Page 20 



BETTER FRUIT 



May 



Figure 1— AMERICAN BEAUTY 



days. When it is known the cuttings 

 have rootlets half an inch or more long 

 (Figure 3) then it is time to pot them 

 off; and this is a job that requires con- 

 siderable care, lest you destroy most of 

 the roots. The best compost in which to 

 pot these baby plants is good, rich gar- 

 den soil, but there must be no rank 

 manure or strong fertilizer in it. The 

 soil should be passed through a quarter- 

 inch sieve, or at least made as fine as 

 possible with the hands; two or two and 

 one-half-inch pots are large enough to 

 receive the rooted cuttings, and after all 

 are potted they may be put on a tray of 

 damp sand and put back on the kitchen 

 window sill, inside, or, better still, under 

 a light of glass or in a cold frame on the 

 north of the house, outside. They will 

 require to be carefully, yet thoroughly, 

 watered after potting, and should have 

 no more water for a week, during which 

 time they must be kept from sun and 

 air as much as possible. After a week 

 the little plants will have established 

 themselves in the new soil, and from now 

 on may have more air, water and expo- 

 sure, until they do not need to be cov- 

 ered at all. Now, please remember, there 

 is nothing arbitrary in these instructions. 

 If you have not got flower pots and bell 

 glasses you may use a box and a pane 

 of glass, and the whole work may be 

 done outdoors, on the north side of a 

 building. Whether you put a half-dozen 

 cuttings in a pot, or a hundred in a box, 



FIGURE 2 



or a thousand in a hotbed, the principle 

 is the same. The cutting is a suspended 

 plant and will, if given proper environ- 

 ment, reproduce itself. It must be borne 

 in mind never to let the cutting wilt, and 

 during the whole time it is forming cal- 

 lous and roots it must not be exposed to 

 sun or drafts of air, and that the sand 

 must never be dry, yet not waterlogged. 

 Do not stand pots containing cuttings 

 in saucers of water, for this excludes 

 the air and' prevents the downward move- 

 ment of water. If you cannot get small 

 pots in which to grow the rooted cut- 

 tings small bean cans, pepper or other 

 small cans will answer; always remem- 

 bering that you can hardly get the cans 

 too small, and that the bottoms must 

 be punched full of holes to allow of 

 proper drainage. Remember, too, never 

 to expose a tin can in which a plant is 

 growing to the direct rays of the sun, 

 for tin is a great conductor of heat, and 

 all roots on the exposed side will burn 

 and your plant suffer. 



All roses may be propagated in this 

 way. Florists prepare large hotbeds 



FIGURE 3 



within a greenhouse, cover them with 

 sash to preserve the proper condition of 

 moisture and air exclusion, cut rose 

 branches in armfulls, plunge them at 

 once into a tub of water to prevent wilt- 

 ing, and in this way propagate the beauti- 

 ful roses in tens of thousands. After the 

 young plants are thoroughly established 

 in their pots and inured to the weather, 

 which will require five to six weeks, they 

 may be planted permanently in the gar- 

 den or put into a larger pot, as you desire. 



Figure 4, reading from left to right: 

 The first is an American Beauty cutting, 

 four eyes. The second is a typical hybrid 

 tea, four eyes. The third is a two-eye 

 rooted cutting of Bridesmaid, a tea rose. 

 Notice all the foliage is trimmed partly 

 off. Figure 5 is a typical cutting of a 

 hybrid perpetual of summer blooming 

 variety, and shows a four-eye cutting, 

 trimmed ready for the sand. Figure 6 

 shows a cutting of a tea rose with the 

 top eye or leaf bud too far started. Dis- 

 card all wood where the eyes have 

 started, for they will make unsatisfactory 

 plants. 



There are certain roses somewhat diffi- 

 cult to propagate by cutting. They do 



have subjects of this kind we resort to 

 not seem to root readily, so where we 

 layering to increase our stock. Moss 

 roses, sweet briers and the old Persian 

 yellow are some of those difficult to 

 root. Layering is a simple process. Dig 

 the ground around the plant to be oper- 

 ated on and make it as fine and friable as 

 possible. Select a spot near the extrem- 

 ity of a limb, where its last branches or 

 division is, from the underside of the 

 limb make a slanting cut, severing the 

 limb half to two-thirds through, bend 

 the limb to the ground and peg down the 

 slit portion in the mellow soil, using bail- 

 ing wire, bent hairpin fashion, and about 

 six inches long; use one of more of these, 

 and if the limb has a tendency to spring 

 back to its old place weight it down with 

 a brick or stone, or something handy. 

 This layering is best done just after 

 blooming time, and the limbs may be 

 left pegged down till fall, when the por- 

 tion pegged in the ground may be wholly 

 severed from the parent plant and the 

 young plants given new positions in the 

 garden. 



Those varieties of roses known as 

 hybrid perpetuals, and which do little 

 branching but make long, straight canes, 

 may all be propagated in the way above 

 described by cutting the canes into sec- 

 tions of three to five eyes, removing part 

 of the foliage and treating exactly as 

 with teas and hybrid teas. These long 

 caned fellows may also be propagated 

 by cutting the canes into sections about 

 six inches long in the autumn and stick- 

 ing them in well prepared ground in a 

 sheltered place. Do not try this plan if 

 the temperature in your locality goes as 

 low as zero, for you would lose most of 

 of them. Roses propagated in this way 

 must be left where they are stuck for a 

 year, after which they may be used in 

 making new beds. 



As these instructions are written for 

 the ladies who read "Better Fruit," and 

 solely with a view to the encouragement 

 of a love of the beautiful. I trust you will 

 try and root a few cuttings of the queen 

 of flowers next July. It is more fun than 

 raising chickens. 



Figure 5— AMERICAN BEAUTY 



