60 CULTURE OF THE ROSE. ' 



the operation are a knife, a trowel, and hooked wooden 

 pegs. Choose- a well-ripened shoot of the same season's 

 growth, and strip off the leaves from its base a foot or more 

 up the stalk ; but, by al! means, suffer the leaves at the 

 end to remain. Bend the shoot gently downward with 

 the left hand, and insert the edge of the knife in its upper 

 or inner side six or eight inches from its base, and imme- 

 diately below a bud. Cut half way through the stem ; then 

 turn the edge of the knife upward, and cautiously slit the 

 stern through the middle, to the length of an inch and a 

 half, thus a tongue of wood, with a bud at its end, will be 

 formed. With the thumb and finger of the left hand raise 

 the upper part of the stem erect, at the same time by a 

 slight twist turning the tongue aside, steadying the stem 

 meanwhile with the right hand. Thus the tongue will be 

 brought to a right angle, or nearly so, with the part of the 

 stem from which it was cut. Hold it in this position with 

 the left hand, while with the trowel you make a slit in the 

 soil just beneath it. Into this insert the tongue and bent 

 part of the stem to a depth not much exceeding two inches. 

 Press the earth firmly round them, and pin them down 

 with one of the hooked pegs. Some operators cut the 

 tongue on the lower or outer side of the stem ; but this 

 has a double disadvantage. In the first place, the stem is 



