68 CULTURE OP THE ROSE. 



will often grow and bloom vigorously when budded on a 

 strong and congenial stock. On the other hand, the very 

 existence of a budded rose is, in our severe climate, preca- 

 rious. A hard winter may kill it down to the point of 

 inoculation, and it is then lost past recovery ; whereas a 

 rose on its own roots may be killed to the level of the 

 earth, and yet throw up vigorous shoots in the spring. 

 Moreover, a budded rose requires more attention than the 

 cultivator is always willing to bestow on it. An ill- 

 informed or careless amateur will suffer shoots to grow 

 from the roots or stem of the stock ; and, as these are 

 always vigorous, they engross all the nourishment, and 

 leave the budded rose to dwindle or die ; while its disap- 

 pointed owner, ignorant of the true condition of things, 

 often congratulates himself on the prosperous growth of 

 his plant. At length he is undeceived by the opening 

 of the buds, and the appearance of a host of insignificant 

 single roses in the place of the Giant of Battles or General 

 Jacqueminot. 



Budding, however, cannot be dispensed with, since, in 

 losing it, we should lose the most effectual means of in- 

 creasing and distributing the choicest roses. The process 

 consists in implanting, as it were, an undeveloped leaf-bud, 

 of the variety we wish to increase, in the bark and wood 



