manure, if it is available, and if drainage is needed, the 
bed should be tiled and surplus water carried away. Guard 
against the roots drying out from exposure to sun, wind 
or freezing during planting. Do not use chemical fetilizer 
when planting Wyant Roses; bonemeal and rotten manure 
only may be used at planting time. 
PRUNING 
When a Rose is set in the spring, shorten the strong 
branches to six or eight inches, and the weaker even more. 
Heap the soil as high as the branches are pruned, to pro¬ 
tect against drying out, until the roots become established. 
Remove this when the shoots come, so that the bud, or 
crown, is about level with the soil surface. Cultivate the 
soil every week, especially after the rains. 
If you want long stems and large flowers, pick your 
blooms with long stems. For quantities of bloom, cut 
short stems and nip old blossoms after the petals fall. 
In cutting first blossoms, leave enough stem to form the 
structure of a bush. Cut the side branches back to one 
or two leaves. 
The only fall pruning recommended is shortening tall 
bushes, down to about two feet, so that they will not 
windwhip. The real pruning for established bushes is given 
in the spring when the bank of soil is removed. At this 
time remove dead wood from the Hybrid Teas and cut 
the strong branches down to the highest big live bud. 
Shorten or remove weak growths. 
Hybrid Perpetuals can be shortened down about one 
third and from climbers the dead wood should be removed. 
In July, after the first big burst of bloom is over, you may 
again prune climbers. The weak branches of Polyanthas 
should be cut down and the strong ones shortened one half. 
SOILS 
In years past, the opinion was that Roses should have 
a clay soil, but our present day Roses will grow in almost 
any soil, if it has food or humas incorporated into it. 
It is best to keep away from either extremely heavy or 
extremely light soil, for the loam soils will have more food 
in them. Any rotted vegetable matter (humus) mired into 
the soil improves the texture and makes it better for the 
Roses. The best soil you can get is best soil for Roses. 
THE PH OF SOILS 
The acidity and alkalinity of soils is designated by 
P H . A neutral soil has a P H of 7, while anything less 
than 7 is acid, getting more and more so as the number 
becomes smaller, and anything above 7 is alkaline, get- 
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