibitor as a rule hangs about and hovers round his exhibit much as 
a murderer is said to haunt the scene of his crime. As I stood 
there my attention was drawn to a lady and gentleman who were 
admiring the flowers. The lady was particularly loud and 
enthusiastic in her praises—“ What loves ! How superb ! How 
lovely !” &c. When she had gone on like this for some time her 
husband spoke to me and addressed me by name. The lady 
immediately burst out with “ Oh, Mr. G., however do you grow 
such lovely Roses ? I would give anything if we could have them 
as fine as these. However do you do it ?” Of course I told her. 
I explained that it was done mainly by means of manure, pruning 
knives, attention, and sunshine. She was much impressed, and 
finally it was agreed that I should go and inspect their Roses and 
say what was to be done. I went. Along the drive appioaching 
the house were planted at intervals in the grass a lot of wretched 
sickly-looking standards with here and there on their poor puny 
branches an odd bloom about the size of a walnut, all round among 
the mixed borders, stuck in anywhere to live or die or drag out a 
miserable existence in ground literally filled with a network com- 
E osed of the roots of large trees and small shrubs, Aucubas, Yews, 
aurels, and many others were the Roses. “ Planted last year,” the 
lady said, “ and dying ever since,” said I to myself. “We got 
them from so and so, but they have not been at all satisfactory ; 
we shall not go there for any more.” How often does this happen ! 
An unfortunate nurseryman supplies good plants with the best in¬ 
tentions, and, then, in consequence of the neglect or ignorance of 
the very first principles of Rose-growing on the part of the buyer, 
he gets blamed without any reason. I say most emphatically that 
if the beginner intends to plant Roses in this way and in these 
situations he might just as well plant them in the coal hole or make 
a bonfire of them at once. 
After that I was led away to what was called the rosery proper, 
a large square in the kitchen garden, where about a hundred trees 
were planted in rows. This looked more like business. “We 
planted these some years ago, when we first came to the house,” the 
lady explained. “ You have lived here a long, long time ” thought I. 
“ They are all very good varieties, but they do not seem to bloom 
very freely, and when they do bloom the flowers are so small. 
Now here is one plant, there are several of the same sort,” in¬ 
dicating a very fine old plant, or, more properly, tree of the 
Manetti stock. “ This never blooms. Can you tell me why ? ’ I 
hastened to explain to her that the Manetti rarely bloomed in this 
country, and I further showed her how the inserted bud had long 
since perished, and that what was growing was only the stock, but 
I could see that she was rather dubious about it. 
These Manettis appeared to be about the finest and most 
vigorous plants in the whole collection, the others were more or 
less debilitated, and required replacing badly. The Manetti 
flourishing in this way proves to me, that however short-lived it 
may be as a stock on which to grow other Roses—that it is short¬ 
lived I have proved over and over again to my own satisfaction—it 
lives and flourishes rarely as a bush on its own account. To return 
to the lady’s garden. It appeared they rarely applied manure to 
these Roses or to those in the borders I spoke of—never. No 
wonder they did no good. 
From this garden what a pleasure to pass to another not far 
away from it, where not the least pleasing thing to the eye of a 
gardener is a goodly heap of manure ; where the standard Roses, 
placed singly in round beds on the lawn—not planted in the grass, 
where the roots must be starved—are the picture of health ; where 
grand old trees of Gloire de Dijon are trained over wire arches, their 
shoots in many cases 12 feet long or more ; where the dwarf Roses 
are planted in sunny positions in dozens, in beds, each variety to 
itself, properly pruned and manured, and attended to, and giving 
to the possessor of them, as I know they do, a very great deal of 
pleasure. 
I am afraid I have wandered a little, but I thought a sketch of 
these two gardens would be instructive, and convey my meaning 
perhaps better than a more severe view of the subject. To sum up 
in a few words—light and air are absolutely necessary. Plant your 
Roses, therefore, where they will get as much sun and wind as 
