PROPAGATION. 241 



In binding down the bark, the tie must not be too strong, 

 the stem and the leaf must remain outside undamaged, and 

 the work be gone through as quickly as possible, for on that 

 much depends. Damp weather is better for budding than 

 bright sunny days, but if the sun shines hot, let each bud as 

 it is put in be covered with some wet moss losely laid on 

 over the bud, and while the weather continues hot, let the 

 moss be kept damp by wetting it every morning before the 

 sun is up, at least for a week or two. From the time the 

 budding is done, the stock must be examined, first to rub off 

 all the new shoots, and second, to see that notliing is dis- 

 turbed ; for the shortening of the main branches will induce 

 the stock to send out new shoots, and if this were permitted, 

 the sap would be diverted from its regular course past the 

 bud to the side shoot beyond it, and delay, if not prevent, the 

 union of the bud and the stock. In a few days the mass 

 may be removed, and in a few weeks the ties may be undone 

 to examine the buds, and tied rather more loosely ; if the 

 buds seem to have taken, which will be indicated by the 

 plumpness and greenness of them, the growth of the stock 

 beyond the bud may be checked again by shortening the side 

 shoot, and in time, taking it away altogether ; but still the 

 stocks may be treacherous, and send out shoots between the 

 root and the bud, which, if neglected, would soon take up all 

 the sap, and deprive the bud of the nourishment it requires. 

 It is not imlikely that the buds, or at least many of them, 

 will push and make considerable growth, and in that case 

 they must be supported, by tying a stick to reach a foot 

 above the stock, and to this the new shoot may be loosely 

 tied, that it may not be blown out by the wind, and all the 

 growing part of the stock must be cut clean away, that the 

 entire strength may be thrown into the new shoot of the bud ; 

 but many of the buds will be found perfectly united, and yet 

 make no growth. They are none the worse for this, but the 

 stock must be prevented from growing anyivhere, and the bud 

 must wait till the next season. 



We have, as yet, only mentioned the brier as a stock ; but 

 there are many roses which grow even more vigorously than 

 the brier, and which are therefore used for stocks. All the 

 smooth- wooded lands of rose, or nearly all, will bud well 

 upon the common China, and it is one of the prettiest experi- 

 ments in rose growing to bud an old established China rose, 



Q 



