do the entire work to advantage. It needs one to
bend the bushes down and hold them in that position while the other
applies the covering. In bending the bush, great care must be taken to
prevent its being broken, or cracked, close to the ground. Provide
yourself with gloves of substantial leather or thick canvas before you
tackle them. Then take hold of the cane close to the ground, with the
left hand, holding it firmly, grasp the upper part of it with the right
hand, and proceed gently and cautiously with the work until you have it
flat on the ground. If your left-hand grasp is a firm one, you can feel
the bush yielding by degrees, and this is what you should be governed
by. On no account work so rapidly that you do not feel the resistance of
the branch giving way in a manner that assures you that it is adjusting
itself safely to the force that is being applied to it. When you have
it on the ground, you will have to hold it there until it is covered
with earth, unless you prefer to weight it down with something heavy
enough to keep it in place while you cover it. Omit the weights, or
relax your grip upon it, and the elastic branches will immediately
spring back to their normal position. Sometimes, when a bush is
stubbornly stiff, and refuses to yield without danger of injury, it is
well to heap a pailful or two of earth against it, on the side toward
which it is to be bent, thus enabling you to _curve_ it over the
heaped-up soil in such a manner as to avoid a sharp bend. Never hurry
with this work. Take your time for it, and do it thoroughly, and
thoroughness means carefulness, always. As a general thing, six or eight
inches of dry soil will be sufficient covering for Roses at the north.
If litter is used, the covering can be eight or ten inches deep.

Do not apply any covering early in the season, as so many do for the
sake of "getting the work out of the way." Wait until you are reasonably
sure that cold weather is setting in.

Teas, and the Bourbon and Bengal sections of the so-called
ever-bloomers, are most satisfactorily wintered in the open ground by
making a pen of boards about them, at least ten inches deep, and
filling it with leaves, packing them firmly over the laid-down plants.
Then cover with something to shed rain. These very tender sorts cannot
always be depended on to come through the winter safely at the north,
even when given the best of protection, but where one has a bed of them
that has afforded