Your remarks on page 264 of the September number of the Gardeners' Monthly, that roses are killed in winter by the drying out of moisture, which cold often causes, is quite valuable to me. I have heretofore carefully kept my tender roses dry so as to keep them from rotting in the ground. I believe that I have heretofore overdone the thing by keeping them too dry.

We know how much superior - as a bloomer - is a rose that has stood in the ground without disturbance for one or more years, to one that is transplanted every year. This is the case with a rose that is taken up in the fall, heeled in, protected against frost through the winter and again planted in the spring. A plant kept safely through the winter, root and branch in the open ground, is worth, in my opinion, four times as much as one of the same size planted in spring.

If, therefore, a method could be devised by which tender roses could be safely kept through winter even at a considerable expense, provided they required no time, no attention through winter, it would be very valuable. Roses are a pleasure to me when cultivated by myself - my profession keeps me away from home during the day excepting for dinner. I would, therefore, have no time to take care of a greenhouse or pit that required daily attention, by reason of the short days in winter. I will try the frames (cold pits) recommended by your correspondent in the last August number of the Monthly.

To your correspondent "B" (in September Monthly) I will say that I have experimented in keeping the roses named excepting Namenlose Schone through winter with a covering of dry leaves and boards over them to keep off the snow and water.

Am. Beauty and Pierre Guillot would probably live through winter without protection. Perle de Jardins, Sunsets and others keep alive when protected, but their tops freeze back and it takes a long time before they bloom in the summer or fall. Repeated freezing back to the ground for a number of successive winters so weakens their constitution that they finally die. The Bride was dead, root and branch, and cannot with ordinary protection be kept out of doors over winter.

I have not yet tried to keep the Namenlose Schone out of doors in the open ground through winter, but from its appearance it seems more tender than the Bride and I would no more think of trying to keep it out of doors through winter by ordinary protection than the Niphetos.

When I got my Namenlose Schone last spring it had two buds which developed into two beautiful roses; none that appeared since do at all compare in beauty to the first two. Our summer having been very hot and dry may to some extent account for the defective development of roses since.

The first Namenlose Schone rose that I cut off, 1 inserted into a bottle filled with water in which there had been crimson ink. There was enough ink left to color the water; the rose gradually became crimson - the veins first seemed to fill which looked like veins of blood in the human body - finally the whole rose turned red. When the rose was suffused with crimson it was remarkably beautiful. The other roses have not turned crimson. The rose in question must have been turned crimson by the ink contained in the water.

The bud is roundish and cream colored with crimson blotches on the outside petals, similar to those on the Bride.

The Bride is a much stronger grower than the Namenlose Schone - has oblong buds and is a great bloomer.

I find it of advantage to lay down all my roses in early winter and cover them with leaves and cornstalks - even the Queen of the Prairies and Baltimore Belle I lay down with decided advantage, particularly to the latter.

We have had winters here that killed down to the ground all my Hybrid Perpetual roses with one or two exceptions, when they were not bent down. Bending down to the ground with the slightest covering will keep most Remontant roses sound and perfect in all their parts through winter.

Dayton, Ohio.

Roses In The Open Ground

"B.," Hammon-ton, N. J., writes: "Will the Gardeners' Monthly please inform me whether I can grow such roses as Bennett, Am. Beauty, Pierre Guillot, Marie Guillot, The Bride, Perle des Jardins, Sunset, Namenlose Schone etc, in the open ground and winter them over for several years with certainty and a reasonable amount of protection. I have some of them on the south-east side of my greenhouse and considerably sheltered in all directions. I have prepared the ground well and would like to be able to depend on them for flowers all through the season; I do not want to cover with earth unless necessary. Can they be wintered by covering with evergreen boughs? It has occurred to me that I might protect with some such material and then stretch over the bed, in the form of a roof, oiled muslin. What do you think of this plan and what would be the cost per square yard, and how long would it last? "

[Roses in winter are not killed by cold - but by the drying out of moisture, which cold often causes. We have known roses in cold frames where the thermometer must have been down to zero, wholly uninjured, when they often seriously suffer by a frost at 20º - in the open ground. The oiled muslin is a capital idea because it partially arrests the evaporation that ends in death. It is also now pretty well known that bright light is often a great agent in the death dealing evaporation of our cold winters - so that the oiled muslin, aiding darkness against light, ought to have merit in preserving the roses.

We have however had no experience, and can only say the project is reasonable. Nor have we had any experience in the preparation or cost of the oiled muslin. On this we would be glad to hear from some of our practiced correspondents. - Ed.G. M].

How To Keep Tender Roses In The Open Ground

At page 356, December number of the Gardeners' Monthly, Mr. John L. H. Frank says: "If therefore, a method could be devised by which tender roses could be safely kept through winter, even at a considerable expense, provided they require no time nor attention, it would be very valuable".

Doubtless there are others, as well as Mr. Frank, who are desirous of keeping over a nice bed of tender roses through the winter.

If the following directions be attended to, I do not know any tender rose that will not keep out of doors during the winter: Bend the stems down pretty close to the ground, without breaking, and before they get any severe frost,with hooked pegs, or keep them in place with sods dug from an old pasture; then cover with any light, loamy soil, and just before hard freezing commences, cover over with leaves sufficient to keep out frost from the earth; yet not enough to cause any fermentation or heat. Of course the leaves must be kept in place by sticks, boards, etc., thrown over.

Mr. Frank seems to make the mistake of many others who think leaves alone a sufficient covering; but these in general keep the stems too wet, and cause a rot; and seldom will earth alone preserve them, because the frost will go through, most likely, and they are too tender to stand it after the pith is killed. But both combined, I have found to preserve them very nicely.

Trenton, N. J.