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MAKING A ROSE GARDEN



_THE HOUSE & GARDEN MAKING BOOKS_


It is the intention of the publishers to make this series of little
volumes, of which _Making a Rose Garden_ is one, a complete library
of authoritative and well illustrated handbooks dealing with the
activities of the home-maker and amateur gardener. Text, pictures
and diagrams will, in each respective book, aim to make perfectly
clear the possibility of having, and the means of having, some of
the more important features of a modern country or suburban home.
Among the titles already issued or planned for early publication are
the following: _Making a Lawn_; _Making a Tennis Court_; _Making a
Garden Bloom This Year_; _Making a Fireplace_; _Making Roads and
Paths_; _Making a Poultry House_; _Making a Hotbed and Cold-frame_;
_Making Built-in Bookcases_, _Shelves and Seats_; _Making a Rock
Garden_; _Making a Water Garden_; _Making a Perennial Border_;
_Making a Shrubbery Group_; _Making a Naturalized Bulb Garden_; with
others to be announced later.

[Illustration: An English rose garden that is nearly ideal in its
arrangement. All the paths are of grass, the beds being sunk a few
inches below the turf level in order to conserve the moisture.]




MAKING A ROSE GARDEN


_By_ HENRY H. SAYLOR


NEW YORK
McBRIDE, NAST & COMPANY
1912

COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY
McBRIDE, NAST & CO.

Published February, 1912




CONTENTS


                                                     PAGE

INTRODUCTION                                            1

CLASSIFICATION                                          3

LOCATION AND SOIL                                      11

PREPARATION AND PLANTING                               20

FERTILIZING                                            25

PRUNING                                                30

PESTS                                                  38

PROPAGATION                                            40

WINTER PROTECTION                                      44

LISTS OF DEPENDABLE ROSES                              46

GLOSSARY OF TERMS                                      51




THE ILLUSTRATIONS


A ROSE GARDEN WITH THE IDEAL ARRANGEMENT OF
  GRASS PATHS                               _Frontispiece_

                                              FACING PAGE

ULRICH BRUNNER, A RED HYBRID PERPETUAL ROSE             4

MARÉCHAL NEIL, A TENDER CLIMBING TEA ROSE               8

KILLARNEY, ONE OF THE BEST HYBRID TEAS                 12

A GARDEN FOR ROSES ONLY                                14

A DORMANT TEA ROSE AS IT COMES FROM THE GROWER         22

A STOCK OF MANETTI GRAFTED WITH AN IMPROVED VARIETY    42

A "STANDARD" ROSE                                      44




INTRODUCTION


I well remember the caution given me by a noted horticulturist when, in
the sudden awakening to the joys of gardening, I was about to attempt
the cultivation of nearly everything named in the largest seed and
plant catalogue I could find:

"Leave the rose alone; it is not worth fighting for."

And leave it alone I did, until one day I was browsing about an old
book shop and came upon a well-thumbed copy of good old Dean Hole's "A
Book About Roses." Let me tell you that there is something radically
wrong with the person who can read that book and then go on plodding
along his dreary, roseless way.

But why, if there is such a book as that to be had, do I presume to put
forth what can at best be but a feeble ray in its predecessor's blaze
of inspiration? Merely because Dean Hole's book, and a later volume by
the Rev. Andrew Foster-Melliar that is almost as inspiring, with
perhaps even more helpful guidance, are both written for the English
rosarian and for a cool, moist climate that necessitates a somewhat
different method of procedure throughout as compared with that which
would bring success in growing roses here in America. Then too, there
is to my mind something encouraging in a very small book, a book that
will merely attempt to lay the foundations for the superstructure that,
after all, only experience can bring. Perhaps there are those who, like
myself, are content with the bare essentials of classification, content
to be told the basic rudiments of cultivation, and who are in haste to
be done with all of these homely means to an end, that they may begin
growing roses.




Making a Rose Garden




CLASSIFICATION


When one considers the fact that the majority of botanists recognize
over a hundred species of the genus _Rosa_, and that a French botanist
lists and describes 4,266 species from Europe and western Asia alone,
it will readily be understood that this chapter can give but a rough,
working knowledge of groups and species.

Fortunately the amateur rosarian in the United States is concerned with
very few of the species, largely for the reason that the efforts of our
rosegrowers have naturally been confined to a few important groups
where general merit is most strongly marked. Indeed, for the purposes
of a modest rose garden, one would not go far wrong if he limited his
choice of varieties to the Hybrid Teas, Hybrid Perpetuals and a few of
the Teas, with several of the _wichuraiana_ and _rugosa_ hybrids for
trellis and hedge.

The name Hybrid Perpetual is borne by an enormous group of roses which
have been derived from various species, crossed and recrossed until the
parentage is in most cases hopelessly involved. The "Perpetual" half of
the name signifies that the rose continues to bloom more or less
frequently throughout the summer. As a matter of fact, it is usually
_less_.

Teas or Tea-scented China roses form a distinct group that is readily
recognized by the characteristic scent of the flowers and by the
smoothness of its leaves. Teas are, in a way, the aristocrats of the
rose garden. They bloom with no great blare of trumpets in June, like
the Perpetuals, but they keep steadily at their work of producing
exquisite blooms, one or two at a time, throughout the summer. Their
one serious handicap is a lack of hardiness, which they possess only in
a slight and very variable degree; and they must be very carefully
protected in the north to bring them safely through the winter. Even
though I were forced to buy new plants each spring, however, I would
not have a rose garden without Teas.

[Illustration: Ulrich Brunner, a red Hybrid Perpetual that has achieved
an excellent reputation. The H.P. type is characterized by hardiness
and great freedom of bloom in June. Thereafter throughout the summer
the burden of display must be borne by the Teas and Hybrid Teas.]

Hybrid Teas, as the name signifies, are successful crosses between the
Tea and roses in the Hybrid Perpetual group. This class combines the
persistence of the Tea with the sturdier growth of the Perpetuals, and
from it we shall probably get the great bulk of our garden roses for
some years to come.

The Moss Rose, of which you will surely want a representative in your
garden, belongs in the Provence group, as will be seen in the tabular
classification at the end of this chapter. Who does not know its
beautiful buds in their setting of mossy stems? This rose, like many a
one that has not gotten such a grip on our affections, has refused
steadfastly to mix its blood with another species, and has retained its
good points and its bad ones for over three hundred years. It is quite
hardy but is rather susceptible to mildew.

There are other roses, too, outside the larger and best-known
groups--roses that, because of some superlative merit in one direction
or because of past associations, lay a strong hand on our heart-strings
and plead for an obscure corner of the new rose garden: the bristling
Scotch Rose, the fragrant Damasks, the sweetbrier or eglantine with its
inimitable fragrant foliage, the Penzance Brier Hybrids, the White
Banksian of southern gardens with its odor of violets, the Persian
Yellow of our grand-mothers' gardens, and the hundred-petaled Cabbage
Rose, parent of the Moss.

Climbing roses are to be found in many of the groups--Wichuraiana,
Ayrshire, Polyantha, Musk, Noisette and as sports in the Hybrid
Perpetual, Tea and Hybrid Tea groups.

It is in another class, however, that we may look for the ideal
American roses of the future. Not many years ago, came to us three
natives of Japan, _Rosa wichuraiana_, _Rosa multiflora_ and _Rosa
rugosa_. From the first two has been developed by our American
hybridizers the race of Ramblers, while from the third has come such
sturdy children as Conrad F. Meyer, perhaps the ideal hedge rose for
our northern climate. In the estimation of Professor Charles S.
Sargent, the dean of American horticulture, it is along the line of
_rugosa_ hybrids that we shall succeed in filling our gardens with
large, beautiful, hardy and continuously flowering roses.

The climate of the South and California seems ideally suited to the
Teas, producing a wealth of exquisite bloom that fills those of us that
live in more trying surroundings with envy. In the South also they have
the Cherokee Rose (_Rosa lævigata_ or _sinica_), flourishing along
roadsides and in great masses on the prairies, its long, arching stems
bearing a wealth of pure white, single flowers, four or five inches
across, in a setting of brilliant, evergreen foliage. It is one of our
American hybridizers' hopes and aims to cross this with a hardy rose to
gain sufficient stamina for the North.

And out in Oregon, the Hybrid Perpetuals and Hybrid Teas grow to a size
and beauty that is unsurpassed the world over. Practically every kind
of rose can be grown in the Puget Sound district, and the amateurs of
that locality seem to have as little trouble with rose pests as we do
here with our hardy decorative shrubs.

[Illustration: Marechal Neil, a tender climbing Tea rose, dark
golden-yellow in color, requires winter protection in the North. The
Tea is the aristocrat of the rose garden, unapproached for delicate
fragrance, refined form of the individual blooms, and continued
flowering throughout the summer.]

To sum up the whole matter of classification and to show the relative
positions of many groups that, for lack of space, have not even been
mentioned above, the following tabular key is given--a slightly
modified form of the classification given in the Cyclopedia of American
Horticulture:

  _I. Summer-flowering Roses, blooming once only_

      A. Large-flowered (double).

         1. Growth branching or pendulous; leaf wrinkled.
             _Provence_
                Moss
                Pompon
                Sulphurea

         2. Growth firm and robust; leaf downy.
             _Damask and French_
                Hybrid French
                Hybrid Provence
                Hybrid Bourbon
                Hybrid China

         3. Growth free; leaf whitish above; spineless.
              _Alba_

      B. Small-flowered (single and double).

         1. Growth climbing; flowers produced singly.
             _Ayrshire_

         2. Growth short-jointed, generally, except in Alpine.
             _Briers_
                Austrian
                Scotch
                Sweet
                Penzance
                Prairie
                Alpine

         3. Growth climbing; flowers in clusters.
             _Multiflora_
                Polyantha

         4. Growth free; foliage persistent (more or less shiny).
             _Evergreen_
                Sempervirens
                Wichuraiana
                Cherokee
                Banksian

         5. Growth free; foliage wrinkled.
             _Pompon_


  _II. Summer- and Autumn-flowering Roses, blooming more or less
  continuously_

      A. Large-flowered.

         1. Foliage very rough.
             _Hybrid Perpetual_
             _Hybrid Tea_
             _Moss_

         2. Foliage rough.
             _Bourbon_
             _Bourbon Perpetual_

         3. Foliage smooth.
             _China_
                Tea
                Lawrenceana (Fairy)

      B. Smaller-flowered.

         1. Foliage deciduous

            a. Habit climbing.
                _Musk_
                   Noisette
                _Ayrshire_
                _Polyantha_
                   Wichuraiana Hybrids

            b. Habit dwarf, bushy.
                _Perpetual Briers_
                   Rugosa
                   Lucida
                   Microphylla
                   Berberidifolia
                   Scotch

         2. Foliage more or less persistent.
             _Evergreen_
                Macartney
                Wichuraiana




LOCATION AND SOIL


If there is any secret in connection with the growing of beautiful
roses in abundance, it lies in the strict observance of a few
fundamental principles through which the rose plants, or bushes if you
will, are given a location and soil which they will find congenial and
nourishing. If for one moment you may have thought that success depends
upon some particular insecticide for the annihilation of the aphis, or
some hard-and-fast rule for pruning, or the use of a fertilizer having
magical attributes, dismiss that thought from your mind, once and for
all time. Insecticides, judicious pruning and suitable manuring have
each an important part in the campaign, but transcending all of these
is the first choice of location and the preparation of the garden in
which the roses are to grow. Warfare against the rose's enemies can be
but a one-sided, hopeless struggle if we are working against nature all
the way through. Far easier and more certain in effect will be our
first efforts to establish the rose plants themselves so firmly in
healthful, congenial surroundings that they, rather than we, will bear
the brunt of the battle against the insect pests.

In China I am told that a custom once prevailed whereby the emperor
paid his physician a good salary as long as the ruler kept his good
health. If he fell ill the physician's pay stopped; if he died, off
came the practitioner's head.

Be generous in the amount of thought and care you give in providing
health, food and strength for your rose plants, and as a result you
will have to give very little thought and care to curing disease and
killing off the rose-bugs and slugs.

In the first place let us take up the matter of situation.
Unfortunately most of us will have little leeway in this, for the
average suburban place is not one that will offer hill and valley,
windswept open space and warm shelter. The ideal location is to be
found neither on a hilltop where the winter winds would play havoc with
our winter protection, nor in a low hollow where frosts are always more
frequent. A gentle slope to the south, well above nearby low spots into
which the cold air will drain, sheltered in some way from the north,
would be all that we could ask. In the matter of this shelter, however,
we meet a further difficulty, for our rose garden must be kept well
away from any trees. It is a matter of common knowledge that the root
system of a tree will, as a rule, extend as far out from the base as
the tree rises about the ground. Obviously it would be merely a waste
of time and effort to locate the rose garden where the hungry roots of
trees would rob it of the food supply furnished the roses. In general,
therefore, we shall have to use the wall of a house or a garden wall
for our needed protection, though in case of necessity we could sink a
masonry wall or an iron plate as a barrier between the upper rich soil
of our rose beds and the roots of the sheltering trees.

[Illustration: Killarney, the comparatively new Hybrid Tea rose, having
a beautiful shell-pink color, has achieved a wide popularity. The
Hybrid Tea combines in a measure the hardiness of the Hybrid Perpetual
with the continuous flowering habit of the Tea.]

Sun, it is perhaps unnecessary to say, is essential, though it will be
found that if the beds are in shade for the first part of the morning
one will have greater opportunity of enjoying the roses at their
best--before the dew has been drunk from their petals by the thirsty
midsummer rays.

The matter of the size and design of the rose bed is of comparatively
little importance; what really is vital, however, is that the roses be
permitted to have the beds to themselves--absolutely. But recently I
read a magazine article purporting to be good advice for the
rose-growing amateur. Therein appeared words of regret that the rose
must needs have such bare, gaunt stalks, and suggesting as a remedy the
growing of some vine about the base of the bush--I am not sure, indeed,
that the honeysuckle was not specifically named for the place. I can
well imagine that the result might be a very beautiful honeysuckle, but
we should look there for the rose in vain.

[Illustration: Keep the roses by themselves; they will not only thrive
better, but their beauty seems not to be increased by comparison with
other flowers.]

The Queen of Flowers will brook no liberties of this kind. She insists
upon reigning alone in her glory, and anyone who dares presume to
introduce even a low-growing, shallow-rooted ground cover with the
intention of making the rose bed seem less bare, will never see his
roses at their best. Personally I have never felt that a rose garden
need be in the least unattractive. There is one type of beauty that
might be represented by a carpet of creeping phlox; there is another
that belongs to the rose garden, bearing its single blooms here and
there, sparsely, among the green foliage and thorny stems. In the
former instance one looks at the mass effect without a thought of the
beauty of individual flowers; in the latter case one's glance seeks out
instinctively the single bloom to drink in its beauty and fragrance.
Ah, but you say, how about the time when there is not a single rose in
sight? There need be no such time between spring and fall if you plant
your rose garden to best advantage. There is no need nor reason to put
all the June-blooming roses together, with the Teas and Hybrid Teas off
by themselves in another place. If the remontant types are interspersed
throughout your garden you need never, between May and October, look
for a rose in vain.

The shape of the beds, too, may be such as to avoid an appearance of
"too much dirt" in the rose garden. For my own part I would have a
rectangular garden and simple parallelograms for the beds, although the
rose garden about a central feature has its strong attractions. But if
you arrange the beds in long narrow units--four feet wide for a double
row of plants or twenty inches wide for a single row, and as long as
your purse will allow, having the paths between the rows of turf rather
than gravel or brick, and the beds slightly sunk below this turf, the
rose garden need never be less than most attractive. Avoid beds wider
than will accommodate two rows of plants, for it is essential that
every rose bush in the garden be immediately accessible from a path.

[Illustration: A suggestion for a rectangular rose garden with paths of
turf. The beds are about forty inches wide, the paths four feet,
excepting the center one, which is five feet in width. A hedge, which
might be of _rugosa_, contributes a desirable air of seclusion.]

To those intensely practical persons who object to walking through
dew-wet paths in the morning tour of the rose garden, let me point out
the obvious impossibility of having gravel paths immediately adjacent
to the rose beds, and the continued care required to keep in a
presentable condition a narrow strip of sod between path and bed.

Now as to the preparation of the rose bed itself. First of all, dig the
soil out to a depth of two feet at least, keeping the top soil and sods
and the subsoil in separate piles as they are taken out. Loosen up the
floor of the trench with a pick and on this, if the ground needs
draining, which it will if it is a compact, sodden surface, put a layer
of stones, cinders and other material that will not decompose. On top
of this place the best of the sub-soil mixed with a generous dressing
of well-rotted manure. Finally, add the sod, well broken up, and the
top soil, also enriched with manure. Then fill in the bed with enough
good top soil, unmanured, to bring it two or three inches above the
adjoining surface. Make sure that the surface of the bed, after it has
settled, will be about one inch below that of the adjoining sod in
order to retain the moisture from rain. This preparation of the bed
should be done at least several weeks in advance of planting time.

In composing the soil for the rose bed, it is well to remember that the
Hybrid Perpetuals require a heavy soil containing some clay. For Teas
and Hybrid Teas a lighter, warmer soil is better. In his most admirable
"Book of the Rose," the Rev. Andrew Foster-Melliar tells an amusing
incident in connection with soil. The good rector was dining out and
had been served with a generous portion of plum pudding. It was very
dark, rich, strong and greasy. Absent-mindedly he sat back in his chair
gazing at the dish intently. His hostess, noticing his hesitancy, asked
if anything were wrong with the pudding. "Oh, no," replied the rector
unthinkingly, "I was thinking what rare stuff it would be to grow roses
in."

Top soil from an old pasture, if it be a moderately heavy loam, taken
with the grass roots and chopped very fine, will do excellently for the
Hybrid Perpetuals. For the Teas and Hybrid Teas, mix with soil of this
kind about one-quarter of its bulk of sand and leaf mold to lighten it.
Remember that all the manure that is used should be incorporated with
the lower two-thirds of the bed; the upper third should not contain any
recently added manure as it is apt to harm the roots of new plants.




PREPARATION AND PLANTING


In the vicinity of New York and further north, I think it will be found
that spring planting is best. South of Philadelphia many roses are set
out in the fall, for here they become well established before cold
weather sets in, and are therefore ready to start active growth at the
first touch of spring.

If spring planting is chosen the plants must be put in the ground
early--at the very first opportunity--so that they will have time to
become firmly established before hot weather. Pot-grown plants from a
greenhouse cannot, of course, be set out until all danger from frost is
past. Roses that are planted so late cannot be expected to show really
satisfying results in bloom the first year. Roses that are planted
early in the spring, if field-grown stock as explained below, will with
proper cultivation give at least a reasonable amount of bloom the first
year, though not so much as in later years.

One hears a great deal of argument on the question of whether roses are
best grown on their own roots or when grown on a sturdier stock, such
as Manetti for Hybrid Perpetuals and brier for Hybrid Teas, which are
probably the best rose stocks for this country. It seems to be the
general consensus of opinion that roses budded on these stocks will
thrive much more luxuriantly and give much better blooms than those
which depend upon their own root systems. It is necessary, however, to
set the point at which the shoot is budded to the stock about two
inches beneath the surface; otherwise there is the constant danger that
suckers will spring from the root and, if overlooked for a time, these
will kill the more desirable shoots.

Several kinds of roses are offered by the dealers for setting out in
the spring. There are the pot-grown roses mentioned above--the only
form in which many of the climbers may be readily obtained. Mail-order
houses make a practice of sending out the Hybrid Perpetuals, Hybrid
Teas and Teas also in this form of very young plants grown from
cuttings under glass during the winter. Costing more, and surely far
more dependable, are the field-grown roses that have originally been
budded on Manetti or brier and, usually in two-year-old form, taken out
of the ground the previous fall while dormant, to lie in cold houses
until ready for planting. Such roses as these will surely bloom the
first season and are far better equipped for the shock of being set
into the open ground again than the pot-grown plants that have never
had a taste of real garden life.

A word of warning might profitably be uttered against the cheap roses
budded on _multiflora_ stock, grown in Holland and sold in some of the
department stores. They are short-lived and very poor in comparison
with plants on brier and Manetti. _Multiflora_ has been entirely
discarded as a stock by English and Irish growers.

Roses on their own roots have the advantage of being cheaper, due to the
saving of labor in striking cuttings rather than budding--one-year-old
plants costing a dollar for six to a dozen; two-year and three-year-old
bushes, which are, of course, far more desirable, cost more in
proportion. Dormant, field-grown budded roses cost, in the two-year-old
size, from thirty-five cents to a dollar each.

[Illustration: A dormant Tea rose as it is received from the grower for
planting in March. After planting it should be still further pruned.]

Before setting the plants examine each carefully and cut off the broken
roots with a sharp knife, as well as all eyes that may appear on the
root stock, in order to forestall suckers. The plants should be set
immediately upon their receipt from the nurseryman, so that they will
not become dried out. If they seem dry it may be well to puddle the
roots in thin mud just before setting. Make the hole large enough to
accommodate all of the plant's roots without crowding, remembering to
put the budding point not less or more than two inches below the
surface and with the roots spread out nearly horizontally, but
inclining downward towards their ends and without crossing one another.
This will not be an easy matter, for in shipment the roots will have
probably been so compressed that they extend almost directly downward
from the collar. After the plants have been firmly set and the earth
carefully packed in around the roots, rake the soil to loosen it up
over the whole surface. The soil will probably be moist enough at the
time to need no watering.

With the pot-grown plants, the moist ball of earth that comes about the
roots is carefully retained intact and placed in the hole prepared for
the plant. Set the plant firmly in place by pressure with the soles of
your shoes, give a generous watering and finally break up the surface
of the soil with a rake.

It is absolutely essential to keep the surface of the ground loosened
with a hoe and a sharp steel rake throughout the summer. After very
hard rain loosen the soil as soon as it is dry enough to work, to
conserve the moisture.




FERTILIZING


In striking contrast to the exquisite beauty of the rose is the food
that we must give it in abundance if we would have the most healthy
plants. But for the true rose enthusiast the turning over of a muck
heap to find manure in just the right form, or the dilution of the
by-products of the cow barn with water to make the best stimulant, have
nothing about them that is in the least objectionable.

If the soil at our disposal is inclined to be rich in clay, we can
probably do no better than incorporate well-decomposed stable manure
with it, by raking it, well pulverized, into the surface in the early
spring. In sandy or gravelly soils, however, cow manure or that from
the pigsty will serve far better. It must be remembered that when
properly set out the rose plant is comparatively shallow-rooted, so
that this raking of fine old manure into the soil must be just that,
and _not_ the deep digging of half-rotted manure into the bed with
a spading-fork. The aim in the method advocated is to put the solid
manure where the spring rains will carry it in time to the feeding
roots, and in the liquid form in which it is readily assimilated.

The theory of this manurial feeding will make clear the fact that a
proper application of liquid manure has practically all the advantages
of the former method without its drawbacks. For solid manure, if
applied to the beds in quantities sufficient to be of real value, has a
tendency to keep the needed air out of the top soil, and to bring in
its train an abundance of weeds that will be hard to exterminate. So
that, with the exception of light sandy soils, where the humus is
needed, we shall do well to feed the rose garden liquid nourishment.

The time when this stimulant will be most effective is in the months of
May and June, when most of the plants are putting all their efforts
into the forming buds. Withhold the liquid in dry spells, for it is
most appreciated immediately after a good, soaking rain.

Avoid getting the manure on the foliage, and make sure that it errs on
the side of weakness rather than strength. Suspending a burlap sack
containing a bushel of cow manure in a barrel of water for two days,
will give a solution that needs dilution with its own bulk of water. A
half-gallon to a plant each week will be a sufficient normal feeding.

Immediately after dosing the beds go over them with a rake or prong-hoe
and loosen up the surface to prevent evaporation.

A vital principle in feeding rose plants is one that seems to be
overlooked instinctively by seven out of ten amateur gardeners. It is
this: A strong-growing, healthy plant needs and will absorb a large
quantity of liquid manure; a sickly plant, or one that is not yet well
established, does not need and cannot absorb even the normal quantity
of this food. Yet how often are we tempted to feed to excess this
weakling and withhold food from that nearby sturdy bush, because the
latter "doesn't need it." Just bear in mind the fact that we do not
give burgundy to a puny child that is struggling against the effects of
malnutrition, but that a healthy, growing boy can consume an
astonishing amount of food and drink.

To review the year's activities in fertilizing: let us put a top
dressing of rough manure over the beds in the fall, about three inches
deep, with further protection where the climate demands it. In the
spring we shall rake off the coarse portion of this covering, leaving
the finely pulverized manure to be raked gently into the top soil if it
needs this additional humus (the manure's food value will have been
washed down by the winter's rain and snow). If our soil is clayey the
whole top dressing will be hoed off. In May and June come the generous
applications of the liquid manure, and for the Teas and Perpetuals that
really do continue to flower, these applications may well be continued
through the summer at less frequent intervals, leaving off at the end
of August, let us say, so as not to encourage unnecessarily the late
summer's growth of wood.

Although not many of us, in all probability, will meet the unusual
condition of having for our rose gardens only an over-fertilized soil
in a long-used garden, it may be well to mention the fact that such a
soil will not produce good roses. Treatment with lime will help matters
for a time, but if within the range of possibility we should remake the
garden with virgin soil.

The use of nitrate of soda and like stimulants may be undertaken
sparingly in the spring, but these are better left to those gardeners
who have learned, possibly through disastrous experiences, how properly
to use them.




PRUNING


The rose is one of those plants that seem to need the firm hand of man
to direct them in the way they should grow. If left to their own
devices, most of the highly cultivated roses revert quickly to lower
types; they need the pitiless pruning-knife to spur them to their best
endeavor.

It will readily be seen that severe pruning, as a general principle,
tends towards greater beauty of individual blooms, while light pruning
is conducive to a better rounded-out form of bush at the expense of the
flowers. Or, again, the severe pruning gives quality of bloom as
opposed to quantity of bloom.

Always cut back the plants severely when first setting them out--Teas
and Hybrid Teas less than the Hybrid Perpetuals, and the climbers least
of all.

Unreasonable as it may seem, the plants of vigorous habit of growth
need less pruning than the less active ones.

Pruning may be started with the dwarf Hybrid perpetuals in
March--leaving four or five canes three feet in length if large masses
of bloom are wanted. The result will be a large number of small
flowers. If, on the other hand, fewer and larger flowers are wanted,
all weak growth should be removed and every healthy cane retained and
cut back in preparation for the plant's development. The weakest should
not have more than four inches of wood left on the root, while the
strongest may have eight or nine inches. Always prune a cane about a
quarter of an inch above an outside bud unless the cane is very far
from the vertical, when an inside one should be left for the terminal
shoot. See that the wood is not torn or bruised in the operation.

The pruning of Hybrid Teas and Teas had better be postponed until the
first signs of life appear. The bark becomes greener and the dormant
buds begin to swell. Dead or dying wood will then readily be noticeable
and it may be removed. Remember that these two classes do not need such
severe pruning as do the Hybrid Perpetuals; twice the amount of wood
may safely be left if it seems promising.

Dormant rose plants bought in the spring will arrive from the growers
already partly pruned. In general, from one-half to two-thirds of the
remaining length of cane should be cut off when the plants are set out,
removing entirely all bruised or dead wood. Bear in mind always, if
your conscience revolts at such severe cutting, that the strongest
dormant buds are nearest the base of the plant and it is these we want
to force into growth to bear the prize blooms.

With the ramblers very little cutting is needed; merely cut back the
shoots that seem to be outdistancing their neighbors by too much, and
cut out entirely the dead canes.

The _rugosa_ is intended to be a bush rather than a strong, lean plant
for prize blooms. Merely cut out old, dry wood and trim back the longer
shoots to the desired form.

Use a first-class pair of pruning shears in order that the work may be
done quickly and, above all, with clean cuts that show no tearing or
abrasion of the bark.




PESTS


Once more let me repeat the fact that by far the most effective
campaign against the insects and other pests that infest rose plants is
to be found, not in sprayings and dustings, but rather in maintaining
to the best of our ability a condition of health in the plant itself.
Prevention here, as always, is better than cure. Nor can it be too
strongly emphasized that the daily use of a powerful but finely divided
spray from the hose will make life on the rose plant miserable for
practically all of the parasites.

The following are the chief enemies that we may encounter in the rose
garden. They are briefly described so as to be recognizable when found,
and for the annihilation or keeping in check of each is given one of
the many remedies. Practically every rosarian develops, after a time,
his own pet formulæ for these poisons, so that rose books will be found
to contain a wonderfully varied assortment of weapons--so numerous in
fact that one would think the army of rose pests could never live to
continue their depredations another season.


_Aphis or Green Fly_

A small, pale green louse, winged or wingless, with a soft, fat, oval
body apparently too big for its legs. A single aphis in five
generations may become the progenitor of 6,000,000,000.

Tobacco smoke is an excellent weapon, or, if a spray is found more
convenient to apply, a solution of 4 oz. of tobacco stems boiled for 10
min. in 1 gal. of soft water, will do. The same weight of quassia chips
may be substituted for the tobacco. If the tobacco is used, the
cheapest that can be bought is the best for the purpose. Strain the
solution and add 4 oz. of soft soap while it is still hot, stirring
well to dissolve the soap.

Another remedy--1 qt. of soft soap boiled in 2 qts. of soft water,
adding 1 pt. of paraffin before cooling--is well recommended. It should
be applied diluted with soft water to ten times its bulk. The paraffin
acts as an astringent which, together with the soft soap, cleanses the
plant of honey-dew, which is exuded by the aphis to protect its feet
against cold and wet.


_Mildew_

A fungous disease that may appear when the rose plants are in a damp,
shady or ill-ventilated location. Although some varieties are more
susceptible than others to this disease, the rose garden located out in
the open, where the air has unobstructed access, will not be troubled
much by mildew. When the disease appears late in the autumn it need not
be feared.

Dusting flowers of sulphur upon the foliage, taking care to reach the
under side of leaves as well as the upper, and upon the ground about
the plants, is a well established remedy. It will be found convenient
to shake the powder from a baking-powder can, the end of which is
punched with holes, if a regular powder gun is not at hand. Use the
sulphur in the early morning, when the dew will help to hold it on the
leaves, or else spray the plants with water beforehand.


_Rose Thrip_

A small, yellowish white insect with transparent wings, usually found
on the _under_ side of the rose leaves. This pest appears in swarms and
in an astonishingly short time turns the foliage yellow.

If the pest appears, spray the rose plants daily with a hose as
suggested above. If this does not prove efficacious, dust the under
side of the leaves with white hellebore in a powder gun. Whale oil soap
solution, in the proportions of 5 oz. of soap to 1 gal. of water, is a
very good remedy. It is easier to dissolve the soap if the water is
hot.


_Rose Caterpillar or Leaf-roller_

Several kinds of caterpillars may appear, varying from one-half to
three-quarters of an inch in length, and either green, yellow or brown
in color. They have a habit of enveloping themselves in the rose
leaves, or boring their way into the flower buds. In the latter case
they are very apt to be overlooked.

Powdered hellebore will hinder their progress, but by far the most
effective weapons are the finger and thumb--gloved, if you insist.


_Rose Chafer or Rose-bug_

This brown beetle, less than one-half inch in length, is one of the
best-known rose pests. It is a slow-moving creature that appears
suddenly in armies in the blooming season in June, and is the more
annoying for the reason that it devotes its attention almost entirely
to the flowers themselves.

Paris green, dusted over the plants, will kill the pest, but this
poison has a disagreeable way of showing no intelligent discrimination
in the choice of its victims. Really the only satisfactory method of
attack is to knock the stupid creatures off the flowers into a tin of
kerosene and then burn it.


_Rose Slug_

The larvæ of a saw-fly which comes up out of the ground in May and
June. The female makes incisions in the leaves and deposits her eggs,
which hatch out in about two weeks. The slugs will eat an astonishing
amount of leaf if not checked. They are about a half-inch long, green,
and will be found on the upper side of the leaf.

Powdered white hellebore, dusted on the foliage, or the solution of
whale oil soap mentioned for the Rose Thrip, will keep it in check.


_White Grub_

An underground enemy that feeds on the roots of rose plants. The
withering or sickliness of the plant is sufficient reason to cause a
thorough search to be made by lifting it. The grub, which is provided
with six legs near the head, and which coils itself into a crescent
shape when in repose, is particularly fond of strawberry plants, so it
will be well to keep these some distance away from the rose garden.

There is no insecticide that will be effective, because of the
underground point of attack. Lifting the plant and removing the grub is
the only thing that can be done.


_Bark Louse or White Scale_

This appears when the rose bush is grown in a damp, shady place. It is
snow white and individual scales are about one-tenth of an inch in
diameter, irregularly round.

Cut off and burn badly infested shoots. Spray with 1 lb. of soap in 1
gal. of water in early winter and again in early spring. Weaker summer
applications may be used also--1 lb. in 4 or 6 gal. once in three weeks
throughout the season will reach all the larvæ.


_Our Allies_

It is well to remember that there are friends of the rose in the lower
animal world as well as enemies--the toad, lady-bug, ground-bird and
swallow, particularly. The toad is sometimes brought by the English
gardeners from a distance to help wage war on the pests; the lady-bug
may be passed thankfully by when seen; and it may be well to try
attracting the birds to the rose garden by scattering a few crumbs
there daily--not too many, but just enough to arouse a real appetite
for insect pests.




PROPAGATION


The propagation of his own stock is a task for which the expert is
better fitted than the beginner for whom this book is written.
Nevertheless, I doubt whether the amateur will pass through his first
year of rose growing without wishing to make an attempt to multiply the
stock of those roses which have with him been most successful, or to
bud a choice variety from a friend's garden on the foster-parent stock
for his own place.

Whereas in England the process of budding is carried on very widely and
with fair success among amateur and professional rosarians alike, with
us this means of propagation seems fraught with greater difficulty.
Excepting in the case of varieties that do not readily root from
cuttings, this latter method of propagation is generally adopted where
roses on their own roots are desired.

The best time for taking cuttings from a plant is towards the end of
the summer, when the ripe wood of the current year's growth will be
available. Ten inches is a convenient length for the pieces and some
rosarians feel that if a "heel," or portion of older wood, remains on
the lower end there will be greater likelihood of rooting. Remove all
but the two top leaves and set the cutting in a light soil, or even in
pure sand, so that only the two upper buds are exposed. Leave the
cuttings in the ground until the following autumn, when those that have
taken root may be transplanted and set at a less depth in their
permanent quarters.

Budding is a far more interesting process to carry through, and by it
we may have sturdier roses on a stock like Manetti or brier. A very
sharp knife is required, with some raffia for tying the bud securely
into the stock. In the limited scope of this book I can but indicate
very roughly the general procedure, and, indeed, budding is far more
readily learned by watching a skilled rosarian do it than by reading
many pages of description. Briefly, then, a bud, which may be found
under any petiole, is carefully sliced, with its surrounding bark and
backing of wood, from the half-ripe stalk of the variety to be
propagated, leaving the petiole in place to serve as a handle. This is
probably best done in July. After removing very gently the wood backing
from the bark and bud, the latter are slipped into a T-shaped incision
in the foster stock, this incision to be made through the bark to the
actual wood of the stalk. The bud and its supporting bark are inserted
between the wood and bark of the stock, the latter then being wrapped
with a few turns of raffia to hold the bud in place. After a period of
a month the bud will either have taken hold or failed, and the tie may
be removed.

The rose plants that we buy already budded on Manetti or brier are
produced in this way, excepting that the bud is inserted very low on
the stock, so that the junction will be underground. This is the more
desirable place for budding, insuring, if we nip the suckers as they
may appear, a plant that above ground shows only the shoots of the
desired variety.

[Illustration: A shoot of an improved variety of rose grafted and held
in place with raffia to the stock of a sturdy growth like Manetti. At
the right is a "sucker" or growth from the root, and it must be cut off
as soon as it appears.]

Grafting is practiced only in the case of roses grown under glass, when
the scions are cleft into stocks of Manetti or brier grown in pots for
the purpose.

Layering is used as a means of increasing the stock only in the case of
roses that do not readily strike from cuttings. It consists of bending
down a long shoot so that a section of it may be pegged underground to
take root.

Propagation by seed is limited to the efforts to obtain new varieties
after cross-fertilization, and is a discouragingly slow and uncertain
process.




WINTER PROTECTION


It will be a red-letter day for amateur rosarians when the existing
favorites among rose plants shall have been so improved by
cross-breeding that we can leave off all the winter overcoats of straw,
brush and earth, with the happy knowledge that spring will find as many
live plants in the rose garden as we rejoiced in during the previous
season.

[Illustration: In England the "standard" rose, having a long stem of
the foster stock, is quite common. With us it is less frequently seen
on account of the bother of proper winter protection.]

Although the Hybrid Perpetuals are, for the most part, sufficiently
hardy to withstand an ordinary winter unprotected, it is still the part
of wisdom to conserve their energy and health by hoeing up the earth
about their bases and putting over all a top dressing of rough manure
when protecting the Hybrid Teas and Teas. In the northern states it
will be well to tie up the tops of the latter with straw or to surround
the bed with a border of boards or wire netting, after winter has set
in, and cover the plants with a thick blanket of leaves held down by
brush. This protection should be removed gradually in March.

Where the winters are particularly severe, a still more certain
precaution is to dig up the plants and lay them in well-drained
trenches, covering them with earth and a further layer of leaves, straw
or brush. The aim is not to protect the plants from freezing at all,
but to prevent the alternate freezing and thawing that is so
disastrous.

Another treatment for tender roses is to winter them in boxes of soil
in a cool cellar. In case this is done, see that the earth is not
allowed to dry out entirely. At planting time in the spring the dormant
plants will be taken out, dipped in a bucket of thin mud and replanted
in the garden.

While we may be willing for the present to take such precautions with
the garden roses, most of us will not care to coddle the climbers to
anything like this extent. Beyond hoeing up a mound of earth about the
bases of these and top-dressing them, we shall let the climbers fight
their own battles, and leave the result to the principle of the
survival of the fittest.




LISTS OF DEPENDABLE ROSES


It is a difficult matter, indeed, to select, from the experience of
rose growers and from the long lists of the nurserymen's catalogues, a
few that may be safely named as the best roses. In fact, it is a task
that no one would care to undertake. It may be helpful, however, to add
the following list; these are by no means the only good roses, but in
choosing any or all of these the amateur cannot well go astray. For the
benefit of his experience and advice regarding these lists, I am
indebted, among others, to Dr. Robert Huey, of Philadelphia--probably
the most experienced amateur grower of roses in the United States.

It has been thought best not to attempt individual descriptions nor to
go very far into details of color. The lists, then, are grouped into
rough sub-divisions under the main colors, and it will be understood
that "pink," for instance, will include a rather wide range of varying
tints.


HYBRID PERPETUALS

_White_--Merveille de Lyon, White Baroness, Frau Karl Druschki,
Margaret Dickson, Mabel Morrison, Gloire Lyonnaise (in reality a Hybrid
Tea, but as it blooms only in June it may be included in the Hybrid
Perpetual class).

_Pink_--Baroness Rothschild, Caroline D'Arden, Heinrich Schultheis, Her
Majesty, Lady Arthur Hill, Mrs. George Dickson, Mrs. Harkness, Susan
Marie Rodocanachi, Mrs. John Laing, Paul Neyron, Marie Finges, Marquise
de Castellane, Mrs. R. S. Sharman-Crawford, Souvenir de la Malmaison.

_Red_--Captain Hayward, Fisher Holmes, General Jacqueminot, Oscar
Cordel, Ulrich Brunner, Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Teck, Anne de
Diesbach, Duke of Fife, Étienne Levet, Prince Arthur, Ard's Rover
(climber).

Prince Camille de Rohan is the best of the very dark roses, among which
also are Sultan of Zanzibar, Louis Van Houtte, and Xavier Olibo. These,
however, are weak growers and frequently do not bring their blossoms to
perfection.


TEAS

_White_--White Maman Cochet, Hon. Edith Gifford.

_Pink_--William R. Smith, Maman Cochet, Souvenir d'un Ami, Duchesse de
Brabant, Mrs. B. R. Cant.

_Yellow_--Harry Kirk, Étoile de Lyon, Francisca Krueger, Isabelle
Sprunt, Safrano, Marie Van Houtte.


HYBRID TEAS

_White or light-colored and mixed_--Viscountess Folkestone, Pharisaer,
Molly Sharman-Crawford, Ellen Wilmot, Grace Molyneaux, Antoine Revoire,
Joseph Hill, Mrs. A. R. Waddell, Betty, Prince de Bulgarie, La Tosca,
Kaiserin Augusta Victoria.

_Pink_--Killarney, Lady Alice Stanley, Lady Ursula, Dean Hole, Lyon
Rose, Dorothy Page Roberts, Madame Edmée Metz, Lady Ashtown, Mrs.
Charles Custis Harrison, Caroline Testout, La France.

_Yellow_--Duchess of Wellington, Mrs. Aaron Ward, Madame Ravary, Madame
Mélanie Soupert, Madame Hector Leuillot, Melody.

_Red_--George C. Waud, Lawrent Carle, Gruss an Teplitz, Château de
Closvoges, Étoile de France.


MOSS ROSES

_White_--Blanche Moreau.

_Pink_--Crested Moss.


RUGOSA AND ITS HYBRIDS

_White_--Blanc Double de Coubert; _Rosa rugosa_, var. _alba_.

_Pink_--Conrad F. Meyer.

_Red_--Arnold; _Rosa rugosa_, var. _rubra_.


WICHURAIANA HYBRIDS

_White_--Wichuraiana, White Dorothy.

_Pink_--Lady Gay, Dorothy Perkins, W. C. Egan, Sargent.

_Red_--Hiawatha.


NOISETTES

_Yellow_--Cloth of Gold, Rêve d'Or (climber), Fortune's Yellow.


POLYANTHAS

_White_--Trier, Catherine Ziemet.

_Pink_--Tausendschön, Clothilde Soupert.

_Red_--Carmine Pillar.


PRAIRIE ROSES

_White_--Baltimore Belle.

_Pink_--Rosa _setigera_.


AUSTRIAN BRIERS

_Yellow_--Harrison's Yellow, Persian Yellow, Austrian Copper.




A GLOSSARY OF TERMS


Anther--a rounded knob-like form at the top of the stamen, containing
the pollen.

Callus--a swelling which occurs at the base of a cutting previous to
the formation of roots.

Calyx--the narrow green leaves or sepals forming the covering for the
bud.

Corymb--a group of flower stalks arising from a common stalk and
forming a level top.

Cutting--a section of a stalk containing several eyes or dormant buds,
taken for the propagation of a new plant.

Disbud--to deprive a stalk of flower buds by pinching or rubbing these
off. It is done in order to throw more energy into the remaining bud or
buds.

Hep or hip--the seed pod.

Hybrid--a new species resulting from the cross-fertilization of two
species.

Leaflet--a single member of the compound leaf borne by all rose plants.

Maiden plant--a plant blooming for the first time after being budded or
grafted to a stock.

Ovary--the hollow lower end of a pistil, containing the embryo seeds.

Panicle--a cluster of flowers borne irregularly on a stem.

Petiole--the stalk to which the several leaflets are attached.

Pistil--the seed-bearing organ in the center of a flower, consisting of
one or more styles, one or more stigmas and the ovary.

Pollen--the powdery substance found in the anthers.

Remontant--applied to roses that flower the second time in a summer.

Sepals--the narrow green leaves of a pithy texture forming the calyx.

Sport--a shoot or sucker from a plant, showing some peculiar feature or
features distinguishing it from its parent.

Stamens--the male organs surrounding the pistil.

Stigma--the upper end of the pistil, capable of receiving the pollen
and connected with the ovary by a tube extending down through the
style.

Style--the erect columnar support of the stigma.

Sucker--a branch or shoot proceeding from the root or stem of a plant,
below the surface of the ground. Frequently used as meaning a shoot
from the root-stock of a budded or grafted plant.