A GARDEN IN VENICE 



merits and requirements, and blooms too, early 

 and late. 



The roses that will grow on their own roots 

 we prefer so grown. The system of reproduction 

 called Margotti is general in Italy, and renders 

 this mode of cultivation easy. Less known in 

 England I may describe it for amateurs. The 

 simplest way is with small cornucopias of zinc, 

 in form as the paper ones the grocers fill with 

 pennyworths of sugar, only open at the bottom ; 

 or with four to five inch pots having a slit in the 

 side. In July a branch of the new but well-ripened 

 wood of the rose to be reproduced is surrounded 

 by the zinc or passed through the slit in the pot, 

 a cut being first made under a bud. The pot or 

 zinc is then filled with fine ordinary earth, or 

 earth with sand, and tied for support to a small 

 cane or stake, then covered with moss to prevent 

 evaporation, and kept moderately moist. In about 

 eight weeks the branch is cut from underneath 

 its cradle, the contents taken out without disturb- 

 ance, and the plant well rooted, potted. The 

 young plants then pass the winter out of doors, 



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