PROPAGATION OF ROSES 109 



Briers in the district. These stocks should be trimmed 

 of any side shoots, cut to the length wanted, and 

 planted two feet apart and four feet between the 

 rows. The root should be cut away to within, say, 

 two inches of the stem and not be left like a hockey- 

 stick. The best stocks are those of the second year's 

 growth. 



Budding Standard Stocks. — Budding is one of those 

 things which cannot readily be learnt from printed 

 instructions, but which any proficient in the art will be 

 able to teach the beginner in a few lessons, and which 

 a little practice afterwards will soon render quite easy 

 to him. A few hints may, however, be useful when 

 the mechanical process has been mastered. For in- 

 stance, in budding standard stocks a single rather long 

 slit is preferable to the somewhat shorter T-shaped one 

 usually employed, as the transverse cut weakens the 

 shoot of the Brier and often causes it to snap off in 

 high winds where it has been made. It is also a 

 good plan to give the roots of the stocks a good 

 drenching with water before they are budded, as 

 it will cause the bark to come away from the wood 

 more readily than it otherwise would have done. 

 Budding can be done at any time during the summer ; 

 the early part of July is usually the best period of 

 the year to begin, as the majority of the shoots are 

 then in that half-ripened condition which is so desir- 

 able — that is to say, neither too sappy nor on the other 

 hand too old and dry. The shoots of the Rose from 

 which the buds are taken should be in the same 

 half-ripened condition, and the buds themselves only 



