Each cultivator has his peculiar mode of doing things, and there may be those who deem the mode laid down here inferior to their own. From these we should be glad to hear, and to make any corrections they may suggest, where such corrections appear to be founded upon true principles. In order to make our work as perfect as possible, we have not hesitated to add to our own experience all the information derived from a personal inspection of French and English nurseries, and to cull from foreign works and periodicals all that may interest our readers. Such information, as far as it coincides with our own experience, we shall gladly incorporate, with the hope that we may be successful in presenting every fact of interest which may exist respecting the cultivation of our favorite flower.

CHAPTER IV.

SOIL, SITUATION, AND PLANTING.

The most suitable soil is a strong, rich loam, or vegetable mould mixed with about one-quarter its bulk of welldecomposed stable manure. If the soil of the garden where the roses are to be planted differs materially from this, it should be made to approach it as nearly as possible by the addition of the requisite soil and manure. In a good vegetable garden, the soil, with the addition of a little manure, will grow the Rose well. When the soil, however, is of an inferior character, holes should be dug three or four times the size of the roots of a well-grown rose bush and filled with compost of the above character.

Rivers recommends, as the best compost for roses, rotten dung and pit-sand for cold, clayey soils; and for warm, dry soils, rotten dung and cool loams. He also states that he has found night soil, mixed with the drainings of the dunghill, or even with common ditch or pond water, so as to make a thick liquid, the best possible manure for roses, poured on the surface of the soil twice in winterone to two gallons to each tree. The soil need not be stirred until spring, and then merely loosened two or three inches deep, with the prongs of a fork; for poor soil, and on lawns, previously removing the turf, this will be found most efficacious. He directs this compost to be applied in the first two winter months, but as our ground is frequently frozen so hard then that it cannot absorb the liquid, it would probably be best to apply it in this country a month earlier. Where a bed or border of roses is to be planted, it is well to dig out the soil to the depth of two or two and a half feet; fill the bottom to the depth

of six inches with small stones, and then replace the earth, well fertilized, as directed above. Nothing is more injurious to the Rose than a wet, retentive subsoil; and where expense and trouble are no object, this perfect draining is much the best calculated to ensure a thrifty growth and perfect bloom. A rich and dry soil is, in fact, all-important; for otherwise the most double flower will frequently become single or semi-double. We have seen a plant of La Reine produce a perfect flower in the greenhouse, and when removed to an inferior soil, produce flowers almost single. It may therefore be safely laid down as a rule, that it is impossible to make the soil too rich for the Rose, and that in proportion to the fertilizing matter contained therein, provided it is properly decomposed, will be the approximation of the plant and the flower to perfection. The fertility of the soil may be very much assisted by frequent applications of liquid manure, made either of cow dung or guano; the former is always safe; the latter, valuable if properly used, may, in the hands of a careless person, ruin the plant.

In these remarks on fertility of soil, we have no desire to discourage those who may not have a fertile soil, or the means of obtaining the elements of fertility. The Rose will grow and bloom in any soil; the wood will be healthy, but short and small; the flower will be produced, but, as we have said before, will be smaller and often semidouble; yet even under these disadvantages, it is still the most desirable flower for the poor man; none other can so cheaply and so well ornament his small yard, or hanging in graceful festoons about his windows, shed forth its bloom and sweetness to enliven his hours of relief from labor, and give his children happiness, from the association of pleasant thought with natural beauty. But the poor man has within his reach more than he supposes of the elements of fertility. The ashes of his hearth, the decomposed turf of the road-side, and the domestic ma

nure, too generally thrown away, all contain some of the best fertilizing matter, and with proper care could be made amply sufficient for the production of his flowers and vegetables. The decomposed turf alone would grow roses admirably, although a little manure would be a useful addition.

SITUATION.

The best situation for the Rose is an eastern or northern exposure, rather than a southern; the intensity of the heat of our midsummer often affects injuriously the expansion of the flowers, their color, and fragrance. A useful degree of shade can be obtained by planting amidst groups of dwarf roses, pillars, trellises, obelisks, etc., on which climbing roses can be trained, and whose shadow, changing with the sun, would protect the opening bloom and answer the same end as a cool situation. While, however, the Rose requires a cool, airy locality, it should by no means be placed entirely in the shade; a portion of the sun's rays is always necessary to ensure a good bloom. It is from this cause that the bloom of roses is much more certain and perfect in France and this country than in England. In the latter country, the sun is scarcely ever sufficiently powerful to develop all the resources of a plant. The summer of 1846 was unprecedentedly hot throughout England, and all the horticultural journals united in pronouncing the bloom of roses that season unsurpassed by the bloom of any previous year. For climbing roses the situation should not be too exposed, or where they would be liable to encounter heavy winds, which might break off the young shoots and in other ways injure the plant. Most of our American cities possess in the culture of roses a great advantage over the large towns of England, in the use of anthracite instead of bituminous coal; for, according to Loudon, the Rose will not thrive

in towns where the prevailing fuel is of this character, and the bloom will not compare with those produced some ten miles distant. "The first effect of the smoke is to prevent the flower buds from opening freely, next to diminish their number; the leaves then gradually become smaller, and the length of the shoots less, after which the plant weakens by degrees, and in a few years, if a standard, it dies altogether, or, if a dwarf, barely exists, and seldom if ever flowers."

Such a result, from such a cause, is rarely known here, and the resident of the city may have his little yard filled with roses whose bloom will be in no way inferior to that of the plants in an extensive lawn or garden.

PLANTING.

All those roses that bloom only once in the year, and also the Perpetuals, or Remontant Roses, can be planted in autumn, after the first severe frost. The ends of the roots, which have been broken in taking up, will then form a callus, and the soil will be so thoroughly settled about the roots by the winter rains, that the plant will commence forming new roots early in the spring, and will rapidly make strong and luxuriant shoots. As far north as New York and its vicinity, the Bourbons and the Bengal, with their sub-classes, being more delicate, should not be planted until spring.

If the subsoil is wet and retentive of moisture, the planting of any roses should be deferred until spring, but from our preceding remarks it will be borne in mind that. such soil should be well drained before planting, in which case the autumn will still answer.

The plant should be taken up carefully, with all the root possible, bearing in mind that the elements of life are in the root, and every fibre that is lost is so much taken from the future health and prosperity of the plant. The root