and flowers of the Moss Rose, or at least an approximation to them; and as these hybrids often bear seed freely, by repeating the process with them, the at present apparent remote chance of getting a climbing Moss Rose may be brought very near.

"I mention the union of the Moss and Ayrshire roses by way of illustration, and merely to point out to the amateur how extensive and how interesting a field of operations is open in this way. I ought to give a fact that has occurred in my own experience, which will tell better with the sceptical than a thousand anticipations. About four years since, in a pan of seedling Moss roses was one with a most peculiar habit, even when very young: this has since proved a hybrid rose, partaking much more of the Scotch Rose than of any other, and, till the plant arrived at full growth, I thought it a Scotch rose, the seed of which had by accident been mixed with that of the Moss Rose, although I had taken extreme care. To my surprise, it has since proved a perfect hybrid, having the sepals and the fruit of the Provence Rose, with the spiny and dwarf habit of the Scotch Rose: it bears abundance of hips, which are all abortive.* The difference in the fruit of the Moss and Provence roses and that of the Scotch is very remarkable, and this it was which drew my particular attention

"It is more than probable, that, if the flowers of this rose were fertilized with those of the single Moss Rose, they would produce seed from which some curious hybrid Moss roses might be expected.”

to the plant in question. It was raised from the same seed and in the same seed-pan as the Single Crimson Moss Rose. As this strange hybrid came from a Moss Rose, accidentally fertilized, we may expect that art will do much more for

us."

Improvement of Climbing Roses,

Some of the more hardy kinds of climbing roses, as, for example, the Queen of the Prairies, may be induced to wear borrowed robes, and assume beauties beyond those with which Nature endowed them. At the proper season, they may be budded here and there with some of the most hardy and vigorous of the June and Hybrid Perpetual roses. As these varieties bloom earlier than the Prairie roses, the period of bloom of the climber will be greatly protracted by this process, while at the same time it will be made to bear flowers incomparably finer in form and color than its own. It will be necessary, however, in our Northern climate, to protect it by nailing mats over it, since otherwise many of the buds will be winter-killed; and, as it is expected to yield more than its natural share of bloom, it should be stimulated with more than the usual manuring, and pruned more closely than the ordinary climbing roses.

NATURAL STANDARDS.

We have before spoken of the difficulty of cultivating standard roses, or roses budded on tall stems, in our cliIt is possible, however, to produce a kind of stan

dard without a resort to budding. We may choose some of the most hardy and vigorous of the June roses, we may find such especially in the class known as the Hybrid Chinas, and encourage the growth of a single, strong, upright stem, removing all other shoots from the base of the plant as fast as they appear. The stem should be kept straight by tying it to a stick till it has gained strength enough to hold itself erect. Thus, in a single season, we shall have, with some varieties, a stem five or six feet high. Early in spring, prune it down to the first healthy and plump bud. During the following season, allow no shoots to develop themselves, except at the top; and, in the succeeding spring, prune back these top-shoots to two or three eyes. All of these eyes will, in their turn, develop into shoots; and these, again, are to be pruned back like the first. Thus, in two or three seasons, we obtain a thick bushy head at the top of a tall upright stem; in short, a standard, capable of bearing even a New-England winter.

Effects

It is always better to prepare beds for roses in the autumn, that they may have the benefit of a thorough exposure to the winter frost. With this view, the soil should be thrown up into ridges as roughly as possible. It will then be thoroughly frozen through, and subjected to all the changes of temperature during the season. This will not only tend to destroy worms and noxious insects, but it will separate the particles of the soil, and leave it light and pliable. Soil thrown into ridges can also be worked earlier in the spring than that which is left at its natural level.

The cardinal points of successful rose-culture are a good soil, good pruning, and good cultivation. By cultivation, we mean a repeated digging, hoeing, or forking of the earth around the plants, by which the surface is kept open, and enabled freely to receive the dew, rain, and air, with its fertilizing gases. Plants so treated will suffer far less in a drought than if the soil had been left undisturbed; for not only will it now absorb the dew at night, but it will freely permit the moisture which always exists at

certain depths below the surface to rise, and benefit the thirsty roots. For a similar reason, the process of subsoiling, or trenching, by which the earth is loosened and stirred to a great depth, is exceedingly beneficial to roses, since the lower portions of the disturbed soil are a magazine of moisture which the severest drought cannot exhaust.

With newly-planted roses it is well to practise "mulching" with manure; or, in other words, to place manure on the surface around the roots of the plants. This keeps the ground moist and open, while every rain washes down a portion of nutriment to the roots.

GROUPIN

Roses may be planted in clumps, on the lawn, with far better effect than when arranged in formal beds. They may be separated according to their classes, as June roses, Bourbons, Hybrid Perpetuals, Mosses, &c.; and the effect will be vastly better, if, instead of mingling colors indiscriminately, each is placed by itself. Thus the pure white of Madame Plantier will form a rich contrast with the deep crimson of General Jacqueminot, the vivid rose of