14 BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS 



nurseries. Private growers cannot get this stock, unless they 

 propagate it themselves, as nurserymen do, and that is not 

 general. If home propagation is practised it is generally by 

 budding on standard brier stocks, in the way already advised ; or 

 by dispensing with stocks altogether, and striking cuttings (p. 11). 

 Roses which are struck from cuttings are called " own-root " 

 Roses. Experts consider that, on the whole, budded Roses are 

 better than "own-rooters," but certainly there are plenty of excel- 

 lent H.P. Rose bushes in cultivation which have been raised 

 from cuttings. Some varieties do better than others, and the 

 soil also has a bearing on success. With a naturally good Rose 

 soil, such as substantial loam, the majority of the sorts make 

 very good plants from cuttings. Those who like to try this 

 method of propagation should take firm, brownish, well-ripened 

 shoots of the current year's growth about the end of September, 

 preferably with a short " heel " of the older wood, cut them into 

 lengths of six or eight inches, and insert them firmly to within a 

 couple of inches of the tip. They can be put a few inches apart 

 in a row, and at the end of a year transplanted to the beds. 

 They should make very good plants in the second season. If 

 they do not, they probably never will. 



The question of disbudding H.P. Roses, both in relation to 

 shoots and flowers, turns on whether the grower's principal re- 

 quirements are large numbers of medium-sized flowers for cutting, 

 or small numbers of bigger ones for exhibition. When the plants 

 start growing in spring after the pruning, which will be done 

 about the end of March, they will make one growth from each of 

 the buds that were left, and subsequently form a number of side 

 shoots, on all of which flowers may be expected. The grower for 

 show will not let all these shoots develop ; he will take them out 

 while they are quite small, and restrict the plants to three or 

 four growths. Further, he will thin the flower buds on those 

 left, removing all the small outside ones where several come in a 



