25 
THE CULTURE 
OF 
Air-slaked lime is good to apply in moderation 
on an old bed where the soil may be acid. It is 
not a plant-food, but will make other fertilizing 
elements available for plant consumption. Never 
mix lime and bonemeal within a short period. 
Vigoro is very good for Roses when used 
according to directions of the manufacturer. 
We use it and get very satisfactory results. 
Driconure, Bovung, and other dried cow- 
manure and peat-moss mixtures are good for 
both heavy and light soils. 
Never feed chemical or prepared fertilizers 
after the end of August. 
Roses are easy to grow provided you be¬ 
gin with the right kind of plants. Peterson 
Roses have made it possible for the beginner 
as well as the experienced amateur to 
achieve success. 
LOCATION OF SITE. The ideal site for a 
Hybrid Tea Rose-garden is one that does not 
receive the early morning sun—a location shel¬ 
tered if possible from high winds, but where the 
plants will get enough air and sunlight. Roses 
here in the East like partial shade, especially dur¬ 
ing July and August when our climate is usually 
hot and dry. When one resides in a city or town 
the choice of location for a Rose-bed is often 
quite limited, and yet many thousands of Rose- 
culturists so situated are very successful. 
SOIL. Any good garden soil which will pro¬ 
duce vegetables or good crops of annuals and 
perennials will also grow Roses. The hardy un¬ 
derstock upon which all of our Roses are budded 
does well in both heavy clay soils and in the 
lighter sandy loams. 
PREPARATION OF BEDS. Although, as we 
have just said, good Roses can be grown in an 
average garden soil, where the best obtainable 
Roses are desired the beds should be trenched to 
the depth of 15 to 18 inches. Try to get some old 
cow-manure and mix one part of this with about 
three parts of soil. Allow to settle before 
planting. 
It is only when you are forced to plant in a 
low, wet situation that drainage is important. 
In that case you should simply remove about a 
foot of soil and place cinders or stones in the 
bottom of the bed. 
While we do not wish to belittle the idea that 
soil-preparation is important, we do know that 
many beginners who want to plant Roses imagine 
that there is some difficult and secret soil-mixture 
that Rose plants demand, and this is decidedly 
not the case. The feeding, cultivating, spraying 
or dusting, watering, and pruning of established 
plants are more important than a lot of over¬ 
preparation and over-fertilizing before the 
plants are set. 
MANURES AND FERTILIZERS. With so 
many new and recommended fertilizers of all 
descriptions being offered to plant-lovers, it is no 
wonder that some of us are rather confused on 
this subject. At the same time, there are no 
hard-and-fast rules for fertilizing Roses, so that 
many of the new combinations of fertilizing 
materials have their value in Rose-feeding pro¬ 
vided you follow the directions of the manu¬ 
facturer. 
A good grade of raw, coarse bonemeal may be 
mixed with the soil when Roses are planted. It 
can also be fed once or twice a season, about a 
pint to an established plant. Be sure your bone- 
meal is a reliable brand. 
Hardwood ashes not only act as a good fertil¬ 
izer high in potash content, but will also sweeten 
the soil. This may be applied liberally two or 
three times during the growing season. 
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 comparative 
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 on 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, used either as a hedge or for 
border planting or as bedding Roses, should be 
spaced 14 to 15 inches apart. 
PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS. Detailed in¬ 
formation about how to plant Roses properly is 
sent with each order. 
PRUNING. Before shipping we cut the bush 
plants back to about 1 foot high. Climbers and 
Perpetuals are left a little longer. 
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 some¬ 
what on the individual 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 
moderate 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 
responsible 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 Perpetual Roses 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 
