16 MARKET NURSERY WORK 



brought to the nursery, the briers should not be allowed to lie about 

 awaiting a favourable opportunity for trimming, but either trimmed 

 straight away and heeled in, or heeled in until the trimming could 

 be attended to. Trimming consists of cutting away any superfluous 

 undergound growth and cutting the stem to an approved length 

 determined by the stoutness and character of the stock. The only 

 other stock we use for standards is rosa rugosa, and this is raised 

 from cuttings and encouraged to run up to a height of 6 or 7 feet. 

 It is easily rooted, it grows quickly, and now that Weeping 

 Standard roses of the Wichuriana type are in demand, there is 

 no other stock upon which we can depend to attain the requisite 

 height. 



PLANTING STOCKS 



Stocks should be planted in lightly manured but heavily tilled 

 ground. We emphasise the " heavily tilled," by which we mean 

 that the digging must be deep and thorough. They should only 

 be planted in favourable weather when the soil is workable, not 

 clinging, for only then can best conditions be secured. From 

 their very commencement we want these stocks to do well ; not 

 to grow fat and to be so rich in sap as to smother the bud later 

 on, but just to promote a healthy, robust growth, holding something 

 in reserve. That is why we object to heavy manuring, for with 

 too much manure the stock becomes almost unmanageable and 

 grows a thicker bark than we care for at least, that is our 

 experience, and as the hand which is writing this has budded 

 considerably more than half a million stocks we think the experience 

 is worth something. 



Do not plant stocks too deeply. The roots should be near to 

 the surface, but deep enough to provide anchorage against strong 

 winds and to withstand drought. The bud has to be inserted as 

 near to the root as is convenient to get it, so if the roots are 3 inches 

 below the surface it means that i J inches of soil have to be scraped 

 away^to allow the bud to be inserted sufficiently low down. This 

 is^all very 4 well, but it makes extra labour and is dangerous in another 

 way,|for we have seen these cavities filled up with solid ice in the 

 winter and the bud frozen in to its own undoing. We therefore 

 prefer to plant as shallow as is consistent with safety and to insert 



