BUDDING 



THE most common method of propagating Roses is 

 that known as budding. That is the taking from a 

 stem of a small portion of its bark, together with a bud, 

 and inserting this beneath the bark of another Rose, 

 which acts as foster-parent, and is called the stock. 

 To quote that old rosarian, Sir Thomas Rivers, the 

 operation of budding is easy to do but difficult to describe. 

 A sharp budding-knife with a flat handle is used in the 

 work. With this a cut just deep enough to pierce the 

 bark but not to penetrate the wood is made longitudinally 

 in the stock, in a clear part of the shoot, and at the top 

 of this incision another cut is made transversely. The 

 bark on either side of the incision is then opened with 

 the flat handle of the budding-knife, and the stock is 

 ready for the insertion of the bud. The preparation of 

 the bud for insertion is very important to the success of 

 the operation. The bud must be taken from a " ripe " 

 shoot, that is, one which has borne, or is old enough to 

 have borne, a flower, and this condition is easily known 

 by rubbing it with the finger. If the prickles rub off 

 easily the shoot is ripe. Take the shoot with its buds, 

 cut off its leaves, leaving the footstalks about an inch in 

 length, and then cut off a thin slice of bark about an 

 inch in length, which should have a bud in its centre. 

 The slice of bark to be of a proper thickness should be 

 like a piece of writing-paper in substance. The bark 

 need not be removed, but the bud should be inserted at 

 once by beginning at the transverse cut and gently 

 pushing the bud downwards. The bark on which the 



