PILLAR ROSES.

HE best pillar roses are those that grow from six to twelve feet high, and produce flowers of a quality good enough for exhibition. If climbing roses are used, the flowers will be of poor quality, though there may perchance be plenty of them; and in the majority of cases the pillars will be less uniformly clothed, though they may have a certain picturesqueness, which only true climbing roses can impart to them. Climbing roses are unsuitable, because usually they grow too fast and free. A moderate growth with a superior style of flowers are qualities to be preferred in forming objects that are likely to be closely and frequently inspected, and that under any circumstances are subjected to closer and more critical scrutiny than roses trained over arches, banks, and the roofs of temples and arbours. The more vigorous growing varieties of Hybrid Perpetuals, Bourbons, Hybrid Bourbons, Moss, Damask, Hybrid China, and a few of the hardiest of the Teas and Noisettes, are those usually selected to form pillar roses.

No

rule can be laid down as to the class of roots to be preferred, for that depends so much on the character of the rose to be planted; and in the general remarks on the families of roses, numerous hints are given as to the treatment of individual varieties so as to insure the most vigorous growth. If any rule can be hazarded, it is that as only the most vigorous growers are suited for pillars, so there is not much choice between having them on their own roots or on Manetti. If on their own roots, they will not at first grow so vigorously, for all roses capable of growing at all on Manetti grow with remarkable vigour the first year or two; but, on the other hand, Manettis sometimes throw up suckers which escape notice, and these soon tend, by their usurpation of the sap, to destroy the rose altogether, a disadvantage to be balanced against the advantage of a rapid growth at the first start. Perhaps, if the whole case is fairly considered, Manetti will win the day, so immensely does it increase the vigour of the rose it is compelled to nourish.

The culture of pillar roses certainly demands some skill; but it is a skill easily acquired by the observant and inquiring cultivator. Let us consider all the points in regular order, so as to dismiss all simple matters with a word, and deal with difficulties as they come before us at such length as their relative importance demands.

PLANTING PILLAR ROSES.

In any case the soil must be well drained, liberally manured, deeply stirred, and in a sound condition. It should be of such quality as to produce good wheat or cauliflowers, or it will never produce pillar roses. A pillar rose will require at least one square yard of soil which must not be occupied with shrubs, or grass, or in fact anything but annuals and other flowering plants of humble growth, all the summer; and every autumn this soil must be enriched with dressings of half rotten dung. As the pillars need not, and had better not, be fixed till the roses are in their third year, it only remains, after having prepared the soil, to plant firm, and insert one or two ordinary four-feet stakes. If Manetti roses are planted, be sure to place them sufficiently deep to have the point where graft and stock meet two inches below the ground line. Whatever tends to increase the vigour of a rosesuch as top-dressings in summer, abundant supplies of water, etc.-must be given to pillar roses; for it is not only desirable to clothe the pillars, but to do so with stout wood, which can only be accomplished by feeding liberally. Let us suppose the roses planted, they are then to be cut down to within one or two buds of the base, then are to be allowed to grow the first season as they please.

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PRUNING PILLAR ROSES.

The second season they will require pruning. Now, to prune them properly, the rosarian must bear in mind that it is much easier to induce a tree to grow to its full height than to induce it to form regular tiers of flowering wood all the way from its roots to its summit. This is true of apples, pears, plums, vines, and hundreds of other trees. Keep the leading shoot upright, and do not prune it at all, and it will grow with great vigour, so as continually to increase its length till it attains its maximum height; but in the meantime, the leading bud having monopolized the sap, there will be but few side-branches formed, and consequently there will be little or no flowering wood produced. The sap of a tree always rushes upwards; hence, if the leading shoot be trained out of the perpendicular, the side buds are developed, and these assume a vertical form in the majority of cases. It is true that trees do produce side-branches without the aid of the pruner, and that these often take a horizontal or oblique direction; nevertheless, the general tendency of the sap is upwards, and one of the first consequences of allowing a tree to grow in its own way is to cause the formation of a bare stem for some distance from the ground line; and that tendency is of itself a sufficient argument for