Evening star., 1928-04-14
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES L. TRACEWELL.

We wish all those who long to plant
roses in their gardens, but who have
been deferred from doing SO by dismal
pictures of failure contured up by
friends, would look up an article In the
March number of House and Garden by
| j. Horace Mcfarland, editor of the
| American Rose Annual.
Out of his dozen years experience
editing that annual Mr.. Mcfarland con-
feSses that he has learned great many
| things about roses which are diametri-
cally opposed to facts taught In
countless books and articles about the
! queen Of flowers.
|. Most OF our traditional information
! handed down from book to book. from
reader to reader. from gardener to gar
dener. comes to us from England, a
small land, faced with certain climatic
conditions, Mr.. Mcfarland points out.
He, too. he naively declares, wrote
"rose books" containing this same old
information, hallowed by time and gar
den traditions, but his work during the
past dozen or more years has helped to
free him from these pleasant preju-
dices
Boldly he takes stand that the rose
is a democratic monarch, and does not
need the traditional pampering," He
lays down the following half-dozen
propositions
/. That roses will grow almost any,
where in the United StateS-~at least
some of them will.
2. That the "hokum" as to soil prep
aration no longer exists
3. That Is inches OF honest dig
ging" is enough.
4. That 1t is not necessary to plant
the roSebush 2 to inches deeper than
1t stood i'll the nursery.
S. That pruning is no mysterious
business, but just common sense.
&. That location of roses in a garden
Is not quite as important as tradition
has made out.
1T is necessary to confess" he says.
that after bakers dozen of years in
putting together the American Rose
Annual, I find 1t necessary TO reverse
myself in many relations of rose grow
ing, because correspondence and expert
ence have alike led me to realize that
there is nothing complicated about haV-
ing good roses wherever in America
there are good people to grow them"
Mostly the blame for poor roses Is put
squarely upon the bushes, or upon the
weather, or the seller, or the bugs" or
the soil. One scarcely ever hears an
amateur admit that failure was his own
fault.
"A requisite form Of goodness, by the
way. implies for the roses a reasonable
amount of general adaptability, and for
the folks who grow them willingness to
take a small amount of trouble and
some few chances" continues our
author.
There are too many persons trying to
grow roses who are unwilling TO study
the subject, even TO a small extent. or
To go to the trouble OF spraying and
feeding their bushes.
This small amount of trouble" ap-
pears very large amount of bother, of
course, unless ore genuinely cares for
gardening. The good people" of whom
Mr.. Mcfarland speaks are not nearly
50 many In number as rosarians would
like to think.
Plenty Of persons there are TO admire
roses, but when II comes to properly
planting them according 10 directions
and properly caring for them afterward
-~ahl that Is something else again.
We have seen amateurs scoop out q
shallow hole in hard soil, cram the
roots In and earelessly push the earth
around them, In defiance of all garden
ing common sense. 1t was nothing but
cruelty To roses. 1t gave one the same
feeling as when a dog or cat Is mis-
treated.
The small amount OF trouble" for