134 CALIFORNIA GARDEN FLOWERS 



PROPAGATION OF THE ROSE. 



Except for origination of new varieties, the rose is seldom grown 

 from seed. It is usually rather difficult to start a rose plant from seed 

 and one must not be impatient over its delay. Sometimes it takes a 

 year or more and a good way to wait is to mix the seed after taking 

 out of the hip or "rose apple," when it is fully mature, and mix it with 

 sand in a flat (see Chapter VII) and keep the box in the cold frame or 

 on the greenhouse bench, where it will get a spray once in a while to 

 keep the sand moist but not wet. Examine from time to time after a 

 few months and sow the seed as it begins to germinate. When the 

 plants begin to bloom you will think you are entertaining the whole 

 rose family. 



Practically all rose plants are grown from cuttings, which grow 

 readily both as hard iand soft-wood cuttings, and each class is to be 

 treated somewhat differently, as suggested in Chapter VIII. Soft- 

 wood cuttings in the case of the rose are firmer and more woody than 

 those taken from herbaceous plants and do not require so much heat 

 and moisture. In fact all rose cuttings are fibrous; if they should be 

 distinguished as growing and dormant wood the terms would be 

 better than to call them soft and hard. 



Growing Prom Short Cuttings. The millions of little rose plants 

 which go by mail are started in sand beds in propagating houses with 

 very gentle heat. Since parcels post has prevailed there is more traffic 

 in the stronger plants grown with less heat, or often in California with 

 no artificial heat at all, from larger cuttings. The short cuttings are 

 made from small new wood, with removal of leaves only from the part 

 which is to go below ground. Three inches is about the right length 

 one eye beneath the sand and two above. It is claimed that the leaves 

 should remain on the cutting to shade the eye and to prevent the eye 

 from making too rapid growth before the roots are well formed. Some- 

 times a cutting will put out a fine top growth and in ten or fifteen 

 days gradually damp off, and the cutting has rotted. In some cases 

 this is because the cutting is too pithy or the eye has been too ad- 

 vanced. Rose cuttings can be propagated any time from July till 

 February. The safest time is after October, as the cooler months are 

 more desirable. Great care must be used in propagating during the 

 hot months. 



The sand boxes of small cuttings will sometimes bring good results 

 in a sheltered, warm spot in the open air, but the cold frame or the 

 green house bench is a better place for them. The sand can be more 

 easily kept damp, not alternately dry and wet, under cover. When 

 the plants show by their enduring growth that they have rooted they 

 can be gently lifted out of the sand with their long thread-like roots 

 and potted in a good soil mixture or even set in open ground if soil 



