366 
THE LADIES MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
ON THE CULTURE OF ROSES. 
BY THE EDITOR. 
(Concluded from p. 330.) 
The principal half-hardy roses cultivated in the open air in British 
gardens are the China, the tea-scented, the Noisette, and Bourbon roses; 
and the hybrids between these and the common kinds. These hybrids 
seed freely; and, as they are continually being crossed and re-crossed with 
each other, it is very difficult to give any kind of classification of them. 
Of the original kinds the China roses are perhaps the most vigorous, 
and they are certainly the most abundant flowerers. The tea-scented 
roses are known by their drooping flowers, the petals of which are some¬ 
what large and loosely set on; the Noisette by their clusters of small 
roses, produced at the extremity of the shoots ; and the Bourbon roses by 
their petals being roundish, and somewhat darker inside the cup than on 
the outside. All these roses should not be pruned otherwise than to 
remove the dead wood; as, if they are cut like the common roses, they 
will produce only leaves and shoots, and will not form blossom buds. 
Any one may be convinced of this by pruning every autumn one of two 
Noisette roses, the other circumstances of which are the same, and leaving 
the other to nature. In two or three years the primed rose will have 
attained a large size, growing luxuriantly, but not showing a single bud ; 
while the other will have the tip of every shoot crowned with flowers. 
All these half-hardy roses should be mulched during winter; that is, 
manure should be laid on the surface of the soil in autumn, and covered 
with straw or dead leaves; and again in spring, when it may be covered 
with moss. By this practice the roots are kept near the surface, so as 
to be within reach of the air, without which the sap will not possess the 
qualities necessary for enabling it to produce roots. When these roses are 
wanted for pillars or pyramids, a pit should be dug, four feet in diameter, 
and about two feet deep. This should be filled with a compost of loam 
and rotten manure, raised about two feet above the surface, in which the 
rose-tree should be planted. Thus treated, and frequently watered, the 
plant will make shoots eight or ten feet long the first season. The dark 
crimson China rose (Rosa semperflorens ) is much more delicate than the 
common China. Its shoots are weaker and more slender, and it is more 
apt to damp off. All these roses are indeed very easily affected by damp; 
and when the soil in which they are to be grown is moist, they should 
have a pit or border prepared for them, with a layer of brickbats, &c., at 
least nine inches deep, under the compost. Tea-scented roses generally 
