252 ON STOCKS FOR THE TREE ROSE. 



Stocks of different sizes and heights are procured, in order to suit 

 a vigorous, or less so, growing kind, to he inserted hy hudding, and 

 to have some worked from two to five feet high. Care is taken to 

 get such stocks as are free from large knots, some such being found 

 upon the stocks when of several years' growth. It certainly adds to 

 the beauty of the tree, to have a straight free-growing stock. 



Having got up the stocks, on a day that is not frosty, I have them 

 brought as soon as convenient, that the tender roots may not be 

 damaged by exposure to a cool air. 



In planting them, I select a good soil about a foot deep, and have 

 a portion of well-rotted dung dug into it. The strongest growing 

 kinds of stocks I plant in one piece of ground, and the less so in 

 another. This is easily ascertained by observing what strength the 

 lateral shoots have previously grown, before removal. The necessity 

 of this selection is requisite, because if a very vigorous growing kind 

 were inserted into a small stock, the bud would take all the support, 

 and grow to a single shoot, or form a poor head. 



Before planting, I have the stocks dressed, cutting clean away all 

 lateral shoots to the height at which I wish the stock to be kept, and 

 cutting off the head about a quarter of an inch above a bud, in a 

 sloping direction from the bud. Any damaged roots are finished 

 with clean cuts, either by a knife or fine-toothed saw. The top cut 

 of the stock I always cover over with a mixture of bees' wax and 

 pitch, to keep out wet. 



The stocks are planted in rows at from two to three feet apart, ar- 

 ranging the tallest in the back row, and the lower ones in the front 

 proportionably. A trench being made, the roots are regularly dis- 

 posed, and covered from four to six inches deep, treading the soil 

 gently upon the roots, and close up to the stem, to fasten it properly. 

 I then have a stake fixed so as to tie it to its place, and prevent its 

 being shaken with the wind. I have observed in some nurseries a 

 long stick, fixed horizontally at the height of three feet, and to which 

 the stocks were tied ; but this does not answer so well as each having 

 a separate stake to keep it in an upright position, the wind driving 

 those secured in the cross-bar manner in a falling direction. 



Nothing more is required till the stocks push shoots in March, or 

 early in April. I shall, therefore, reserve the next remarks for the 

 November Number of the Cabinkt. 



