136 



THE BOOK OF THE ROSE 



CHAP. 



heat in a frame which excludes the air, and it is most 

 interesting to watch the callus or cambium growth 

 forming between the two barks. The bud will probably 

 start in about three weeks, and then air will be 

 gradually given, and a high but even temperature 

 maintained till the plant has grown sufficiently to 

 be hardened by degrees and to stand exposure to 

 an ordinary mild atmosphere. 



The young growths will be very liable to " damp off/' 

 and the usual precautions against this catastrophe, of 

 admitting air above, even in frosty weather when the 

 heat must be increased, must be strictly attended to. 

 Roses propagated in this manner are of very little use 

 for planting out, and the amateur, in ordering new 

 varieties, should see that he does not get them. 



Where there are no appliances of close frames with 

 bottom heat, the operation must be deferred to a little 

 later in the year, the stocks must be in a more forward 

 condition, and grafting wax must be used to cover the 

 whole of the operated parts closely, as is the case with 

 fruit-trees grafted in the open air. French grafting 

 wax which can be used cold is preferable to home-made 

 material, but winter grafting can hardly be considered 

 worth the trouble for amateurs, unless it be earned out 

 on a large scale, and close frames with bottom heat in 

 properly constructed houses can be provided. 



Boses on their own Boots. — It is constantly being put 

 forward as a new discovery that Roses, especially some 

 varieties, may themselves be struck as cuttings, and 

 will in time form fair plants and give decent blooms. 

 " Why then," it is said, " take all this trouble about 

 stocks and budding ? You plant your cuttings in the 

 autumn, in any quantity, as it is all wood that you will 

 cut away at the spring pruning, and you thus get real 



