8 



MARKET NURSERY WORK 



no manner of use as cuttings ; indeed, wherever possible the 

 cutting would benefit if a heel of older wood was attached to it. 

 If the variety happens to be one of those whose thorns are very 

 plentiful and prominent, like those of Mde. E. Herriot, they 

 should be removed with a sharp knife so that the cutting may 

 be the better and more closely embedded in the soil. It is very 

 essential that the contact be close and very firm. 



The cutting bed in which they are to be inserted should be made 

 up of open, sandy soil, finely pulverised and well dug. We never 



FlG. 2. Rose Cuttings. Making the Trench 



dig less than i foot in depth, for we have found that this depth is 

 necessary to make a root-encouraging bed, and to carry the young 

 plants through the viscissitudes of their first season, especially if 

 there are droughts. Having dug a wide spit across the bed and 

 firmed the soil, we level the surface with the back of the spade 

 and cut a straight trench with a slightly sloping back wall, against 

 which the cuttings may rest (see Fig. 2). If the cuttings are 9 inches 

 long we cut the trench 8 inches deep ; if shorter, then corre- 



%S*cfcP4i'M*b> 



Fio. 3. Rose Cuttings in Position 



spondingly shallower. Cuttings should not be of greatly varying 

 lengths, because every one must rest solidly on the firm bottom of 

 the trench, and if some were short and others were long the short 

 ones must be hopelessly buried, or the longer ones be too much 

 out of the ground. Therefore it is well to grade the lengths, and 



