134 



THE BOOK OF THE ROSE 



CHAP. 



houses, it can be practised in the winter. A nursery- 

 man, or any one who has the proper appliances, can 

 thus increase his stock of any particular variety many 

 fold in the middle of winter, and thus multiply the 

 number of buds he will be able to use when the outdoor 

 stocks are ready. 



It is in this way that new Roses are so quickly pro- 

 pagated, but of course any other variety which has 

 become scarce can be increased in the same manner. 

 Healthy young stocks not too large should be established 

 in pots the year before for the purpose. They may be 

 manetti or briar cuttings, but the manetti is best, from 

 its ready rooting power, and its susceptibility and 

 readiness to grow when exposed to heat. If the 

 supply of stocks be short, suitable pieces of briar- 

 root, taken from stocks where budding has failed, 

 have often been found to answer the purpose well. 

 It is not intended to form plants for flowering or 

 permanence, but only to provide a larger amount of 

 buds for outdoor propagation. 



The operation is generally performed in January when 

 both stocks and scions are in a dormant condition. All 

 available shoots of the Rose should be cut off and stuck 

 into the ground somewhere where they will not be 

 injured by frost or excited by heat, but kept in the 

 winter sleep. The stocks, however, should be just a 

 little forwarder, by having been brought into the house 

 a short time before, not actually started but ready to 

 grow at once on the application of heat. 



The method of grafting usually employed is the 

 easiest and simplest — whip-grafting, which is an ordinary 

 plain splice such as a fisherman would make to his 

 broken rod. The stock is cut straight across with 

 scissors an inch or two above the soil in the pot, and is 



