ROSES IS9 
buried; now on the under-surface of the portion that will lie in the 
earth a clean upward cut must be made half-way through the shoot and 
then in a direction towards the tip. A small splinter of wood is put in 
to keep the cut open, a slight groove is made in the earth to receive the 
“ layer,” which is pegged down and covered with mould, the growing end 
being bent upward and secured to a stick. Two or three buds near the 
tip should be allowed to remain, but the others should all be nipped out 
When there is no doubt that good roots have been emitted and attained 
sufficient dimensions to enable them to feed a young plant, the layer 
should be cut across below the tongue, and the newly-constituted plant 
removed without injury to the tender roots. 
Budding is the highest form of the art of Rose-propagation. It is 
not a. very difficult operation, but it must be performed according to the 
rules, and at the appropriate season, otherwise the bud may perish and the 
experiment result in failure. Should it be intended to manipulate plants 
kept in the greenhouse, the operation may be performed early in the 
year; as soon in fact as suitable buds may be obtained. But for open- 
air work, from the end of May to the beginning of August is the most 
suitable time. There are many methods of budding, and- each has its 
advantages for special purposes; but as one form is most frequently 
practised in the case of Roses, we shall be content with giving that. We 
must, however, preface our directions by explaining the theory of bud¬ 
ding in a few words. The process must be performed when the sap is 
freely circulating but is not too thin and watery; and a dormant bud 
from a desirable fine-flowering variety is so intimately united to a 
vigorous stock of, say, the Dog Rose, that by the suppression of all other 
buds, the vital forces of the Dog Rose go to stimulate and feed the foreign 
bud and cause it to grow into a stout shoot. This is then trained as a 
continuation of the main-stem, and allowed to branch and flower whilst 
the stock is deprived of every opportunity for growth except through this 
shoot Such a Rose-tree will bear abundant flowers of the approved 
kind years before a flowering tree of the same size could be obtained 
from seed, and at least a year earlier than from a cutting. In order to 
get a perfect union between the bud and the stock, the former is cut from 
its parent tree with a portion of the bark and inner bark attached, but 
with none of the wood. The bark of the stock is then turned aside and 
the bud brought into close contact with the naked stock; the bark again 
turned down and secured with bast-fibres. This can only be done properly 
in July or August when the bark separates from the wood freely, a 
remark which applies to budding generally. By this means the surfaces 
of stock and bud become inseparably united, and by the destruction of 
