CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 



121 



until they begin to root in spring. Cuttings planted ra 

 this manner in October or November, and kept merely 

 from freezing during winter, will be rooted in March, pre- 

 senting the appearance shown in figure 39. 



The success much depends on the varieties and fit con- 

 dition of the cuttings, 

 for we find that in a 

 collection of 50 sorts, 

 every cutting of some 

 varieties will root, while 

 in others we fail to get ' 

 more than 5 per cent. 

 But if properly treated 

 it may be safe to ex- 

 pect 50 per cent of 

 rooted cuttings as an 

 average. As soon as, or 

 even before, they show 

 the extent of root in- 

 dicated in the engrav- 

 ing, they should be pot- 

 ted in two-inch pots, 

 shaded and watered for 

 a few days and gradu- 

 ally hardened off by ex- Fig. 39. CUTTING OF OLD WOOD. 

 posing them to the air, when they will be sufficiently 

 rooted to plant in the open ground in April or May. Some 

 propagators plant them at once from the cutting bed to 

 the open ground, but this is attended with risk, for unless 

 the weather is continuously favorable for two or three 

 days one-half of them may be lost. We have always 

 found that placing them in pots and keeping them under 

 the protection of sashes for a few weeks well repaid the 

 extra labor. Nearly all deciduous shrubs may be propa- 

 gated in this manner, most of them even more successfully 

 than the Rose. 



