90 PEOPAGATION. 



adopted by the ancients, and in common practice in 

 our own land before the days of Shakespeare. 

 " You see, sweet maid, we marry 

 A gentler scion to a wilder stock. 

 And make conceive a bark of baser kind 

 By bud of nobler race; this is an art 

 Which does mend Nature, dhange it rather, but 

 The art itself is Nature." 



January is the best month for operations in 

 which to carry out the all-valuable method of stock- 

 increasing by means of grafting. 



Having secured a goodly supply of 3 in. and 3J in. 

 pots, write off at once to one of the Rose nurseries, 

 and, according to your requirements, obtain a sufficient 

 stock of briars to enable you to graft a useful number. 

 Do not buy too few; it is far wiser to procure more 

 than you will require, and then to select the best for 

 potting up, and to plant out the remainder for budding 

 purposes. The best stocks for grafting are without 

 doubt the seedling briar cutting and the Laxa. In the 

 autumn, having potted up all the briars you will re- 

 quire, the next step is to select a good site on which 

 to place the pots. Choose a sheltered position, and 

 spread a good coating of sifted asH — about three 

 inches; water this well, then place there your batch of 

 briars and cover up the pots to the surface and water 

 down, filling up where the ash settles. Water from 

 time to time. They can remain like this until next 

 November, when they will be well rooted and ready 

 for bringing into the house for the purpose of grafting. 



Whip-Grafting. — Having your briars, and also a 

 valuable Rose tree, purchased with the hope of being 

 able to raise in one season a veritable army of this 

 coveted possession, you will proceed to cut with care 

 each section of a shoot containing but one eye, for the 

 selected briar to become its foster-parent. Doubtless, 

 your tree will yield you twenty sudh shoots, and yet 

 leave two or three eyes on the already established 

 stock. Remember this : do not throw away a single 

 eye — all will come in ; those too small for ordinary 



