July 10, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



ROSE STOCKS. 



HERE has been so much 

 written by our great rosa- 

 rians on stocks for Roses, 

 that it may almost appear 

 presumptuous hi me to re- 

 open a subject that has been, 

 apparently, so thoroughly ventilated. I only do so for the 

 purpose of calling attention to the following stocks, which 

 I do not remember to have seen mentioned before, they 

 are what is called the Shanghai Rose and Fortune's "White 

 Banksian Rose. They are both of them most invaluable 

 as stocks for the more delicate lands of Roses. 



Four years ago I received some cuttings of Fortune's 

 White Banksian Rose from my friend Mr. Drewitt, of the 

 Denbies, near Dorking, where it may be seen to great per- 

 fection in the glass arcade. It, the beautiful Gloire de 

 Dijon, and the other beauties of the Denbies, are worth 

 travelling some hundreds of miles to see. About the same 

 time Sir Philip Egerton obtained a plant of the Shanghai 

 Rose in one of the Royal Horticultural Society's ballots 

 for new plants. Two of the plants that had been raised 

 from Mr. Drewitt's cuttings from the White Banksian were 

 planted out in the large Camellia-house at OultonPark, and 

 as the plants grew so rapidly, it struck me that they would 

 make useful stocks for working the more delicate kinds of 

 Tea Roses on. I accordingly inserted some buds on the 

 plants in different places, and found that the union between 

 the stock and bud was very soon complete, and the bud 

 speedily commenced to push vigorously, going far to prove 

 that Fortune's Wliite Banksian is the finest of all stocks on 

 which to graft or bud the more delicate kinds of Tea Roses. 

 One of the most important points in the favour of this stock 

 is that the bark will at all times very readily part from the 

 wood, even if the latter is two or more years old, provided 

 the plant at the time is in a free-growing state. 



Another great advantage is that cuttings strike very 

 readily, and as the plant soon furnishes itself with a large 

 number of healthy roots, it takes but a short time to 

 establish itself. Any kind of Tea Rose may, therefore, be 

 worked on it, either by grafting or budding, very soon 

 after it has been struck ; and after it has well established 

 itself, the Rose worked on it will afford some extraordi- 

 narily fine blooms, such as cannot be produced by any 

 other stock, and there is no fear of the stock sending out 

 any suckers below the surface of the soil. The cuttings 

 which I put in are generally about 3 or 4 inches long, and 

 if they have a heel attached so much the more rapidly will 

 they strike ; but where this cannot be managed they will be 

 found to strike very readily from cuttings made in the 

 ordinary way. I invariably find that if the cuttings are 

 cut slanting, instead of straight across, they always strike 

 N,o. 276,-Vol. XI., New Series. 



more freely, and grow more rapidly after they have struck, 

 because there is a greater surface from which roots can be 

 emitted when the cut is made from 1 to 11 inch long. The 

 cut should be commenced about the same distance above 

 the eye as it comes out below it, leaving the bud about 

 midway, and if the cutting is taken from the middle of the 

 shoot two eyes will be sufficient. That at the base must 

 be cut clean out to prevent its throwing up any shoots 

 from below the soil, and that at the top must be carefully 

 preserved to form the future plant. I generally use thumb 

 pots, putting one cutting in each, and as soon as the cut- 

 tings have struck they are shifted into 48-sized pots. 



When the roots have reached the sides of the pot the 

 plants may be either grafted or budded, according to the 

 state of tlie bud or graft and the stock : if it is found that 

 the stock is not sufficiently strong for budding it may be 

 grafted. In doing this, however, great care is necessary, 

 for if too deep a cut is made the young free-growing stock 

 will often break off. The top of the plant should be left 

 intact for the purpose of drawing up the sap. A small 

 clean cut is all that is necessary to be made, and it should 

 be as near the base as possible, and the graft must be 

 made to fit as nearly as possible the cut in the stock. 

 If this is bound round with a small piece of matting just 

 to keep the graft from slipping out of its place, finishing 

 the operation with a covering of Thomson's styptic, the 

 union between the graft and the stock will soon be 

 complete. 



As soon as the operation of grafting has been finished 

 the plants operated on should be plunged in a very gentle 

 hotbed, and after the grafts have taken they must be 

 gradually inured to a cooler temperature ; a sudden check 

 caused by bringing the plants from a close and humid 

 atmosphere, even after the union between the stock and 

 graft is complete, will in most cases cause the graft to 

 dwindle away, and if it do not die altogether it will be years 

 before it gain sufficient strength to grow with any vigour. 



Plants of the Shanghai Rose were planted out against 

 a south wall, and the first year after they were planted 

 they grew at a most astonishing rate ; shoots 12 and even 

 15 feet long were produced in one season. Some of these 

 I made into cuttings 2i inches long, and a piece of ground 

 having been firmly trodden and afterwards nicely levelled 

 off, shallow trenches, 2 inches deep, were then cut at 

 10 inches apart, and the cuttings were placed against the 

 upright side, some road sand being sprinkled beneath them 

 and around their bases. The soil was then firmly trodden 

 about them. The cuttings were prepared just in the same 

 way as recommended for the Banksian cuttings. Scarcely 

 a cutting missed, and as soon as they were rooted they 

 grew very rapidly, and in a short time afterwards many of 

 them were budded. 



All kinds of Roses appear to take and grow with great 

 vigour on the Shanghai Rose stock, and if the bud is cut 

 clean out from the base of the cutting there is no fear of 

 the plants sending up root suckers, which is one of the 

 worst faults of the Manetti stock. The plant is perfectly 

 hardy, even in a very cold and wet climate like that of 

 Cheshire. I therefore venture to predict a brilliant future 



8.— Vol. XXXVI., Old Series. 



