CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 177 



tivator of the injurious results of this practice, and that the total 

 excision of the branches of the stock while in full vegetation must 

 be destructive to a large portion of the roots, and highly detri- 

 mental to the prosperity of the plant. A much better mode is to 

 bend down the top, and tie its extremity to the lower part of the 

 stock. Several days after this is done, the bud can be inserted 

 just below the sharpest bend of the arch. When the buds are 

 to be placed in the branches of a stock, as in fig. 15, the top of 

 the main stem can be cut off, and the branches arched over and 

 tied to the main stem, as at f ; the bud is then inserted in each 

 branch at e. The circulation of the sap being thus impeded by 

 the bending of the branches, it is thrown into the inoculation, and 

 forms then a more immediate union than it would if the branches 

 were not arched. After the buds have become fairly united to 

 the stock and have commenced growing, the top can be safely 

 cut off to the bud, although it would be still better to make the 

 pruning of the top proportionate to the growth of the bud ; by this 

 means, a slower, but more healthy vegetation is obtained. When 

 the buds are inserted very late in the season, it is better not to 

 cut off the top of the stock or branches until the following spring, 

 and to preserve the bud dormant. If allowed to make a rapid 

 growth so late in the season, there would be great danger of its 

 being killed by frost. European cultivators are very fond of 

 budding several varieties on one stock, in order to obtain the 

 pretty effect produced by a contrast of color. This will only 

 answer where great care is taken to . select varieties of the same 

 vegetating force ; otherwise one will soon outstrip the other, and 

 appropriate all the nourishment. It is also desirable that they 

 should belong to the same species. When a bud is inserted in a 

 plant in pot, as in fig 1, the main branches are left, and a portion 

 of the top only cut off, in order to give the bud some additional 

 nourishment. 



GRAFTING. 



From the pithy nature of the wood of the Rose, grafting is 

 always less certain than budding ; but is frequently adopted by 



