GROWTH OF ROSES : LAYERING. 53 



roses have the stem, without shoots, from four to five 

 feet high, and the head of leaves and flowers at the top. 

 Half-standards are of the same form, but the stems are 

 from two to two and a half feet high. Dwarf standards 

 have the stems a foot or a foot and a quarter in height. 

 Kose-bushes are allowed to grow thick and bushy quite 

 from the ground. Weeping roses are roses of rampant 

 growth, budded on tall dog-rose stems, and trained or 

 allowed to fall over. They are very beautiful, but do not 

 do well in a situation exposed to wind. Pillar roses are 

 grown tall, and trained up a stake ten or twelve feet 

 high : roses for this must be of a vigorous habit of growth. 

 Besides these, there are climbing roses for training, and 

 dwarf roses for bedding. 



Roses are either grown on their own roots, or budded 

 or grafted on wild rose or other stalks. 



Rose-trees on their own roots may be made by division 

 of the root, by layers, by cuttings, or by suckers. 



Layering, or laying down a branch under the soil to 

 take root without severing it from the parent plant, 

 should be done in summer or autumn. If the work be 

 omitted at these times, it may be done in the following 

 spring, to save more loss of time ; but July is best. 

 When the shoots of the year's growth are eighteen 

 inches or two feet long, which should be about the middle 

 of July, take off the leaves from the base of the shoot 

 to be layered two-thirds of its length, with a very sharp 

 knife. Then carefully bend it down to try the best spot 

 for fixing it, and there dig a hole, measuring four or five 

 inches every way, and fill it with compost. The shoot 

 must then be tongued (i. e. an incision made in it, cutting 

 upwards about half way through, just below a bud), and 

 gently twisted so that the cut may remain open. The 

 tongued part must be set in the middle of the compost, 

 fixed in its place with a peg, and covered to the depth of 

 three or four inches. The tongue should be made on the 

 shoot above where the bow will come, so that it may not 

 be more than two inches under the earth. A large stone 

 may be placed on the surface of the ground to fix the 

 layer. The compost should be rotten manure and pit 



