sot 



ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM. 



PART III. 



540 



shortened or cut off, and all those on the lower part of the stock removed, 

 the new bud will push in two or three weeks; and will flower the same 

 season, it' treated as above directed for the shoots produced by buds inserted 

 in April. The scion of a rose-tree, Dr. Van Mons observes, is seldom too 

 dry for the buds to succeed, provided the shield is inserted with a thin bit of 

 wood behind its eye ; but when the bark is quite fresh, and full of sap, this 

 thin bit of wood is unnecessary. 



Grafting is occasionally employed for propagating the rose, particularly in 

 the case of dwarfs. For this purpose, the scions should be collected in March, 

 and stuck in a lump of clay, 1 in. deep : the clay should be pressed firmly to 

 the ends of the scions, and the mass afterwards bedded in a pot full of earth, 

 to prevent the moisture in the clay from 

 evaporating, but not so as to cover the 

 shoots. The pot of scions may then be 

 set in any shed or outhouse, that is 

 neither very dry nor very damp, for 

 three weeks. The object of treating the 

 scions in this manner is to retard their 

 growth, in order that the stocks may be 

 more forward in vegetation than the 

 scions. In Flanders, where the cleft 

 mode is commonly adopted, care is 

 taken that the scion is of the same 

 diameter as the stock, as in fig. 540. a a ; 

 or that the cleft in the stock is made 

 sufficiently near one side, to admit of 

 the bark of the scion fitting the bark 

 of the stock on both of its edges, as shown at b b. In grafting on the dog- 

 rose, the same practice is followed, with this addition, that the shoulder c is 

 very often made to the scion ; care being taken that there is a bud on the 

 wedge part of it (d), as shown at e. Whip, or splice, grafting is, also, A 

 sometimes practised with the rose ; in which case, it is essential to 

 have a bud left on the lower extremity of the scion, as indicated in 

 fig. 541., which would otherwise die off. This, both in niche budding 

 and in grafting, contributes materially to success, on the same principle 

 that cuttings and layers are more certain of rooting when they are cut 

 at a joint, than between the joints. The reason is, that the vital prin- 

 ciple is there more powerful ; and that the germs, both of buds and 

 roots, are, in most plants, confined to the joints of the stems ; though 

 in some, as in the common elm, they appear to be distributed equally 

 over every part of the stem and roots. In making the incision in the 

 side of the stock which is to receive the scion that is to be applied in 

 the whip, or splice, manner, the knife ought always to be entered at 

 the base of a bud, and passed upwards. 



The grafts, in Belgium, are tied on with fine bast, which is made water-proof 

 by passing it first through a solution of white soap, and next through one of 

 alum ; a neutral compound being thus formed, which is insoluble in water. 

 The ligature is covered with marly clay in the usual manner, or with grafting 

 wax. (Gard. Mag., vol. ii. p. 192.) 



Stocks for grafting or budding Roses. On the Continent, as well as in Eng- 

 land, these are generally procured from the woods and hedges, of an age and 

 size fit for immediate use. The best season for collecting them is November ; 

 because they can then be immediately planted ; and they will be in a fitter 

 state for pushing out roots and shoots the following spring, than if they had 

 not been obtained till that season, or even if they had been got out of the 

 woods in autumn, and the planting delayed till spring. Stocks, so procured, 

 have very few fibrous roots, which renders this attention to their early plant- 

 ing more necessary; though it must be confessed, that roses will grow with 

 fibrous roots than almost any other sort of ligneous plant. The best 



541 



