Roses.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 30 July 1910, Page 2

Roses.

.> c — THEIR CARE AND CULTURE. "\VIUITEN NOT FOR THE W.ISK, RUT FOR, THE LEARN Ell. ALSO FOR THE HOROWHENUA CHRONICLE. RY " UNIT." ('■ 'Ti.s the rose looking in Jit. the window, iiiul lilling -tin* dwelling with love."—Dean Hole.) Tho rose truly is everybody's (lower. There is something wrong with the individual who has no love for a rose. It is a regal, a royal flower, even tin* queen <if (lowers, by popular acclamation. There are roses and roses; and one wonders, knowing (he evolution that lias taken place during tl 10 last two or throe decades, what were the roses like that formed the badges of tho respective houses of York and Lancaster some (ivoand a half centuries ago. The very 11.11110 rose has a charming .sound, and yet this is after all only on account of its association with tho (lower, just as the name of friend sounds sweet because it brings with it clinging memories. After all, tho word .k a very simple one, and simply mollis "red," from which some may suppose that originally red was the prevailing colour of the rose. Rut that certainly was not the ease; white natural rows are very plentiful also. No country can claim the rose a.s its own, for it has originated in ninny parts of the world. There are several hundreds of known species of the rose, and its various habitats may be found in all European countries, China, India, Afghanistan, North and South America, Siberia, and many other places. It must not be thought that the roses we mrst highly prize are natural flowers, and that they grow wild somewhere; they are mostly creations of florists. The sweetbriar is one of England's native roses. nn<l those semi-doublo sorts usually known as monthly rows are '•reditod as natives of China, and, .are more properly known as China noses, though their habitat is not dearly known. The rugosas that have intruded on us during the last fewyears, are natives of Japan. The Chin arose has been parent to many hybrid sorts.

Our paco of roses of to-d:iy 'fs truly cosmopolitan in blood .The hardy Occident, and the voluptious Orient, are intvrmingled ; sometimes one, .sometimes the other predominates. What wonder, then, that •••.ome seem Iwird to grow, and yet these are usually of the fairest. I wonder if anyone can grow La Jonfj 11 il well, and keep it long? I have not seen it done; yet it can ho done, t,'hough perhaps not lie.re. The hybridizers work was, and is to produce new forms and colours; the horticulturist's work is to grow t'hoin Having regard to the climivte in which many sorts originated, being so much warmer than that in which they were to he cultivated, it was not (o he supposed that they would he easily acclimatised. It was found, : n fact, that they could not survive a winter in frostbitten ground. Therefore these scions of a. tender race were put out to nurse. They wive grafted on to the wild briar, .vhe.se hardiness enabled it to bear the cold, and carry its foster child -il'aelv through the winter. I'or be it known that, it: was Ihe roots that suffered most; and when a means was found to grow them on roots or a hardier kind, the tops could bear the cold, although hut indifferently well after all. I'snally the tops had to be covered with straw or other similar material to carry them through a Hritish winter, and even with the covering milch of the wood would be killed by the frost, but usually enough survived to prune back to in the spring. Now these remarks will explain the origin of stocks, and. possibly lii.vsabu.se, some minds of the idea that roses need to be, or are. best on stocks. Such is not by any means the. case, though an occasional variety may be best on stocks. Glorie !e Dijon, for instance, is not to be grown on its own roots, though for the matter of that. 1 have not seen it grow in Xew Zealand, at all, though 1 have seen it try to grow. It is one of the oldest of gadren roses, and still one of the best in the home country. I had a plant on a ten-foot high brick wall surrounding a sunk rosary; it covered nearly .'JOO square feet with thousands of roses. Stocks, then, have no real use except where itlie rose •lets so colrl that the more (wilder roots of the choice rose would per•v.'i. Its general use is due to (hi? fact- that nursery men raise more plants from a small stock, by budding on to another kind, than if lliey Miiployed cuttings as a means of increase. So usual is the use of the •stock that many yoiMig nurserymen think it is the best, or only way to raise roses, and. few nurserymen could strike enough for sale with any certainty. Some roses are easy to root from cuttings; some are. d'iffi"iilt. The Hybrid Perpetuals and tli cHybrid Leas are easy; the Teas are frequently diccult, except by the right method. Some day that subject may make a.nother storv for the readers of The Chronicle.' PLANTING. It is still not to late to plant ; in fact 1 have seen them successfully planted in September. The soil should be deeply trenched, unless it is naturally loose to a great depth. Hone meal is a good manure, with dried blood sprinkled on the surface. All the roots that are damaged in digging up the plants, should be cut with a "harp knife to remove the damaged portions, which would otherwise die back, and then the plant would not grow well. Dig a broad hole so that the roots may be spread out: flat, let tihe centre of the hole he a little higher than the si:l"s; this will give .the paints of the roots a downward tendency and cause the new roofs to strike diown. Nearly fill the hole and then tread the soil down hard; fill the hole up and. leave the last filling loose. This will allow rain to enter, and also the warmth from the sun.

IMUJXIXG. Vou-ng plants of every class are treated alike; cut out .any weak entirdy and shorten :ill othfii s one or two buds. As to older plants, most people do not prune hard euou.'.di ; if they hurl knowledge of English roses th".v would lie more bold. In England the pruning is left till spring— th a month of March- because if roses were pruned earlier the frost would kill them. Eminently the shoots are nearly all killed", only a few buds at the bottom surviving; yet they .are sufficient, for nowhere are finer roses crown. In our milder climate a difference must be made. Hybrid perpetuals-which are those roses that make rigid upright growths, a,nd have the flowers at the tops of the Shoots—should, if -not extra strong, have each shoot cut down to about two eyes, first removing altogether any weak and misplaced shoots, for you want shapely bush. If the bush admits of a centre stem, leave that a little longer. As the bush gets older it will be of larger dimensions, but the treatment remains the same. Tf the Imsb is abnormally strong, leave the shoots three times as long as stated. This hard pruning seems to the raiiinitiated (o be waste. A moment's thought will show that it is not. You cannot order how many shoots will /result from yonir cut; nature regulates that, and all you can do is determine where the growth shall be, and whether it be strong or weak. Erom each cut at most three new shoots

will spring; if yon leave a shrtat u foot lons you will Rot no more, but, you will got an ugly bush, and probably a TOiik one; keep tliem down, and keep them strong. hybrid teas. It is usual to hear that these should be pnuved less hard than hybrid perpetuals. This niay bo so; j)Ut . I have never been able to see it; in fact how many can tell one from other without tlio name? I cannot; and so far as I ca.n see, what tvill do for (say) Eugene Appert (that glorious .crimson IT.P.) will a.lso do lor the silky pink Captain Christy. Tea ■roses are the class that slum's most improvement, of into years; tna.uy of the new nni\s are very beautiful. The pruning of these is quite different Ironi tin* former classes. Their growth is more slender, and the habit, branching. Usually the pruning is to thin out old effete branches to give place for more vigorous, because younger shoots, .and to cut away the unrioened tops of those left, but not to tower them to any great extent. By this treatment yon may get huge bushes of the strong growing sorts, pretty well six feet high anil nearly as much through. CTiTMBTNG ROSES. Climbing varieties all require the same treatment, in general principals with a little variation in exceptional instances. Th-e plan should ■ho to take care of all long strong shoots—usually deemed a nuisance ; for these properly trained, give the best flowers. Those long rods should be trained down away from tlio perpendicular; then every bud will produce a shoot with fine flowers. The following season these side shoots are to be cut hack to one or two eyes: shoots from these will (lower, but. after this these rods will become twiggy, and the growth weak. Then they must lie cut out altogether, giving place to others that are youug. Thus each long rod serves two seasons, and an established hush will have at all times both one year old, and two years old rods.