COLLECTING BRIERS FOR BUDDING. 23 
but things are really not so bad as they seem. It is easy to 
gather Brier heps, “ stratify ” them (that is, lay them in sand for 
a few months) and raise plants from them. It is not difficult to 
strike cuttings of Briers (we shall come to cutting-making very 
soon) and procure plants from them also. It is quite within the 
bounds of possibility to get shoots of Manetti and De la 
Grifferaie, and turn them into workable material. All this, I 
say, canbedone. If I am asked whether it is worth while, since 
Roses ready established on the stocks can be bought so cheaply, 
I am given pause. Truth to tell, the commonsense of the Rose- 
growing community has decided that it is not. Some few Rose 
growers like to propagate stocks of various sorts, and do their 
own working ; most prefer to buy the plants. It is a matter of 
temperament. 
If, however, the raising of Rose stocks from seeds and cut- 
tings is to all intents and purposes left in the hands of the 
nurserymen, it by no means follows that Rose propagation is 
not worth learning. It is well to know how to strike cuttings, 
because many Roses do well on their own roots. It is still 
better to know how to bud, because every rosarian works, or 
wants to work, a few hedgerow Briers some time or other. 
The man or woman who wants to bud some standards has the 
impulse, as a rule, when the twin influences of the flowering 
season and other people’s work are upon them. That is to say, 
in July or August. Unfortunately, they awaken simultaneously 
to the fact that they have no Briers, and, what is worse, will 
have to wait till November for them, so that there is the dreary 
prospect of a whole year’s delay before budding can be begun. 
f course, with people of the blow-hot-blow-cold class the in- 
evitable happens. Long before November comes the Briers are 
forgotten, and it is July of the following year before another 
thought is given to them. 
The best thing is to go and give an order for Briers to the 
acknowledged Brier hunter of the district directly the fever is 
felt. This forager is generally a well-known character, and I am 
at a loss to know how the novelist has missed him. He (the 
forager, not the novelist, of course) has exceptional gifts in tres- 
passing and stealing, and people whose consciences will not 
permit them to appropriate portions of their neighbours’ hedges 
find these qualities of his peculiarly helpful. .It may be re- 
marked, by the way, as a singular phenomenon tonnected with 
horticultural morality, that many people whose principles will 
not allow of their making a foray in person are ever ready to pay 
the Brier-hunter a shilling a dozen for his wares, and ask no 
questions. 
Fig. 8 (page 21)shows the stamp of material the Brier buyer 
or collector wants to get, and also how to deal with it—in part. 
Let us follow the standard up. It is procured, prepared, and 
planted in November. In spring fresh growth starts. In July 
