ROSE CULTURE. 85 



Mr. Strong thought that though roses sport when grown from 

 seed, the}^ could be relied on as stocks. At Mr. Wood's place, in 

 Natick, he saw two fine plants of Mar^chal Niel said to be on Dog 

 rose stocks, but he thought the}' were not adapted to this variety. 



CM. Atkinson endorsed everything that the President had said. 

 The Prince's stock is not as distinct as the Manetti ; it is nothing 

 but the English Dog rose raised from seed. The Avide hedges of 

 weeds, brambles, etc., from which roses for stocks were furmerl}' 

 procured in England, are now being removed and wire fences sub- 

 stitiited. Consequently Dog roses are getting scarce, and Mr. 

 Prince, who is a nurseryman, seeing this, has gathered the hips and 

 grown them from seed, producing a better stock than the wild ones 

 formerly- collected, but it is not adapted to weak growing kinds. 

 It is necessary to ascertain by trial what stock is adapted to each 

 variety. Some kinds will not throw out roots from the grafts, but 

 most will after twelve months. He did not want a kind that would 

 not root from the graft. In his opinion the Dog rose requires too 

 long a state of rest to be adapted for a stock for tender roses for 

 house culture. Laure Davoust, Lamarque, and Solfaterre are better, 

 and the Banksian is best of all. He did not think the Dog rose of 

 this country worthy of consideration as a stock ; the wood is small 

 and wiry and the bark hard. 



Mr. Strong dissented from Mr. Atkinson on the last point. He 

 thought our Dog rose quite as strong as the English. He could 

 show Mr. Atkinson hundreds of specimens that he would have to 

 look up to. 



President Gra}- said that nobody takes proper care of roses on 

 their own roots. They will take a great deal more feeding than 

 grafted roses. He did not think weak growing kinds worth culti- 

 vating. 



Robert Murray had never been able to make a bud grow on the 

 native rose. 



M. H. Merriam thought that in cases of variegation the affinity 

 between the stock and scion is ver^- close, and this goes to 

 strengthen the point urged here of the desirableness of such atlinit}-. 

 His roses are all grafted on the Prince's stock, and he believed that 

 with weak growing varieties the stock would assert its pre-eminence, 

 and must be very closely watched. He had lost man}- by neglect, 

 but the strong growing kinds are as good as ever. He thought 

 none had got on their own roots, though planted sufliciently long. 



