THE ROSE GARDEN. 129 



not be rooted till April, when they may be taken up and potted, and placed in a 

 frame for a few days, kept close, shaded, and syringed. Now for what purpose 

 are the plants required? Are they wanted for pot-culture? or is planting out the 

 end in view ? If the former, treat them as recommended in the chapter On the 

 Cultivation of Roses in Pots : if the latter, plant them out in May. But the 

 hardy kinds, such as the Hybrids of the Chinese and Bourbon, the Boursault, the 

 Ayrshire, the Evergreen, the Multiflora, and the Hybrid Perpetual, may be 

 planted in beds in the open ground. By October there will be plenty of well- 

 matured wood on the old plants, and judicious thinning will benefit rather than 

 injure them. The cuttings in this instance should all be made with heels, by 

 which rule only one cutting can be made from a shoot. The tops may be used, 

 but they are not so likely to take root. The cuttings here must be longer than 

 those placed in pots, to allow of their being firmly fixed in the ground. Nine 

 inches to a foot is a fair length, and two or three eyes should remain above ground. 

 When prepared, the best method of planting them is to dig the soil, cutting down 

 a trench every nine inches, in which a row is inserted at about an inch apart 

 from cutting to cutting. A few boughs should afterwards be stuck rather thickly 

 between every two rows, to accomplish the double purpose of shielding them from 

 the sun and to prevent the ground from becoming frozen very hard. Branches 

 of some evergreen should be used, and as the leaves fall they should be cleared 

 away, or a dampness will be engendered, resulting in loss. The branches may 

 remain till spring, and after their removal it will be well to hoe the soil to loosen 

 the surface. After this, it will be seen which are on a fair way to make plants : 

 the others should be removed, to give the prosperous ones a full chance of success, 

 and plenty of room to grow. Here they must remain till autumn, when they may 

 be conveyed to any position they are destined to fill. 



But we have alluded to another season at which propagating by cuttings may 

 take place, and which requires a few passing remarks : this is from March to 

 May, and the cuttings are taken from plants that have been forced. They are 

 treated in the same manner as related of June cuttings, excepting that the latter 

 are first placed in a cold frame, and the former are placed in bottom heat at once. 

 Cuttings so made strike very readily; yet we apprehend this plan is least of all 

 suited for the Amateur. First, it involves the necessity of keeping the cuttings 

 and plants in bottom heat for six weeks or two months in the spring ; a time when, 

 to the generality of cultivators, heat can ill be spared. And then it is question- 

 able whether, by such culture, we obtain the robust, hardy-constitutioned plants 

 that we do by raising in the open air, or with merely bottom heat at rooting time. 



3. By Budding.— Before we enter upon the detail of this practice, let us note a 

 few thoughts respecting stocks. 



The kinds most commonly used are, the Dog-rose, the Boursault, and the Ma- 

 nettii. The former abounds in the hedges throughout Europe, where it delights 

 us with its delicately-tinted blossoms in June and July. It is, however, a bad 



