ROSES 357 



In potting have the soil moderately moist, so that they will need 

 little water until the roots begin to take with the soil. 



Amateur Method of Making Cuttings 



To the great majority of amateur Rose growers the propagation 

 of the Rose by very easily manipulated methods is comparatively 

 unknown. There is a method so easy that every boy and girl may, 

 with a little care, increase the number of their plants. The almost 

 certain method of making a long stemmed cutting and rooting it 

 under a glass fruit jar where the plant is to grow, is one of the best 

 and easiest. If the stem of the cutting is about 8 inches long and 

 when in place the entire stem below the two topmost leaves is buried 

 in the soil success will result. It is wonderful how these cuttings 

 will root with but little attention beyond giving a little water occa- 

 sionally. Many more Rose plants would be sold if children only 

 knew this very simple method. A still better method is to place the 

 long cuttings in pots and bury the pots deep enough so that only 

 the tops of the cuttings are above the surface and sink them deep 

 enough in the soil so that the two top leaves only are above the 

 surface, placing the fruit jars on them and watering occasionally. 

 This method allows the rooted plant to be lifted in its pot and 

 planted out in any part of the garden desired. It is usually the case 

 that this rooted cutting will make a much better plant than the 

 ordinary short-stemmed cutting. The school children can root 

 Rose cuttings by this method just as successfully as any other 

 plant and have the rooted plants within a few months every whit 

 as good and strong as those plants which cost anywhere from loc. 

 to 50c. per plant. The suggestion is to root the stems of the green- 

 house Roses after they have finished blooming. 



Propagation by Seeds 



New varieties are largely raised from seeds ripened from hand- 

 pollinated flowers. In raising plants from seeds, if sown as soon as 

 ripe, they germinate very irregularly. Some of the Hybrid Perpet- 

 uals will germinate part of a crop and some of them will flower in two 

 months from date of sowing. Other seedlings, germinated at the 

 same period, will take at least a year to bloom, while other seeds of 

 the same batch will lie in the seed pan over a year before vegetating. 

 The reason why the seeds sometimes remain a long time in the soil 

 before germinating is owing to their being inclosed by a horny sub- 

 stance. This should be softened before sowing, by allowing the seeds 



