328 PROPAGATION OF ROSES BY CUTTINGS. 



obtained, no other means or protection being needful save a deep and rich soil (clay loam) 

 with an inch and half covering of spent tan direct from the vat. 



When strawberries are thus mulched with tan, it is easy to see that the winter frosts 

 penetrate far less deeply into the ground — the roots are not torn or otherwise injured by 

 the upheaval of frosty weather; the warm rays of the sun penetrate to the roots during 

 March and April; while the soil collects and retains its heat greatly by the aid of the 

 mulch, and the warmth arising from the increased temperature of the tan, hastens the 

 swelling and ripening of the fruit. Your obt. W. K. Coppock. 



Black Rock, June 6, 1851. 



[We can add our testimony to Mr. Coppock's, as to the value of mulching trees gener- 

 ally, and of tan mulching in particular, as admirably adapted to the strawberry. We 

 covered some strawberry beds last autumn about two inches deep with tan, and found 

 them this spring in the finest possible condition — far better than beds covered with straw, 

 litter, or leaves. The tan seems specificallj^ adapted as a constant covering for the straw- 

 berry beds, the fruit and the foliage both being decidedly improved by it — though we 

 have not found in our own experiments much gain in the earliness of ripening. Ed.] 



PROPAGATION OF ROSES BY CUTTINGS.* 



BY R. P. DRUMMOND. 



It is generally believed by amateurs and others, that Moss, Provins, French, Damask, 

 and Bourbon Koses, &c., are difficult to increase bj"- cuttings; but by the following method, 

 these sorts may be raised in abundance. Let a bed of well-fermented stable litter and 

 leaves be made by the side of a north wall, and place a one or two-light frame on it so as 

 to face the north. In this put about eight inches of leaf-mould that has been previously 

 well soaked with water; then spread over all about three inches of sharp pit sand, and 

 make the whole firm and level. The back part of a span-roofed pit, running east and west, 

 with a wall in the centre, is also a suitable place for the purpose. It should be filled to 

 M ithin a few inches of the glass with the same kind of material. In selecting the cuttings, 

 tolerably M'eak wood of the present year's growth should be taken, if it is sufficiently 

 ripened at the base or has made one full-formed leaf. Strip the cuttings with the finger 

 and thumb, and smooth the base, reserving the detached portion of the parent bark; cut 

 them close above the first leaf, and insert them in the sand, but not so thick as that their 

 leaves will overlap one another. When this is finished, the bed should be watered, to 

 settle the soil about them, and they should have plenty of air for the first four days; but 

 it ought to be lessened by degrees, so as to gradually inure them to a confined atmosphere. 

 As the preservation of their leaves in a healthy state is essential to success, the bed may 

 be formed, and the cuttings put in on the same day, without waiting until the material 

 becomes heated, as a thin covering of cellular tissue should be formed over the wounded 

 end of the cutting before that takes place. In the third week the greater part will be 

 rooted, and in the fourth they should be potted off into 60-sized pots, in a soil composed 

 of leaf-mould and loam. They should be afterwards removed into a damp frame or pit, 

 without any water being given to their I'oots; but they may be slightly sj'ringed over 

 their leaves, and when they become well rooted in the new soil, they may be hardened 

 d either shifted into larger sized pots or planted out in a sheltered border, 

 * From the Gardeners' Chronicle. 



