22 Roses for Amateurs. 



following plan has been successfully adopted by many of 

 our best growers : Having determined on the quantity of 

 cuttings, procure a common garden-frame sufficient to hold 

 them ; place this on hard ground, and then fill in about 6in. 

 of good compost half loam and the other half leaf-mould, 

 with the addition of some coarse road grit or sand. This 

 should be made very firm well beaten down with a spade 

 watered, and left to settle. The cuttings should then be 

 prepared. It is advisable to select well-ripened shoots as 

 soft shoots will, in nine cases out of ten, die those having a 

 flower-bud ready to open. There has been some dif- 

 ference of opinion as to whether these shoots should be 

 simply cut off at the joint, or with what is called a heel 

 that is, a piece of the old wood of the shoot from where the 

 cutting is taken ; but the latter are undoubtedly to be pre- 

 ferred as giving much better results. The cuttings should 

 be provided with four good eyes or buds, and as these 

 are at varying distances in different varieties the length 

 of the actual cutting will necessarily vary. They should 

 be dibbled in 6in. apart, leaving about iin. above the 

 surface of the soil ; but care must be taken to make 

 them very firm, leaving no place for water to accumu- 

 late round the base of the cutting, as this will cause it to 

 rot. When the whole of the cuttings have been inserted, the 

 light should be put on, and the frame kept close for a little 

 while. After that, air must be admitted, so as to prevent 

 damping; and in frosty weather the cuttings must be kept 

 well covered, not because the frost would kill them, but 

 because it lifts them out of the ground, and thus causes 

 them to perish. This should all be done about the last week 

 in September or beginning of October. By the following 

 May or June they will be rooted, and may either be left 

 where they are until planting-time, or potted off, placed in 

 a frame for a while until well rooted, and then planted out. 

 The former is the less troublesome plan, and where it has 



