PROPAGATION OF ROSES BY CUTTINGS. 135 



another most important advantage : All propagators 

 know that many kinds of plants when cut back for cut- 

 tings, become weakened so much that, if not carefully 

 handled, they may dia ; also if two or three crops of cut- 

 tings are taken off as they grow, the cuttings are weakened 

 and the " stock plant" becomes permanently injured. 

 By this method of breaking the slip, so that it hangs by 

 a shred to the parent plant, the roots have to use their 

 functions for its support nearly the same as if it remained 

 entirely attached to the plant. This results, exactly as 

 we wish, in causing the parent plant to strike out shoots 

 below the broken slip, and these again, in their turn, can 

 be so treated. I may say that, in certain conditions of 

 the shoot, instead of snapping, it will * ' knee " or bend 

 only ; in such cases, it will be necessary to slip it two* 

 thirds through with a knife, but in most instances it will 

 snap and hang by the shred of bark, which is the best 

 condition. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

 PROPAGATION OF ROSES BY CUTTINGS. 



As the propagation of Roses by cuttings is a matter of 

 very wide-spread interest, I will give a special description 

 of our method. The rule that applies to the proper con- 

 dition of soft-wooded plants, such as Fuchsias, Helio- 

 tropes or Verbenas (that is, that the young shoot should 

 be in a state to snap or break off instead of bending), does 

 not apply to the proper condition of Rose cuttings. The 

 young shoot of the Rose is also what is to be used, but it 

 must be hard and woody. For example, when a Rosebud 

 is developed enough to be cut, the shoot on which it grows 

 is in about the right condition for cuttings, each leaf of 

 the shoot, with its bud at the axil, and two or three 



