May, j 9 i 6 
23 
cause of the difficulty in gather¬ 
ing the blooms which a greater 
number would entail. 
For the sake of definiteness, 
let us assume that the area 
available for rose planting is a 
30' strip along the garden bor¬ 
der. Here a single row of the 
plants is to be used to form a 
background for the other flow¬ 
ers, so the bed, when prepared, 
need be only 20" to 2' wide. 
Several weeks before plant¬ 
ing time, which means as soon 
as the ground is workable, dig 
out the soil along the entire dis¬ 
tance to a depth of 2', piling 
the sods and top soil on one side 
and the subsoil on the other. 
Break up the bottom of the 
trench with a pick and put in a 
layer of stones or cinders to 
form a definite, well-drained 
bottom. On this flooring re¬ 
place the subsoil mixed with 
plenty of well-rotted manure, 
break up the sods and add them, 
and then the manured top soil. 
Finally fill the remainder with 
good, unmanured top soil until 
it comes 2" above the general 
ground level. After settling 
the surface should stand about 
1" below the surrounding soil. 
The interval between finishing the bed and planting time 
can well be devoted to selecting and buying the sorts you 
will use. A few words of advice in this connection may be 
valuable, although the variety of good roses obtainable is so 
great that no hard and fast rules of choice can be set down. 
The Choice of Varieties 
Generally speaking, the best blossoms will be obtained from 
plants that are grafted on a sturdy stock as distinguished from 
those growing on their own roots. Such plants can be secured 
from any of the reliable dealers, the two best combinations 
being hybrid perpetuals on 
Manetti stock, and hybrid teas 
on brier. Self-rooted bushes 
can be obtained at a consider¬ 
ably lower price than the 
budded ones. 
The age of the bushes is also 
important. Strong two-year- 
old field grown plants cost 
about three times as much as 
the young pot-grown ones from 
the greenhouse, but they have 
the great advantage of yielding 
satisfactory bloom the first sea¬ 
son. A third size, about mid¬ 
way between these two in di¬ 
mensions and price, is listed by 
many dealers. 
In the matter of sorts you 
can hardly do better than make 
a selection from the following 
lists. Your 30' bed will accom¬ 
modate twelve bushes set at 
the standard distance of 30" 
apart, and the final selection 
should, in most cases, contain 
some of each of the four 
classes, hybrid perpetuals, teas, 
hybrid teas and moss. 
Hybrid perpetuals (“June 
Roses”) : Red—General Jac¬ 
queminot, Ulrich Brunner, 
Anne de Diesbach, Captain 
Hayward, Prince Camille de 
“ Standard ” roses, reinforced by 
stakes, may be alternated with the 
usual bush type 
Moss roses there should be, if 
only for their three hundred 
years of history 
A terrace or other ivindbreak to 
the north of the rosebed is often 
a desirable protection 
(Continued on page 60) 
!r .jiAuA*- 
