]28 THE ROSE GARDEN. 



representation, should be made from two to three inches long, consisting of from 

 three to five joints. An inch of the lower end should be inserted in the soil, and the 

 part left above should have two good leaves. From four to six of these cuttings 

 may be placed round the inside of a large 60 pot, in a compost consisting of 

 equal parts of leaf mould, turfy loam chopped fine, and silver sand. After in- 

 sertion, they should be well watered through a fine rose-pot, to settle the mould 

 closely around them. When the soil is drained and the leaves dry they may be 

 removed to a cold frame, or placed under hand-glasses, keeping them closed from 

 the air and shaded from the sun, sprinkling them twice daily for the first fortnight. 

 The sprinkling usually keeps the soil sufficiently moist, though it is sometimes 

 necessary to give water in addition. We need scarcely say that the leaves should 

 be retained on the cuttings as long as possible ; but if they decay they should be 

 removed immediately, or the contagion spreads, and numbers may be sacrificed. 

 Where damping or fogging-off occurs, the admission of air or more sunlight 

 proves the best remedy. 



In about a fortnight after the cuttings are made they will have formed callus, 

 when they should be removed to a pit with bottom-heat. Here they root cpiickly, 

 and may be potted off singly into small or large 60 pots, according to their 

 strength. Place them in bottom heat again for a few days, and they become esta- 

 blished, when they may be removed to a cold frame, and air gradually admitted 

 to harden them. "But," says the Amateur, "is bottom heat indispensable? I 

 have no bottom heat ; or, at least, I have but little, and to that a variety of plants 

 lays claim. There are my Azaleas, my Geraniums, my Fuchsias, my Cinerarias ; 

 they require all the room of this kind that I have. Surely Roses, hardy plants as 

 they are, will strike without bottom heat." We answer, " They will." We do 

 not say this condition is indispensable, but advantageous. They may be kept in the 

 cold till rooted, or indeed throughout the year ; but if raised in bottom heat they 

 will be ready to plant out in August, which will allow them sufficient time to take 

 good hold of the soil before winter. If raised in a cold frame, the rooting process 

 is slow, and they cannot be planted out with advantage before the following 

 spring. 



But there is another season at which propagation may be carried on with suc- 

 cess, namely, autumn, just before the fall of the leaf. In June the Autumnals 

 only need be cared for ; now, both the Summer and Autumn kinds demand atten- 

 tion. Among the latter, the Bourbon, Tea-Noisette, Chinese, and Tea-scented 

 should be placed in rows under a hand-glass, or round pots in a closed frame, for 

 few of these do well planted as cuttings in the open ground. The hand-glass 

 should be lifted off occasionally on a bright day during winter, to dry the damp- 

 ness of the soil, when any decayed leaves or cuttings may be removed. Water, 

 under these circumstances, is rarely required till spring, though if worms be trou- 

 blesome in raising the earth, a little lime-water may be given, supposing the soil 

 to be well drained, which is a point of primary importance. These cuttings will 



