ROSE 



ROSE 



3005 



one year old. When two years old they are fit for 

 permanent planting. A winter protection of pine 

 boughs is helpful to the young plants. Some seedling 

 roses are extremely precocious, blooming before they 

 are one year old, e. g., some Hybrid Perpetuals and 

 so-called Polyantha roses. The first flow- 

 ers of seedling roses do not always indicate 

 their real character: in hybridizing it is 

 well to wait for the second or third season 

 before discarding. 



Cuttings. A common means of 

 propagation, under glass and out-of- 

 doors, is by cuttings. '/(/ 

 Under glass short cut- .. l/jf 

 tings 2 to 3 inches long 

 can be made in 

 November and 

 December from 

 wood of the 

 current year's 

 growth. They 

 should be firmly 

 planted in sand, 

 in flats or pans 

 (Fig. 3467) and 

 kept in a cool 

 greenhouse. 

 They root in 

 February or 

 March, and can 

 either be potted 

 in thumb-pots or 

 kept on in flats 

 until May or 

 June, when they should be 

 planted out in rich beds; sala- 

 ble plants are obtained in Oc- 

 tober. This is a good way to 

 Strike R. setigera and its vari- 

 eties, Crimson Rambler and 

 its allies, R. multiflora, and 

 their various offspring, R. 

 Wichuraiana and its hy- 

 brids, Madame Plantier and 



doubtless many others. Rosa indica, in all its forms, all 

 tender species, and many Hybrid Perpetual roses, are 

 propagated by cuttings of hardened wood grown under 

 glass. Peter Henderson says the wood is in the best 

 condition when the bud is "just open enough to show 

 color." Blind eyes can also be used, and the smaller 

 wood is better than the strong rampant growth. Plant 

 in sand and in a warm house; bottom heat and a close 

 frame are often used but are not necessary. The cut- 

 tings are from \ l /i to 2 inches long; single eyes strike 

 readily. In the open air, cuttings of ripened wood may 

 be planted in spring in V-shaped trenches in carefully 

 prepared and well-manured ground. They make strong 

 plants in autumn. Wood of the season's growth is gath- 

 ered before severe frost, cut into 6-inch lengths, tied in 

 bundles, and stored through the winter by burying in 

 sand. When planted, one eye only should show above 

 ground. This method is recommended for the hardy 

 varieties named above for propagating from short 

 cuttings under glass, but will not give such a large 

 percentage of rooted plants. It is highly probable that 

 some Moss roses, R. virginiana, R. palustris, R. spino- 

 sissima, and the like, roses which sucker, can be prop- 

 agated by cuttings of root or rootstock, but no sys- 

 tematic attempt has been made in this direction. 



Budding and grafting. These are old and well- 

 established methods of propagation. Budding in 

 foreign nurseries is practised in the open air, in June 

 and July, with us in July or August. A dormant shield- 

 bud is employed. The stock is R. Manetti, R. canina, or 

 any good briar, or R. multiflora; in Holland R. palustris 

 is esteemed. In European nurseries, R. canina, is used 



3466. Marechal Niel rose. One of 

 the most popular of the Noisettes. 

 Color yellow. 



for standard, R. Manetti for dwarf stocks. Under glass 

 roses are budded also, with a shield-bud, at any season 

 when the bark slips, using for stock a vigorous variety. 

 About Boston the yellow and white Banksian roses 

 once had high local repute for stock for Tea and other 

 tender kinds. 



Grafting roses in the open air in this country 

 is not often employed, but in the South, Hybrid 

 Perpetual and other hardy roses are said to be 

 root-grafted in winter (very much as apple stocks 

 are grafted), tied in bundles, stored in sand, 

 and planted out in early spring, the worked 

 portion being set well below the surface. Root- 

 grafting is an easy and conveni- 

 ent method of propagation under 

 glass. Jackson Dawson's prac- 

 tice is to use the whip- or splice- 

 graft, but the veneer-graft is 

 also employed, with bits of R. 

 multiflora root 2 to 3 inches long 

 for the stock, the cion being 

 somewhat longer but of equal 

 diameter. They are firmly tied 

 with raffia and waxed; made into 

 bunches, they are covered with 

 moist moss in an open frame in 

 a coolhouse and left until united. 

 They are then potted off and 

 grown on until they can be 

 hardened off and planted out in 

 May or June, the point of union 

 being well below the surface. A 

 specimen of Dawson's work is 

 shown in Fig. 3468, the stock 

 being a bit of R. multiflora root ; 

 its age is about three months. 

 Rosa multiflora is an excellent stock for gar- 

 den roses, since it does not sucker; this great 

 advantage, is also obtained by using the root- 

 graft as above described. (See article on roses 

 in Country Life in America, March, 1916, 

 by Geo. C. Thomas, Jr.) The commercial flor- 

 ists use Manetti stock planted in thumb-pots. 

 Cut back to the crown, this is splice-grafted 

 and kept in a warm close frame until united; plants 

 are afterward grown on in pots until large enough to 

 put out in the beds, in which they will flower the 

 following winter. There is some difference of opinion 

 among gardeners as to the respective merits of own- 

 root and grafted plants: just 

 now many of the foremost 

 growers prefer the latter for 

 forcing. It is a perplexing ques- 

 tion and could be settled by 

 only a series of exact experi- 

 ments costing much time and 



1 



3467. Short hardwood cuttings of Rosa setigera. A single cutting 

 is shown at the left. 



