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THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET 
of a material often found in sand banks and improperly 
called marl, but really a dried or consolidated quicksand. 
It looks like clay and is as bard to excavate, but, unlike 
clay, when dried it readily falls to pieces, and the parti¬ 
cles are finer than common flour. About one inch in 
thickness was spread on the Rose border when dry, and 
worked in with a harrow and cultivator, and every rain 
carried the minute particles into and intermixed them 
with the soil, changing it from a porous, leacliy, to a 
retentive soil, fairly suitable for the purpose intended. 
There wps then applied a dressing of stable manure at 
the rate of ten cords to the acre; this was ploughed in 
very deep, and afterwards leveled with a harrow, 
which completed the preparation of the land. The 
Roses were then planted in rows four feet apart and 
three feet apart in the rows, so as to work bet ween them 
with a horse. One-year-old plants, mostly on the 
Manetti and brier stalks, were chosen : part were set in 
autumn and part in spring, but both succeeded equally 
well. The after cultivation has been to keep the ground 
clean and free from weeds, and in the fall to bank up 
the plants about a foot high with earth from the spaces 
between the rows. When the earth is removed from 
around the plants in spring they are pruned, the weak, 
poor wood being cut out, and the slow-growing varieties 
cut back to six or eight inches, while the stronger grow¬ 
ers should be left ten or twelve inches in length. The 
Roses exhibited by the essayist at the Society’s shows 
have been grown in precisely the way described, with 
the addition of water when needed. In giving water to 
Roses or any other crop, there is no better way than to 
imitate Nature and wet the land thoroughly, and then 
stop until it is needed again. 
The insects preying upon the Rose or its foliage must 
be exterminated; this is the mildest term compatible 
with growing good Roses. First of these is the rose-bug, 
which can only be destroyed by hand-picking. A gentle¬ 
man in Wellesley had informed Mr. Moore that he had 
destroyed them by means of whale-oil soap, but Mr. 
Moore felt doubtful of this. The rose-slug can easily be 
kept under by dusting the plants with powdered helle¬ 
bore in May and early in June, two or three applications 
being sufficient. There are, also, two or more varieties 
of beetles, about the size of a curculio, with long snouts, 
that eat into and ruin the buds, and a few green worms; 
these are always to be crushed. The rose-hopper has not 
done material injury. 
Tiike all other novices, Sir. Moore began with planting 
a great many kinds, his information concerning them 
being what he could get from nursery catalogues and 
the few works on the Rose, which told all about their 
good qualities, but none of their bad ones. The latter 
he is constantly finding out from experience, and though 
costly, the knowledge ■will be useful in future plant¬ 
ings. 
Mr.Moore advised the judging of Roses at exhibitions 
by points, and the entering of the points on the prize 
cards, so that all who read might learn. He considered 
hardiness, vigor of growth, beauty of form and color, 
fragrance and constancy of bloom as indispensable 
requisites for a Hybrid Perpetual Rose forgeneral culti¬ 
vation in the garden. It is hard to find all these qualities in 
any one variety, but the nearer any one comes to thorn 
the better the general cultivator will be satisfied with it. 
So-called Hybrid Perpetual Roses are made up in various 
ways; some are crosses of the China and Damask, and 
may more properly be called Hybrid Clrina, which bloom 
but once in the season. 
Mr. Moore next went over the list of forty-eight Hybrid 
Perpetual Roses recommended by a committee of the 
Society two years ago, criticising the different kinds. 
He presented as his choice the following list: 5label 
Morrison, Julius Finger, Baroness Rothschild, John 
Hopper, Francois Michelou, Marquise de Castellano, 
Mme. Gabriel Luizet, Magna Charta, Etienne Levet, 
Alfred Colomb, Charles Lefebvre, Mme.'Victor Verdier, 
Maurice Bernardin, Mons. E. Y. Teas, Thomas Mills, 
Louis Van Houtte, Abel Carriere, Xavier, Olibo, La 
Rosiere, Pierro Netting, Fisher Holmes, Baron de Bon- 
stettin, Rev. J. B. M. Camm, Mrs. Harry Turner and 
Duke of Teck. Rev. J. B. M. Camm is one of the finest, 
and the color stands well. Jules Margottin has many 
good points; it is a pretty constant bloomer, and good 
to have in the garden. Duke of Teck is new and supe¬ 
rior to nine out of ten of the new ones; it is a good 
grower. Mrs. Harry Turner is claimed in England to be 
the best Rose; the bloom is handsome, and it grows well. 
Eternal vigilance is the price of good Roses. No man who 
does not love them can grow good ones, and those who 
do not love them had better not undertake to grow 
them. 
W. C. Strong was called on by the chairman and 
spoke of the importance of fertilization. The essayist 
had said nothing of continuous fertilization. We all 
know that feeding is the first step to success, and the 
process is almost limitless. He had made a bed for Roses 
in the house, of one-third stable manure and two-thirds 
loam, and the growth is prodigious, and the Roses have 
been uniformly good, and there is now a heavy crop. 
With that experience he dressed a bed in the fall with 
stable manure and almost ruined it. A year ago, he 
watered a bed with a solution of horse manure and 
injured it. The time when Roses arejfed is very import¬ 
ant ; liquid manure may be given freely while they are 
in growth—not very strong, but constant. They want 
daily food, and it will produce wonderful results. Cow 
manure may be applied more freely than horse ; he had 
seen the roots of Roses run into green cow manure with¬ 
out injury. It is more difficult to apply cow manure in 
liquid form than horse manure. The thrip, futter or 
hopper is a serious injury to the Rose, and he doubted 
the efficacy of hellebore, though he had notified it fully. 
Whale-oil soap may be applied before the roses are in 
bloom. He wished to emphasize the effect of green 
horse manure ; it is good at the right time, but will 
injure the Roses if it leaches to any extent while they 
are in a dormant state. 
Mr. Moore said it is true that you must furnish food 
constantly to make new wood. He gives a dressing of 
stable manure after covering in the autumn, after the 
ground was frozen, and it keeps the ground from freez¬ 
ing and thawing. Afterwards he gives potash and 
bone, and if he applies liquid manure, gives it weak, but 
often and early. 
I always think the flowers can see us and know what 
we are thinking about.— George Eliot. 
To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect another 
to keep it is folly.— Holmes. 
