1574 



ROSE 



ruination, the young seedlings make most satisfactory 

 growth and can generally be transplanted into nursery 

 rows when 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 Poly- 

 antha Roses. The first flowers 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.- These are a common means of propaga- 

 tion, both under glass and out of doors. Under glass 

 short cuttings 2-3 in. long can be made in November 

 and December from wood of the current year's growth. 

 They should be planted in sand, in flats or pans, 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 ; salable plants are obtained in 

 October. This is a good way to strike B. setigera and 

 its varieties, Crimson Rambler and its allies, R. multi- 

 flora, B. polyantha, and their offspring, B. Wichurai- 

 ana, Madame Plantier and doubtless many others. 

 Bosa Indica, in all its forms, all tender species and 

 many Hybrid Perpetual Roses are propagated by cut- 

 tings of hardened wood grown under glass ; Peter Hen- 

 derson 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 growths. Plant in sand in a warm 

 house; bottom heat and a close frame are often used 

 but are not necessary. The cuttings are from 1)^-2 in. 

 long; single eyes strike readily. 



In the open air cuttings of ripened wood can 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 gathered be- 

 fore severe frost, cut into 6-in. lengths, tied in bundles, 

 and stored through the win- 

 ter 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. 



2187. Short hardwood cuttings of Rosa setigera. 

 A single cutting is shown at the left. 



but will not give such a large percentage of rooted 

 plants. It is highly probable that some Moss Roses, 

 B. luclda, B. Carolina, B. spinosissima, etc., Roses 

 which sucker, could be propagated by cuttings of root 

 or rootstock, but no systematic attempt has been made 

 in this direction. 



Budding and Grafting. -These are old and well-es- 

 tablished methods of propagation. Budding in foreign 

 nurseries is practiced 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, B. canina, or any 

 good brier, or B. multiflora; in Holland B. Carolina is 

 esteemer!. In European nurseries B. canina is used 



for standard, B. 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 apples are root-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 convenient method of propa- 

 gation under glass. Jackson Dawson's practice is to 

 use the whip- or splice-graft, but the veneer-graft is 

 also employed, with bits of R. multiflora root 2-3 in. 

 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 Mr. Dawson's work is shown in Fig. 

 2188, the stock being a bit of B. multiflora root; its 

 age is about three months. Bosa multiflora is an ex- 

 cellent stock for garden Roses, since it does not sucker; 

 this great advantage, too, is also obtained by using the 

 root-graft as above described. Some of the commercial 

 florists use Manetti stock planted in thumb-pots. Cut 

 back to the root, this is splice-grafted and kept in a 

 warm, close frame until united; they are afterwards 

 grown on in pots until large enough to plant 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 lat- 

 ter for forcing. It is a perplexing question and could 

 only be settled by a series of exact experiments costing 

 much time and money. It is also quite possible that 

 matters of temperature, soil, moisture and food are 

 equally important factors. 



Layering. This method is employed only when few 

 plants are required; it is cumbersome and wasteful. 

 Layer in spring, using wood of the last year's growth 

 where possible; the bark of the buried portion should be 

 abraded. 



Division. This is an easy means of increasing 

 B. lucida, B. nitida, R. Carolina, B. spinosissima, 

 Crimson Moss and many other varieties which 

 // sucker. Plant thickly in good soil, allow them to 

 grow from three to four years, then lift and tear 

 apart. It will be found that the increase is large 

 and that plants so obtained are salable after one 

 year's growth in the nursery. The year in the nur- 

 sery may be omitted with the quicker - growing 

 kinds which are to form new plantations on the 

 same estate B M WATSON. 



Budded Roses vs. Roses on their own Roots. For 

 the average amateur Rose planter, we cannot too 

 strongly recommend the desirability of own - root 

 plants. Scarcely one planter in a thousand is ob- 

 serving enough to notice the difference between 

 "suckers" or sprouts from the stock of a budded 

 Rose and the variety that is budded in. Indeed, 

 upon some varieties the growth is so similar as 

 not to be readily noticed even by those familiar with 

 Rose-growing. In consequence many purchasers of 

 budded Roses allow these suckers or sprouts from 

 the roots to grow up and, being usually of much 

 more vigorous habit than the variety budded in, they in 

 a short time quite rtin out the bud, and the purchaser 

 is left with nothing upon his hands but a'natural Rose 

 of whatever variety the stock may have been. For flor- 

 ists' use in forcing and also for the use of planters, who 

 are thoroughly familiar with such things, budded Roses 

 answer equally well and in some varieties are perhaps 

 superior; in that they will produce a larger quantity of 

 flowers and force more easily. The stock most used in 

 western New York for budding Roses is Bosa Manetti, 

 and that seems to be about the best adapted for the 

 purpose. Bosa multiflora de la Grif faerie is also used 

 more or less, but is generally considered not so desir- 



