SEPTEMBER 



Sept. r I ^ H E first work of September is the pro- 

 7 - JL pagating of roses from cuttings. Those 

 bushes which the salesmen supply are usually 

 worked on a foreign stock, which enables them 

 to make a larger growth than own-root plants could 

 do in a given time ; and the nuisance never abates 

 of keeping an eye on the stock to prevent the 

 rising of wild wood. But roses on their own 

 roots, though they take a year or so longer than 

 the others to make good plants, never afterwards 

 give any trouble, and it is well worth while either 

 to pay extra money for these or to propagate them 

 for one's self. There is no comparison between the 

 two methods for lasting results. If a hard winter 

 kills to the ground the roses struck from cuttings, 

 their root growth will ensure their sending up in 

 the spring fresh shoots to take their place, instead 

 of the shoots of the parent brier. The rose struck 

 from the cutting is naturally balanced in proper 

 proportion ; its root growth keeps pace with its top 

 growth. There is no great show of the latter to 

 the weakening of the former, for the accession of 

 strength in both is gradual and rightly balanced 

 and equally progressive. The period of waiting 



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