PKOPAGATION OF ItlE ROSE. 51 



Layers of some roses strike almost immediately; and from tliis 

 facility, it is a common practice to lay them all over a bed by pegging 

 down the branches on the surface, at small distances, and thus cover 

 a whole space, which have rooted at almost every joint. The flowers, 

 in such cases, are very strong ; but a bush thus treated, and every 

 branch layered, would cut up into an immense number of plants. 



Propttgation by Budding on Briers. 



"We marry 

 A gentle scion on the wildest stock, 

 And make conceive a bark of baser kind 

 By bud of nobler race ; this is art 

 "Which does mend nature — change it rotting ; but 

 The art itself is nature. SHAKBpBAna. 



There is no process in the art of Practical Gardening more interest- 

 ing, nor the fruits of which are more gratifying to an amateur, than 

 budding. The theory is this : At the base of the leaf is a small bud, 

 which, after the leaf falls away from it, becomes prominent, and event- 

 ually, if left on the tree,' makes a branch. By taking a leaf off with 

 part of the bark, this incipient bud comes with it, and by inserting 

 this bark under the bark of another rose tree, say one of these com- 

 mon briers, it unites as if it were originally a part of the brier itself; 

 but the bud retains- all the character of the one it came from, and is 

 not changed in the smallest degree by the transfer from its own to 

 another stock. This is the fact upon which all propagation by bud- 

 ding is founded ; and, therefore, we h ave two leading points to consider 

 in setting about this operation. 



First, we must have the green bark- of the stock, into which the 

 buds are to be inserted, rise easily, which it does all the while the 

 branch is green and growing ; and, secondly, we must wait until the 

 bud, small and almost imperceptible as it is at the base of the leaf, is 

 old enough to be removed with safety. In a general way, the buds 

 of Summer Roses are not ready till nearly mid-summer, and the bark 

 will not easily rise from the wood of the stock much after that. The 

 budding season may, however, be called from the middle of June to 

 the middle of August, and not very much longer. What is meant by 

 the bark easily rising is, easily leaving the wood, so that it would be 

 easy to peel a branch by stripping the bark off. 



