382 Practical Instructiotis for the Tree Rose. 



head. On the 1st of July move off the thorns from the places in the young 

 shoots, where you intend inserting buds. Bud from the beginning to the 

 end of August, unless from severe drought the bark will not rise. To aid 

 this, in dry seasons, water at the root for several days previous to com- 

 mencing the operation. Prefer mornings and evenings, and avoid a drying 

 northerly or easterly wind, which dries up all the tender parts exposed to 

 it. The common mode of budding in England, is called, by the French, bud- 

 ding a fceil dormant ; budding h Vccil 'poussant is practised at the end of 

 May, sometimes with common roses, which it is desirable to increase as 

 soon as possible, but more frequently with Chinese roses, Noisettes, 

 Banksias, and the like. Of course, it is the autumnal bud and bark which 

 are taken. 



Free-growing and slow-growing roses should not be placed on the same 

 stock. In taking off the bud from the scion, separate the little segment of 

 wood which comes off with it ; if this is done with difficulty, " the buds, 

 upon it must be rejected, though some might by a possibility succeed." (See 

 Vol. I. p. 329.) The prepared bud, with a piece of bark above and below 

 it, is called the shield ; when inserted in the incision on the stock, it is^cut 

 across at the top, so as to fit exactly to the cross cut in the bark of the 

 stock. The first junction takes place at the cross cuts, by the sap in its 

 descent oozing out there, and joining the inner bark of the two cross cuts 

 together, and therefore great care must be taken to fit the shield at that 

 place very exactly to the stock. As soon as a shoot is cut off for the pur- 

 pose of supplying buds, cut off the leaves, to prevent drying by their eva- 

 poration : this is more especially necessary in sending shoots for budding to 

 a distance. The bass ligature should be pretty tight, and a laurel leaf may 

 be slightly tied in, in such a way as to form an arch over the bud, to defend 

 it from the sun and rain, both of which are as prejudicial as the air. 



Budding may be performed on the body of the stock, especially when the 

 bark is not very hard. Not one bud in ten ought to fail. In general two 

 are enough for a tree. The ligatures may be removed, in moist seasons 

 after a month, but in hot weather not for six weeks at least. 



Ti-ee roses are pruned in the first week of March ; " leave a couple of 

 buds on every shoot of last year's growth, or three, at most, upon a very 

 strong one. . . . If the tree be not pruned at all, it will lose its shape entirely 

 in a single year, afford little or no bloom the next, and eventually straggle 

 to death." Cut about the thickness of a sixpence above the bud, and at 

 an angle of 45^, i. e. so as to form such a slant as would be made by dividing 

 a square from angle to angle. " Cutting out old wood should always take 

 place where it can," the desirable point being to keep young shoots direct 

 from the old head, or from two or three strong branches. " This principle 

 well applied, will always keep the trees in bounds ; but as this requires 

 judgment, and cannot well be explained in writing, take a lesson upon the 

 subject, the first convenient opportunity, from a scientific gardener." (p. QS.) 



In planting out tree roses, they never look well in a clump : and, there- 

 fore, single plants, or some sort of line, is preferable ; or you may place dif- 

 ferent heights in succession, so as to look like a sloping bank. A three feet 

 standard is in good keeping with the head it carries, and is the proper 

 height in confined situations | distant from the eye, the height may be 

 greater. 



To graft the rose, collect scions in March, stick them in a lump of clay 

 1 in. deep; press the clay firmly to them; then put the lump of clay in a 

 pot-ful of earth, leaving the shoots out, and cutting off their points, if any 

 are growing, to prevent exhaustion ; and set them in any shed or out-house, 

 neither very dry nor very damp, for three weeks. The object of laying by 

 the scions thus, is, that the stock may be the forwardest. Graft in the cleft 

 manner. (Vol. II. p. 192.) " In the event of your having neglected to pro- 

 cure stocks, the operation of grafting [or budding] may be performed equally 



