July 5, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL, OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



11 



followed by the ordinary watering. Never store this liquid or 

 it will deceive you. The Polyanthuses in the border will be 

 grateful for it, and you must make fresh again when the first 

 pip begins to expand, and if you wish to take seed another 

 dose when the flower is fading. This last liquid should be 

 made with leaf mould. 



In my nest communication I will detail an entirely different 

 mode of culture for the Auricula, a method which insures 

 green and white edges from the inconstant varieties in thoso 

 classes, also very large foliage, yet not eoft or flabby; much 

 larger pips, and fine plump seeds, yet the method will be found 

 simple and natural. — G. W. Bullock, Brockton, Stafford. 



PROPAGATING EOSES. 



Roses, unlike some other flowers, are in full beauty at the 

 same period, when measures must be taken to increase the 

 stock of plants. The month of July is the month of Roses, and 

 the same month is the month for budding, also for inserting 

 cuttings. Many, I know, will not accept the latter statement 

 as being correct, nevertheless I must repeat that July is the 

 best month for striking cuttings of Roses. Roses are also 

 increased by grafting, but as that is spring woik I will not 

 further allude to it in the " Rose week." 



I sometimes think that it is because the Rose is in full 

 beauty during the season for budding that so many Rose buds 

 are inserted. People, not rosariane, but just ordinary people, 

 are smitten with the charms of the Rose and are conquered. 

 They impulsively ask how to insert buds and when, and on 

 receiving the necessary information they set to work on the 

 spur of the moment, inserting buds on all sorts of stocks 

 suitable and unsuitable, and become rosarians in embryo before, 

 as the common Baying is, " before they know where they are." 

 There would never be so many growers of Roses if budding 

 wera not so easily learnt, and if the Roses, the glorious Roses, 

 were not there to "coach" them, impel them, to become 

 proficient in the art. Every year there are beginners in the 

 art of Rose-budding ; every year there are numbers who insert 

 their " first bud." They insert it wrongly, possibly for want 

 of knowing better, perhaps insert it aB I inserted my first bud 

 — wrong end upwards, and perhaps it may grow as mine did 

 when so inserted. That just proves how accommodating the 

 Rose is, how simple is the process of budding; and when I 

 hear anyone attempting to enshroud the art with a certain 

 amount of mystery, as I sometimes have heard, I always think 

 of my firBt Rose bud. 



In the early days of my Rose career (long years have rolled 

 since then) I had not the advantage of a guide, I had not seen 

 the Journal of Horticulture. I had to grope my way as best 

 I could, ashamed (I may as well own it) of asking for informa- 

 tion for fear of betraying my own ignorance. It was very 

 weak, I know, on my part, but I never had a strong nerve, and 

 I no more dare append my name to this letter than I dare in 

 the centre of St. James's Hall next Wednesday declare the 

 Rose the most ugly flower of earth. Paradoxical as it may 

 appear, it is because of my diffidence — my weakness, that I 

 write on the subject of budding Roses. There is an old and 

 true saying that an " old poacher makes a good keeper;" he 

 knows the frailties of the craft he has to deal with, their weak 

 points, their habits. Remembering, then, my own early diffi- 

 culties, and presuming there are others as weak and jet as 

 willing now as I was weak and willing then, I offer them my 

 sympathy, my aid. 



I often think, and I have heard others express the same 

 opinion, that there is a powerful vein of sympathy existent 

 between the readers of your Journal. If anyone will make 

 his want known on any horticultural matter, however diffi- 

 cult it may be on one hand or simple on the other, there is 

 always someone ready to "turn up" in the most frank and 

 friendly manner. I was much struck a fortnight ago with 

 the difficulty of one of your contributors in obtaining ma- 

 nure for his Roses. He had no manure, he could neither 

 make it nor buy it, and asked how he was to proceed. That 

 was I thought a poser ; yet " J. B. E." comes to the rescue, and 

 in a most valuable letter gives more information than I venture 

 to say Mr. Camm bargained for. But I am digressing — am 

 wide of the mark on budding, and I must think of my friends 

 who desire to know how to bud and do not like to ask. 



Perchance this number of the Journal will reach someone in 

 perplexity at the same opportune moment that a number reached 

 me nearly twenty years ago. It not only told me when to bud, 

 but showed me how to do it. I have always had a great re- 



spect for that number, and I think I can repeat the first sen- 

 tence from memory, although I cannot state the year nor the 

 month when it appeared. My rendering is as follows :— " ' What 

 is the best weather for budding? I am told damp cloudy 

 weather is.' How often would such a question, asked by an 

 amateur, obtain such an answer ? How startling, therefore, 

 to him to be informed to the contrary ! Why, he has seen it 

 recommended in books ! Yes, nothing more generally recom- 

 mended than damp cloudy weather for budding ! To say 

 bright, warm, sunny weather is best, provided the stocks are 

 in proper condition, will sound like heresy; extensive experi- 

 ence, however, tells me Buch is the case. I may be asked why ? 

 and I would answer that in warm weather the sap is more 

 gelatinous ; and the bud, on being extracted and inserted in 

 the stock quickly, properly tied, &c, soon takes. On the 

 contrary, in wet cloudy weather the sap is more thin and 

 watery, and the bud will not unite so freely. To this we add 

 that a fall of rain (likely in Buch weather) after the buds are 

 inserted will fill up the incisions, and thereby rot and perish 

 the buds before they have time to unite with the stocks. Not 

 only is clear warm weather best for the experienced budder, 

 but likewise for the amateur and tyro." [Correct. — Eds.] 



The last word I can remember is " tyro." It was that word 

 that riveted my attention. I was indeed a tyro then in Rose 

 budding, and there may be other tyros now. I write, then, 

 for tyros. Close your eyes, rosarians; skip this page, it is not 

 for you, you need different fare, and will doubtless find a 

 spread of it; but remember that you once hungered for dif- 

 ferent food than that you now require. Well, after reading 

 that article referred to some years elapsed, and other equally 

 clear, perhaps more so, illustrations of the simple matter of 

 Rose-budding appeared. Although I perhaps could then bud 

 as well as the contributors of those articles, I read them as 

 keenly as if I had never inserted a bud. The " old love " was 

 remembered, was rekindled, and glowed as warmly as ever. 

 One of the articles I allude to was signed " T. J. S., Twicken- 

 ham," the other I forget. I cannot give yon the dates, nor 

 even guess at them. I'm not good at dates ; and I cannot 

 refer to the numbers, for I always send my Journal away after 

 perusal, where it is bound and preserved ; but it is far from me 

 at the present moment. And now, Messrs. Editors, a happy 

 thought strikes me (I wish it had occurred to me before). If 

 you would turn to the numbers and again submit to your 

 new readers what you once submitted to the "old subs," I am 

 sure you would win their thanks and save my time. The 

 authors in my mind and your library have told how to insert 

 buds better than I can tell it, and I will vouch for it the 

 practice detailed is as good as ever. It has never been im- 

 proved upon — has never been put so clearly before, and can 

 never be put more clearly again. I flatter myself that a good 

 idea has been born to me, and I shall rely on your carrying 

 it out. If I see anything wrong in it I will correct it next 

 week. In the meantime time has flown freely, and I must be 

 in town to-night (Monday), and shall remain for the National 

 on Wednesday. Perhaps I may call at 171 ; but do what I ask 

 of you. I'm off. — Johm Hopper. 



[What can we do but comply ? We do so readily, however, 

 because the information requested is good and the modus 

 operandi of budding is clearly shown. As our correspondent 

 has alBo mentioned the striking of Roses from cuttings with- 

 out detailing the practice we publish what Mr. Luckhurst has 

 written under that head. — Eds.] 



" I ascertain," says " T. J. S.," " the time the stocks are ready 

 for budding by rubbing off some of the thorns, and if these are 

 easily detached I know the stocks are in the right condition. 

 I then cut the Bhoots back, leaving on them three or four buds 

 to the stock. In the shoot to be budded I make a T cut (as 

 shown in fig. 1 at a), just through the bark, being careful not 

 to injure either the wood or bark, insert the point of the 

 handle of the budding knife gently into and along each eide 

 of the longitudinal cut (fig. 1), detaching the bark from the 

 wood to allow of the insertion of the bud, for which it is now 

 ready. Obtain the bud by chooBing one which appears to be 

 the fullest from a branch or shoot of the Rose to be propagated. 

 Cut it off, as shown in fig. 2, take the wood out of it carefully, 

 so as not to pull out the heart of the bud, insert it in the 

 T cut under the bark, fig. 3 (in fig. 4 I have shown a large bud 

 with the wood in a, the wood in course of removal at a 1 , the 

 wood taken out, the heart of the bud being left, and to which 

 the arrow points, at a 2 ), push it close, up, as in fig. 5, and tie 

 firmly with wool or ball lamp cotton, as in fig. 6. As the 

 original buds in the shoots in which the bud of the required 



