57^ Cultivation of Plants, 



third would exclude standard Bose-trees from the garden, to 

 pay nothing of the difference of opinion regarding the different 

 styles of flower-gardening. But this should not deter planters 

 from employing these things in moderation, and in appropriate 

 situations. An excess of variegated plants, or a garden full of 

 standard Roses, should be avoided, as well as any other inconsis- 

 tency ; and few persons would think of forming a plantation of 

 weeping trees, such as one occasionally sees in a burial ground. 



It is unnecessary for us to describe the process of budding, as 

 it is one of the first things to which a young hand takes a 

 fancy; but we may caution the inexperienced to loosen the 

 ligatures before they have injured the growing bark. The in- 

 cision should not be made deeper than the bark, nor longer 

 than the inserted bud. For standard Roses, the buds are 

 better inserted in the lateral branches, as close to the main 

 stem as possible, than in the main stem itself, as they form 

 more equal-sided heads. Dwarf or bush Roses are either grafted, 

 or budded, or on their own roots. Plants of the latter descrip- 

 tion are preferable, as there are no foreign suckers developed ; 

 but some varieties do not succeed so well on their own roots as 

 they do when worked upon a more vigorous stock. The Rosa 

 Manetti, a variety of unknown descent, is usually employed as 

 a stock for dwarf Roses. Like most of the climbing Roses, it 

 readily strikes root from cuttings in the open ground. Orna- 

 mental shrubs and trees are usually budded in the main stem 

 of the stock, which should be cut off immediately above the 

 inserted bud as soon as the latter has made a shoot from six 

 inches to a foot long ; and the shoot being trained upright will 

 form a straight stem, and quickly overgrow the point of union. 

 Weeping and some other trees grown as standards are worked 

 on stems of convenient height, according to what is desired. 

 The season for budding depends entirely upon the weather; 

 but any time when the bark separates freely from the wood will 

 answer. Roses, if budded during the first growth, frequently 

 start, and even flower, the same season ; but the buds of most 

 other things remain dormant until the following spring. 



Layering is resorted to for those trees and shrubs that will 

 readily root in this way, but which are not sure from indepen- 

 dent slips or cuttings, such as the Elm, Lime, Laurustinus, 

 Aucuba, Portugal Laurel, etc. This operation is very simple : 

 the branches of the parent plant being bent down, partially 

 severed, and fixed in the soil, where they will strike root in one 



