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PROPAGATION BY BUDDING. 



THIS seems at present, owing to the strong wish 

 manifested by the present generation to do every- 

 thing quickly, to be the favourite mode of propa- 

 gation. A Summer Rose from a cutting requires 

 at least two seasons to form a blooming plant. A 

 layer is occasionally very capricious, and very loath 

 to make roots ; indeed, of some varieties, particu- 

 larly of Rosa alba, they will not by any means be 

 induced to form roots when layered, and are very 

 difficult even to be propagated by cuttings from 

 the forcing-house ; but these become perfectly 

 docile and manageable when budded, in one season 

 only, forming large and handsome plants. The 

 operation of budding is easy to do, but difficult to 

 describe. A longitudinal cut, not so deep as to 

 cut into the wood, but merely through the bark, 

 should be made in the clear part of the shoot, 

 thus | ; then a transverse cut, thus , at the top 

 of the incision : the bark on both sides this in- 

 cision must be opened with the flat handle peculiar 

 to the budding-knife, and the bud inserted. Too 

 many words have been wasted on the proper 

 method of cutting off buds for insertion, some 

 recommending wood to be left, i.e. the thin layer 

 of wood adhering to the piece of bark technically 

 the plate on which the bud is situated ; others 

 lay great stress on the necessity of removing every 



