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Hugo Roller (Description page beds have)

(Description page 83) beds have been made up in most complicated and expensive ways, and while good results have been secured, nevertheless, from careful comparison between his roses and those in our ordinary beds, we cannot see enough advantage gained to warrant our recommending his beds for general use, primarily on account of the expense and trouble involved in their construction. He explained in "Country Life in America" his system of preparation for the growing of grass and golf greens. His experiments with roses were on the same lines, except that the germinating and food layers used for the seed in the growing of grass were not necessary in the case of the roses.

The bed designed for grass was used for the roses except the top eight inches, which were composed of a blanket layer usually of clay and loam, sometimes of Jersey peat.

This special bed has given the best results with roses such as Lyon, which loses its leaves early, and also with very weak growing roses like Hugo Roller.

Collectors who wish to grow such roses to their greatest beauty should make beds of this description. It is not well, however, for growers to use these beds without great care, because there are a number of varieties which do not thrive in them as well as in the ordinary beds. Just as La France needs the poorest kind of soil in which to be grown to perfection, so many other roses would tend to grow wood and not produce bloom if placed in beds of this character. With good all-round roses the growth during the first year in the special beds exceeds that in the regular bed, but after the second year the difference is less marked and in many cases the blooming qualities are better in the regular bed. No doubt some one will eventually discover the best beds for each given type of rose, changes in the beds being made in accordance with the different habits of growth of the plants. When these new beds are developed it is hoped that their originators will bring them before the rose growing public and supply a long-felt want. It is our opinion that for the average rose lover who wants to grow his few dozen plants, such experiments, while interesting, would not as yet be practical and would certainly be very expensive. It is far better to order the best roses as carefully tested in the regular beds, and to construct beds from which good all-round and practical results may be obtained at a moderate cost. There is, however, one new feature of Mr. Taylor's experiments which seems very practical and useful and is so simple that we take great pleasure (with his permission) in recommending it for rose beds, i.e., the covering of the bed in the spring with a blanket of peat moss. This is a non-conductor of heat and cold, and will not only keep the moisture FIG. 20 FIG. 21