40 COMMERCIAL ROSE CULTURE 



easily from it. This may be tested by running the knife under 

 the bark. Use a thin and sharp budding knife, make a longi- 

 tudinal incision about three-quarters of an inch long, another 

 short one across the top, making it T shaped; run the knife 

 under the bark to loosen it from the wood, and cut off the bud 

 you wish to insert, taking with it a thin scale of the wood if the 

 shoot is young. If the wood is old the bark will be sufficient. 

 Cut the bark about one one-quarter of an inch above and below 

 the bud. Raise the bark on the stock with the budding knife, in- 

 sert the bud carefully as far as it can go, and bind with raffia. 

 This may be cut away in about two weeks. Rather cool, cloudy 

 weather is best for this operation. In hot, dry weather, the 

 buds are liable to perish before the union is effected. Break 

 off any shoots which attempt to push out below the bud and, 

 as soon as the bud commences to grow, cut off the old stem 

 above the bud as close as convenient, making a clean slanting 

 cut on the opposite side of the shoot. 



