THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



153 



rose Descartes, also excellent for all the 

 Chiuas, especially such as Mrs. Bosanquet, 

 and others of delicate habit. Felicite Per- 

 petue, again, is another good stock, and if 

 you get a clean, straight stem, of any of 

 the common order of free-growing roses, 

 you may make a standard of it as easily 

 as -with a briar ; in fact, you may work 

 upon any rose that you have plenty of, 



degrees and watch them that then* new- 

 shoots are not attacked by vermin, and you 

 will soon see that there is no ina°ic or 

 mystery in propagating roses, for the 

 million and by the million. 



But the millionaire method is yet to 

 be described. Instead of cuttings us e 

 buds, and you have in hand the pret- 

 tiest process in the whole range of 



but, as a rule, work near the ground, and j practical horticulture. Take a shoot, such 

 aim at dwarf plants unless your stems for j as would be chosen as a scion for budding, 

 standards are of very clean growth, and Have some Pascall's pots prepared with 

 the varieties such as are not 

 given much to suckering. 



After all this, in loamy 

 soils the majority of good 

 roses do best on their own 

 roots, and to make good beds 

 and for the fronts of mixed 

 borders standards are by no 

 means the best plants. Let 

 every amateur set his heart 

 and bis hands on the task of 

 raising roses on their own 

 bottoms, as a more worthy 

 enterprise than by either bud- 

 ding or grafting. "When you 

 take oil" a fine rod to get a 

 few buds, the top of it, say 

 five or six joints long, will 

 make the best possible cut- 

 ting. If the top is very soft 

 cut it away and prepare the 

 cutting as in Fig. 2. A clean 

 cut under the lowest joint, 

 the leaf from that joint and 

 the next joint above it re- 

 moved, a, b, a thumb pot with 

 a few small crocks, a mix- 

 ture half sand and half leaf- 

 mould, pressed in moder- 

 ately ; the cutting thrust in 

 till its base is hard upon the 

 crocks, a bit more compost 

 to fill nearly to the rim, and 

 another pressing to make it 

 tight and firm ; a good water- 

 ing, a coldframe, with bottom 

 of coal ashes, all shut down 

 close, and a mat over to 

 prevent mischief from sun- 

 shine, and it will be down- 

 right strange if every one so 

 dealt with does not make i 

 plant ; to be shifted into sixties with 

 proper rose compost, and to be wintered 

 in pit or greenhouse. If your pits and 

 frames are already overstocked, creep in 

 among the currant bushes, level a piece of 

 ground in a shady place, pack the pots 

 together in circles and put a bell-glass, or 

 a hand-light over each lot ; give air by 



promising 



Fig. 3. 



crocks, leaf-mould, and sand, and" one 

 inch of pure sand on top. Better still, 

 use turfy peat with the same inch of sand 

 on the top. Cut away the best buds, in 

 the same way as if they were to be used for 

 budding, Fig. 1., but let the wood remain 

 and let the leaf remain as here shown 

 in Fig. 3. Plant each of these shields 

 bud upwards, leaf complete, bark just 

 H 2 



