174 The Rose Garden. 



opposite side, and the bud may be gently pushed under with the handle of the 

 knife, or will probably drop in. When properly placed the eye of the bud should 

 be directly under the opening caused by the raising of the edges of the bark of the 

 longitudinal incision /; if it be not so, the handle of the budding-knife should be 

 inserted beneath the bark to push it to a right position. But if the bud be not 

 deprived of the leaf-stalk, if that is allowed to protrude from the opening, the eye 

 will be secured in the best position. After being inserted the bud should be drawn 

 upwards to the cross-cut, and the upper end cut at the same angle, that its bark may 

 abut against the bark of the stock laid open by the cross-cut b. The bud then is 

 inserted, and it now remains to bind it in. For this purpose take cotton or bast, the 

 former is generally preferred. Commence tying at the bottom of the cut, passing 

 upwards till the whole length of the incision is bound over. Where the buds are 

 feeble, or where success is deemed important, it is customary to tie a little damp 

 moss or a leaf over the bud after the operation is completed, which is in no case 

 objectionable, except on account of the additional time it occupies. 



About three weeks after the operation has been performed the cotton may be 

 removed. If the bud is not well united, let it be tied up loosely again ; if it is, leave 

 it untied, and there is an end of care till the following Spring. In February the wild 

 shoot may be cut away two inches beyond the bud, when the latter will break and 

 soon form a tree. It is often said that it is unnecessary for the bud to remain so 

 long dormant, and that it may be made to break, and if an Autumnal Rose even to 

 flower, the same year. We admit the truth of this statement, but condemn the 

 practice. It is accomplished by cutting off the wild shoot a few inches above the 

 bud, or by tying a ligature tightly round it at the same distance. The object sought 

 is to cut off certain channels through which the sap naturally flows that it may 

 become concentrated in the vicinity of the bud. The results are usually premature 

 development and an unsound plant. Let a certain number of plants be treated thus, 

 and allow the buds inserted in others to lie dormant till Spring ; defer judgment for 

 one year, and see at the expiration of that term which form the healthier and sounder 

 plants. Unquestionably the latter. If the buds break soon after inserted the shoots 

 are puny and weakly, evidently suffering from want of nourishment ; if allowed to lie 

 dormant till Spring they have a rich store of food at their command and grow with 

 surprising vigour. When a bud has shot a few inches and formed three or four good 

 leaves it should be tied to a stick, or it may be blown out by the wind ; the heart of 

 the shoot may then be pinched out, when from the axil of each leaf an eye will 

 quickly push forth. In May or June the stock may be headed down close to where 

 the bud has been inserted, and if the growth be vigorous the wound made in so doing 

 will quickly cicatrize and a perfect plant is the result. 



If the best time for budding be demanded we should give July and August. It 

 does not however require great penetration to see that this point depends in some 



