176 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



tecome dry. Employ a strong body of skilful hands, 

 as despatch is more than half the battle. Carefully 

 prune any defective or injured roots as they are re- 

 laid ; keep them well up in the new border to allow 

 for settling, and mulch with fresh horse-litter when 

 all is finished. If the undisturbed border is pretty 

 fuU of roots, the foKage will not suffer; but if it 

 shows signs of flagging, allow the shading to remain 

 on the roof, and keep the house constantly moist, 

 close, and warm, to induce fresh growth. When this 

 takes place, as wiU be easily seen by the bold, crjsp 

 appearance of the leaves, remove the shading by 

 night and on dull days, gradually give more air, and 

 by degrees allow the house to fall under the usual 

 routine of management. 



The uninitiated, often driven to despair by the 

 down-hill course of their vines, by their persistent 

 growth when they ought to be resting, and by the 

 wholesale shanking of the grapes, will be astounded 

 at the magic effect produced by lifting and re-laying 

 the roots in new compost. Vines which produced 

 long straggling bunches, with a strong tendency to 

 run to tendrils, at once change their character and 

 ripen off close, compact clusters, perfect in colour 

 and finish, without which the highest quality cannot 

 be attained. 



Mulching. — At the close of the preceding para- 

 graph on Renovation, the use of stable manure was 

 mentioned as suitable for covering up the newly- 

 made border. As this material is well calculated to 

 admit the free passage of solar heat into the soil, 

 while it is a preventive of evaporation, and this at a 

 time when the new compost contains more food than 

 the roots are in a condition to absorb, it is preferable 

 to solid manure. But when the spring comes round 

 and the roots are again in activity, a covering of 

 three inches of the best spit manure will supply rich 

 stimulating food, while it draws them upwards into 

 the invigorating influence of the sun and air. 



So also in the management of old-established ex- 

 ternal borders, unless the vines are very vigorous 

 (when it may be deferred untU after the fruit is set), 

 lay on four inches as soon as they start into growth. 

 In the case of old vines, the first mulching may be re- 

 moved and renewed after the stoning process ; but 

 never after the gi-apes begin to colour. Internal 

 borders require similar treatment; but being i-egu- 

 larly watered with copious supplies of tepid liquid, 

 they are better left without the manure until the 

 fruit is set, as too much feeding sometimes leads 

 to sterility. 



Unless the soil of which new borders are made is 

 very light and poor, this mode of stimulating the roots 

 of vines is in every way preferable to mixing manure 

 with the compost, as the latter induces a gross habit 



of growth for a year or two, and is the first ingre- 

 dient in inducing an otherwise good border to become 

 dead, pasty, and worse than useless by the time the 

 vines ripen off their first full crop of grapes. 



THE ROSE AND ITS CULTURE. 



By B. T. Fish. 



TBE PROPABATION OF ROSHS. 



THE science and practice of propagation generally 

 will be treated separately in this work by the 

 most competent authority. Hence it will not be 

 needful to go deeply into the subject here. Never- 

 theless, no guide to Eose-culture could be complete, or 

 become popular, unless it gave plain instructions in 

 the art of multiplying their numbers with success and 

 speed. The successful prosecution of this art brings a 

 new pleasure to Rose-culture ; that of something akin 

 to parentage. It is well to grow Eoses propagated by 

 others ; but the delight has a keener edge when the 

 Eoses have been reared by the growers. In not a few 

 cases, too, the special knowledge of how Roses have 

 been raised, furnishes valuable hints for their culture. 

 Neither need the trade fear the competition of 

 amateur growers. The more the latter raise at home, 

 the more they seem to buy, for the desire for Roses is 

 seldom or never satisfied. Some one has said that 

 had they their garden full of Eoses, they would still 

 want part of their farm for a briar and budding 

 ground. Another great advantage of home propa- 

 gation is that only, or chiefly, those sorts that thrive 

 in that given locality should be largely increased. 

 For every rosarian to grow the same Roses is about 

 as absurd as for all ladies to wear the same sized, 

 shaped, and coloured bonnets. Rose shows are 

 answerable for much of the Eose monotony that pre- 

 vails in gardens. Local propagation wiU, it is hoped, ' 

 do much to break this up. For, after all, not a tenth 

 of the Eose-growers grow for showing at exhibitions ; 

 and for real pleasure give me a hundred Eose-trees 

 of one variety, in robust health and perfect beauty, 

 rather than a hundred distinct varieties, seventy- 

 five of which look seedy or weedy. Of course the 

 relative number here may be extreme, and yet in 

 most gardens fuUy half the Roses grown do not 

 thrive well in the locality. 



The propagation of Eoses resolves itself into one 

 . of seeds, buds, cuttings, grafting, layering, suckers, 

 and root-division. We wiU take them all in order. 



PROPAGATION BT SEEDS. 

 Unless for the obtaining of new and improved 

 varieties, it is hardly worth while to raise Roses in 

 this way. Seedlings can hardly flower till two years 



