THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



153 



leaf belonging to that bud must not be in- 

 jured in the slightest; cut away the top 

 part of the shoot abive tliat bud ; iu fact, 

 cut it down as close to the bud as possible, 

 and then you will have a short nearly ripe 

 shoot, witli two bvtds and one leaf. Tliese 

 may be rooted in quantities iu pans, or 

 singly in small pots; and as they will root 

 now as quick as geraniums, I prefer to in- 

 sert them singly in pots to reduce the 

 checks by shifting to a minimum. Fill the 

 pots witli sandy peat to the brim, and let 

 tlie stuff be pressed in rather hard. Then 

 make a hole with a wire or thin stick — 

 nothing better than a broken rib from a 

 steel umbrella — and insert the cutting quite 

 to the hase of the leaf. Press the stutf to 

 it firnil}^ and then plunge all the pots in 

 moist bottom-heat; nothing better than a 

 cucu nber-frame and two thicknesses of mats 

 to be put over, and not removed night or 

 day for a week; then to be removed at 

 night and put on in the morning, and in 

 another week to be left off altogether the 

 first cloudy da}'. After that to be shaded 

 only from midday sun; then to have plenty 

 of sun and air, by wliich time the top buds 

 will liave started, and the pots will be full 

 of roots. Shift to the next size, and use 

 good loam three parts, old dung one part, 

 and sand enougii to make it light; the 

 quantity to be determined by the texture 

 of the loam. Give these greenhouse treat- 

 ment — allow them a short rest while the 

 dark days are darkest, and give them a 

 start with the very first batch of plants 

 that you set growing after Christmas, and 

 you will begin to wish them planted out, 

 for their tops will threaten to pnsh throtigh 

 the glass or lift up the sashes. To turn 

 them out too soon will be to their injury. 

 Get them hardened and finally planted by 

 the end of April, and as soon as rooted in 

 their new soil top them, and allow them to 

 form their heads all summer without bloom- 

 ing, and you will have such plants as will 

 be the envy of people who make a great 

 fuss about a little work. If cuttings can 

 be had with the tops rather firm, then they 

 may be used four or five joints long, and 

 inserted in the open ground under hand- 

 lights; but they must have regular atten- 

 tion to keep them from flagging, as if 

 the tops get bent, it is a great cliance if 

 they ever come straight again. 



There is yet another method, and that 

 is to allow plump suckers of the season 

 to have their way and go as high as they 

 please, and in the autumn take them off, dis- 

 bud them, and plant them out to form their 



heads. Some of ray self-rooted standards 

 have been formed this way, the disbudding 

 being the only process necessary to keep 

 them to clear stems; and even if they 

 throw up suckers, it is a very simple matter 

 to remove them with a few root fibres, and 

 make olants of them for next season's bloom. 



There is one good reason for abusing 

 standards, and that is in order to call at- 

 tention to the excellence of dwarfs, for 

 notiiing can surpass the beauty of fine 

 massive bushes of Lord Raglan, Caroline 

 de S.msal, Jules, the General, August ilie, 

 Duchess of Sutherland, and others of the 

 handsome foliaged roses. The rule has 

 been to plant standai'ds to the exclus on of 

 dwarfs. Now that the standards have been 

 decimated people are beginning to acknow- 

 ledge ,that after all th'^y had usurped too 

 much of the share which m'ght have been 

 devoted to roses in a natural state, bloom- 

 ing and leafing to the ground. 



I cannot yet report on the roses of last 

 year, as 1 have but one in bloom yet, and 

 that is Victor Verdier, a very grand rose, in 

 the style of Charles Dnval, but a little more 

 cupped. Celine Forestier is growing freely; 

 Anna Alexieff has bloomed almost too pro- 

 fusely, and ought to have been disbudded; 

 but the rains will help the new growth, 

 and perhaps the second bloom will be none 

 the worse for the profusion of the first. 

 But looking round at the new roses, I am 

 again reminded that the system pursued at 

 the nurseries is not to the interest of rose 

 amateurs. The new roses are all sent out 

 on Boursault or Manetti stocks, and one 

 third of all purchased may be expected to 

 die a fortnight after planting. The public 

 too readily encourage any method that 

 appears cheap, and new roses at 5s. each 

 are bought up as fast as the growers can get 

 the little spindling stocks to take hold of 

 the grafts put on them. You will observe 

 that in the advertisements " dwarfs " are 

 offered, but not a word said about their 

 roots. Therefore if you cannot obtain roses 

 from eyes or cuttings, make the best of the 

 little nurslings. Plant them deep enough 

 to place the work two inches below the sur- 

 face, and as soon as you can take a cutting, 

 off with it, and make a plant of it at once, 

 if the original dies you will thus be s ife, 

 and may go on growing and blooming it to 

 any extent you please. The stock of lead- 

 ing sorts is utterly exhausted this season, 

 and there is therefore an additional reason 

 why amateurs should adopt the only modes 

 of propagating that give satisfactory re- 

 sults. Shirley Hibbekd. 



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