_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 pa.s.sed 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 appet.i.te 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 pa.s.s 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 st.u.r.dier 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A shoot of an improved variety of rose grafted and held in place with raffia to the stock of a st.u.r.dy 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 gla.s.s, 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 d.i.c.kson, Mabel Morrison, Gloire Lyonnaise (in reality a Hybrid Tea, but as it blooms only in June it may be included in the Hybrid Perpetual cla.s.s).

_Pink_--Baroness Rothschild, Caroline D'Arden, Heinrich Schultheis, Her Majesty, Lady Arthur Hill, Mrs. George d.i.c.kson, 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, etienne 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, d.u.c.h.esse de Brabant, Mrs. B. R. Cant.

_Yellow_--Harry Kirk, etoile 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 Edmee Metz, Lady Ashtown, Mrs.

Charles Custis Harrison, Caroline Testout, La France.

_Yellow_--d.u.c.h.ess of Wellington, Mrs. Aaron Ward, Madame Ravary, Madame Melanie Soupert, Madame Hector Leuillot, Melody.

_Red_--George C. Waud, Lawrent Carle, Gruss an Teplitz, Chateau de Closvoges, etoile de France.

MOSS ROSES

_White_--Blanche Moreau.

_Pink_--Crested Moss.