1 
s 
if 
HOW TO PREPARE SOIL FOR ROSES * 
If the drainage is not good it should he made so. 
Spade the ground to a depth of 10 or 12 inches. Pulverize the 
lumps. Spread peat moss over the pulverised soil to a depth of 4 inches. 
Apply organic fertiliser that is rich in nitrogen at the rate of 5 
pounds to 100 square feet and then fork the peat moss and fertilizer 
thoroughly into the soil as deeply as the soil was spaded. Tankage, 
cotton seed meal and hone meal,one part of each and three parts tobacco 
fertilizer,make a good 'fertilizer mixture for this purpose. Bone meal 
and sheep manure are a good substitute if the above is not readily 
obtainable. All of-these organic fertilisers except sheep manure are 
slowly available and results from their use should be apparent over 
a long period. After planting the bushes,cultivate the soil thorough¬ 
ly and apply two inches of peat moss as a mulch around the bushes and 
wet it down immediately. This mulch will hold the moisture,prevent 
the growth of v/eeds and form the most beautiful possible background 
for your bushes. Its use will entirely eliminate the parched,impover¬ 
ished appearance of caked,dry soil containing no vegetable matter. 
Each spring additional plant food should be worked into the 
surface soil. If this destroys the surface mulch apply more. Liquid 
manure applied whenever the bushes do not appear satisfactorily thrifty 
but not late in the season,should show almost immediate results. 
The above recommendation will provide the most excellent 
possible medium for the growth of roses on either heavy or sandy soil. 
If this information comes during the summer to anyone having 
an unsatisfactory rose garden,cultivate and mulch it at once* This 
will help but will hot give all the results hoped for. Then,at the 
proper season for transplanting roses, remove all the bushes,work 
peat moss and plant food into the soil thoroughly as recommended, and 
set your bushes again. Your bushes will respond beyond your wildest 
hopes. 
Remember,please,that nothing will take the place of vegetable 
matter in the soil. Plant food in any quantity will not produce results 
in soil that is impoverished from want of vegetable matter, and Berman 
Peat Moss is unquestionably the best available form of this material* 
