Rose

610

Rose

the root. In course of years it will be
found necessary to trim out tlie centres of
the plants to prevent shoots crossing and
crowding.

A certain amount of what is termed
"summer pruning" can be done to the
roses after their first crop of flowers is
over. All faded and old flowers can be
cut off, not just broken off at the neck of
the bloom, but cut with stem down to the
lower eye of the shoot that is in, or has
just started into growth. This will
strengthen the secondary growth that is
to produce the next crop, and will give the
plants a trim and tidy appearance which
they would never have if the old flowers
were left to fall off. The pruning of
Standard roses has already been mentioned
under its heading. They need treatment
on the same lines as the bush roses.

The pruning of climbing roses is also
dealt with under its separate heading.
Soils and their Preparation.—Opinions
have changed vastly through the past 40
years as to the exact nature of soil required
for successful cultivation of the rose.
Even now one occasionally hears the old
saying: "You must have clay to get good
roses.'*

This has become quite a fallacy since
the advent of the Hybrid Tea and allied
classes; these do not need a stifE clay soil
to do well; in fact it is far too cold for
their active nature.

Soils in general can be classified in
three degrees—light, loamy, and heavy.

If the soil is very light and poor it
will be an advantage to obtain a few
loads (according to the number and size
of the beds) of good fibrous loam; the
top spit from an old meadow for choice.
Tlxis, well broken up, with the addition
of ffcrmyard manure will do all that is
required, if incorporated with the existing
soil. A little of the natural soil can be
removed to make room for the new if
necessary, but as most rose beds are best
slightly raised, there will be no need to
take much away. The ground should be
broken up to the depth of 2 ft., mixing
the new soil well in, and then left for a
week or so to settle down before planting
ia attempted.

If tb* soil of the garden is a natural
'. loam of slightly greasy nature, that is

all that is required, except perhaps a little
manure to enrich it, and not too much
of that the first year.

Although the rose is a gross feeder and
can put up with a liberal supply of manure
it is not advisable to overdo it with newly!
planted roses.

They have their new young roots to
make after transplanting, and if the soil
is too hot with manure it will retard
rather than help the formation of the new
young roots.

One of the best preparations for heavy
soils is burnt earth, and it is equal to any
form of manure one can use. Finely-sifted
cinders is also an excellent help to clay
or very heavy soil, and helps it to work
much easier. In digging or forking after
an application of ashes or burnt earth
it is possible to tell to an inch where they
have been distributed and where not. In
preparing large beds or borders for roses,
trenching is the best method, and if
properly done it insures keeping the top
spit of soil on the top, where it should be.
The bottom spit can be well broken up,
but the surface soil must come on top of
it, thus. Commence at one end of the
bed or border and dig out a trench of soil
the width of a spade; barrow this top spit
to the other end of the - bed ready to fill
in the final trench.

Sprinkle in the trench a coat of manure
or burnt earth, whichever yon are using,
and break up the bottom with a fork.
Then fill in the trench by turning the next
top spit with the spade, continuing the
operation till yon reach the other end
of the bed, where the carted soil lies ready
for filling in the final trench.

The surface can be left rough when the
trenching is finished—it will let the air
into the soil—and can be fined down when
planting operations are started.

In some instances where gardens are
very flat and the soil likely to become
waterlogged, the whole soil of the bed to
the depth of about 3 ft. is removed and
a layer of brick rubble placed at the bottom
before putting back the soil. This ia in-
deed an expensive preparation and only
needed in exceptional cases where the
soil needs draining.

One great point in preparing ground for
rose beds is to get it done in fine weather.