Roses have always been prized—from the time of the early Greeks and Romans to the present day. The Moors of sunny Spain knew much of the art of successful rose culture, and today, the gardens of Southern France are filled with these choice blossoms, which are raised for perfumery and pleasure!

In our country, roses are grown successfully in the North and South, on the Eastern coast and on the Pacific slope, but, of course, different varieties are suited best to each locality.

There are some general rules, however, for the culture of roses that are essential, no matter where the roses are planted.

Roses do best in a garden by themselves or, at least, in a separate border. They are most attractive planted alone, for then the beauty of their bloom and foliage stands out, unmarred by contact with other plants.

Roses require sunshine, so an eastern exposure is a very good one to choose for the rose garden. The soil should be of good clay loam and should be thoroughly enriched with well-rotted manure.

While roses need plenty of moisture, drainage is most necessary to keep the roots of the plants from rotting. In planning the rose garden, the question of good drainage should be considered.

With the soil well prepared, thoroughly spaded and well fertilized, the holes for the rose bushes should be dug, allowing at least two or three feet between each hole. The bushes should be set in the ground immediately, for it will seriously impair the growth of the plants if the roots are exposed to the air and sunshine. If the roots have been bruised and broken, they should be cut back and then the plant should be covered at once with the fresh soft earth. Packing is necessary to keep the air from the roots. Soaking the ground will help to solidify it and set the bush well.

Budded or grafted plants should be set so that the union of the stock and graft is at least two inches below the surface of the ground.

Rose bushes should be set early in the spring, just as soon as the ground can be worked, for, if delayed until later, the bushes will begin to leaf out and will be set back if disturbed again.

Once the plants have been set, constant cultivation is necessary to make them grow. The soil should be spaded and weeded and turned thoroughly to let in the air and break up the particles of soil.

Irrigation of roses should always be followed by cultivation of the soil to prevent a crust from forming, which is apt to occur if the sun bakes the surface.

If one wishes to have large blossoms, the plants should be trimmed down to a few strong canes, cutting just above a bud and allowing only two or three shoots to grow from each cane. The flower-lover always wants blossoms within reach, so care should be taken, in trimming climbers, not to trim too severely the lower branches if one wishes the lower part of the vines to blossom. Topping the vines will force the sap back into the main stalks and force more flowers on the lower branches. The heavy running should be done in the fall, and one should plan just what shape and size one wishes the bushes to grow and prune accordingly.

Roses have two bad enemies to combat—mildew and aphis. Mildew will form on bushes that are set in the shade, and removal of the plants to a sunny exposure will sometimes remedy the trouble. A spray of sulphur solution or dusting with sulphur, two or three times at intervals of a week or ten days will usually kill the mildew. To kill aphis, nicotine preparations as a dust or liquid spray are very effective.

Roses do better when they are reset every three or four years. They can be transplanted in a new location or taken up and reset in the same ground if new earth has been well worked in.

A rose garden should be planned so that one can be out among the bushes and enjoy them. Plenty of space should be allowed between each bush, to give one the opportunity of working around the plants without being torn or scratched by the thorns. The general appearance of the garden will be improved if care is taken to snip off all withered blossoms as soon as they appear and to wash off the foliage of the bushes when it becomes dusty. Many insects can also be washed off the plants with a strong spray from the garden hose. However, great care should be exercised not to sprinkle roses in hot sunshine, for it will spoil the flowers and injure the plants. Sprinkling should be done in the early morning or at evening time.

A garden of roses can be made charming in many ways. First, by the arrangement of the beds or garden plots, which can be formal in character—edged with prim little boxwood hedges, which make an attractive border for graveled walks among the roses; or informal—irregular-shaped beds set with a riotous growth of roses that lead one into bypaths where there are bowers of roses over summer-houses, trellises and frames.

Second comes color which plays such a wonderful part in the rose garden. A mass of color—every hue and shade, jumbled together—is most fascinating. If one doubts this, one has only to visit a commercial rose garden, set by rose-growers, and see an acre or two of ground dotted with crimson, pale pink, white, yellow, and all the various tints that make it a veritable oriental tapestry. Contrast of colors adds greatly to the charm of each hue, for deepest crimson seems more velvety matched with pale yellow, and salmon pink seems more vivid beside purest white.

On the other hand, a garden set with roses of each separate color in separate beds is pleasing to the eye, and this arrangement is a popular one—pink roses of all shades in one plot, crimson and red in another space and white and yellow in another bed.

Third comes the individual and unique ways of decorating the garden-hedges, rose trees, trellises, pergolas, summer-houses, archways and bankings covered with vines.

For climbers, the Cecil Brunners, yellow and white Banksias, Cherokees and ramblers are all hardy, quick growers and beautiful in the mass of dense growth and abundant bloom they produce. For bedding, there are many old standbys that will furnish flowers suitable for cutting. A few of these are the Papa Gontier, the Ulrich Brunner, the Killarney, La France, pink and white Maman Cochet and the General Jacqueminot.

There is an endless list of roses, for each year brings new varieties; and one possessing a rose garden can have constant pleasure in selecting and planting these new roses and the old favorites that have proved their worth. Cutting from these roses can be slipped easily if care is taken to get good wood with several buds, placing some buds below the surface of the ground and leaving others for leafing out. Sand, moisture and warmth are essential, and the cuttings should be set in the rose garden as soon as good roots are formed.