205 



STOCKS FOE ROSES. 



HiTHKRTO the Dog- Rose has been used almost in- 

 discriminately for all kinds of roses for standards ; 

 nothino' better is required, at least for those sorts 

 that grow vigorously ; but in the culture of dwarfs, 

 a great improvement may be made by using the 

 Celine and the Rosa Manetti. The Sempervirens 

 Rose, Felicite Perpetue, makes also a most ex- 

 cellent stock of dwarf roses ; also the Hybrid 

 China Rose, Descartes. These strike readily from 

 cuttings planted in November in open borders. 



In making cuttings, take one-year-old shoots 

 and cut them into lengths of one foot ; the bottom 

 of the cutting should be cut close to a bud, and 

 not sloping; the top should be cut just above a 

 bud, with a gentle slope : then carefully cut out 

 all the buds but two at the top. In planting, the 

 section of a ridge must be formed, the cutting- 

 placed firmly against it, and the earth dug. up to 

 it, and firmly pressed ; wlien finished the row of 

 cuttings should stand in the centre of a ridge 

 about eight inches high, and only one bud of 

 the cutting above the surface ; from being thus 

 moulded up no exhaustion takes place during the 

 dry frosts of winter and spring, and every cutting 

 will grow; in July or August of the following 

 season they will be fit to bud. Tlie ridge must 

 be levelled so as to expose the main stem of the 



