SHBTJBBY AND SrB-SHBTTBBY ITOWEBS. 157 



to put in. You must just cut through the bark, without 

 dividing the wood beneath. Cut those slits with a pen- 

 knife on a piece of paper, or on any fresh twig whose 

 bark peels readily, and you will instantly see what their 

 object is. "With the handle of your budding-knife, gently 

 push or lift the bark on each side of the perpendicular 

 slit, or stem of the T, so as to cause it to rise. Or, you 

 may do it with your thumb-nails. As fingers were made 

 before knives and forks, so thumb-nails were invented 

 before ivory-handled budding-knives. Do nothing that 

 can injure or irritate the interior of the wound. If you 

 poke inside it for half an hour, and plough up the skin, 

 you will injure its delicate organization, and in nine cases 

 out of ten you may whistle for your bud. Instead of 

 that, the bark once raised, take the bud out of your 

 mouth, and slip it in gently till it reaches its place. Be 

 as quick as if you wished to spare your patient's suffer- 

 ings. It is really a surgical operation. The bud once 

 settled between the divided bark, bind up the wound 

 with a ligature of softest lamb's wool. Mr. Eivers 

 advises cotton twist, such as the tallow-chandlers use for 

 the wicks of candles ; the finest quality is best. This is 

 certainly far preferable to the bast matting commonly 

 used ; but, with deference to that gentleman, not to 

 lamb's wool, which is more elastic than cotton twist. If 

 you have not been clumsy, the bud will grow ; and then 

 you must unbind it, and let nothing else grow on the 

 briar either at top or bottom. At the end of two or 

 three summers you will have a handsome-headed rose- 

 tree, from which you may gather basketfuls of bouquets, 

 if you prune it properly, — which sometimes consists in 

 abstaining from pruning it. For more about the Rose, see 

 " Paul's Bose Garden," and Bivers's " Eose Amateur's 

 Guide." Distilled rose-water is an excellent wash when 

 the eyes, not the eyelids, are inflamed by cold winds and 

 dust. 



Syringa — Mock orange, Philadelphus coronarius. — A 

 bush, with deciduous leaves white strong-scented 

 flowery, mostly propagated by suckers. 



