The Culture of the Rose, continued 
Concentrated chemical fertilizers are now available in 
the form of small tablets that may be used on Roses ac¬ 
cording to directions. 
Never use a quick, active fertilizer high in nitrogen 
content. This usually produces a lot of soft shoots produc¬ 
ing small flowers and these shoots are subject to fungous 
attack. 
Distance Apart to Plant. Hybrid Teas require about 
14 to 18 inches apart; distance will often depend on the 
plant habit of the variety. You can usually tell the com¬ 
parative plant habits of certain varieties by the size and 
number of canes on the plants as you receive them. Close 
planting is always recommended for Hybrid Teas. 
Hybrid Perpetuals should be planted 2 to 3 feet apart, 
depending upon the space at one’s disposal. 
Climbing Roses on a fence or trellis may be spaced 7 to 
8 feet apart in a straight row. 
Polyanthas, either used as a hedge or for border planting 
or as bedding Roses, should be spaced 15 to 18 inches apart. 
Planting Instructions. Detailed information about how 
to plant Roses properly is sent with each order. Winter 
protection of Roses is also fully explained on a folder 
which accompanies the order. 
PRUNING. Just before shipping Roses in the fall we 
cut the bush plants back to about 1 foot in height. Climb¬ 
ing Roses and Perpetuals are left a little longer. No further 
pruning will be necessary until early spring. 
SPRING PRUNING. Both the newly planted Hybrid 
Teas and older plants will need pruning in March or April, 
soon after frost leaves the ground and before very active 
growth begins. Even if the wood is live to the ends, which 
is not likely where the winters are severe, the canes should 
be pruned back rather severely. A 
general rule is to cut the weakest canes 
the shortest, and where these are 
numerous, some of the smallest ones 
may be cut out entirely. The stoutest 
canes should be cut back to about 6 
inches and the weaker ones to 3 inches, 
but this depends somewhat on the in¬ 
dividual habit and vigor of the variety. 
Cutting away about two-thirds of the 
previous season’s growth is a safe rule 
to follow in pruning the main strong 
canes. The severer the pruning, the 
larger the flowers to follow. A moder¬ 
ate pruning will yield more flowers of 
less size. When in doubt, prune hard 
because rarely if ever is a Rose bush 
injured by severe pruning. On the other 
hand, lack of proper pruning is responsi¬ 
ble for many Rose-failures. 
Both old and new Hybrid Perpetuals 
may well be cut back to a foot of the 
surface if large, typical flowers are to 
be expected. It is true that where 
Perpetuals are allowed to grow tall, say 
4 to 5 feet, they will continue to flower. But if they are 
pruned severely once in a while, and the plant is thus 
rejuvenated, the size of the flowers is greatly increased, 
and, furthermore, there will be recurrent blooms during 
the summer, if the flowers in June are cut with long 
stems. We feel that one of the reasons that the popu¬ 
larity of the Hybrid Perpetual has waned is because the 
erroneous impression has gone around that they do not 
need pruning; consequently, the plant becomes straggly, 
blooms mediocre and unattractive. Therefore, our recom¬ 
mendation is to make better use of the pruning-shears on 
this highly desirable type of Rose. 
24 
bush thinned out and 
pruned back to the 
black lines in spring. 
This also shows the 
proper depth to plant 
below the soil line. 
