ROSES— BUDDING. 



July and August are the most suitable months to bud roses, and the best buds are 

 obtained from a shoot that has carried a good bloom. 



The selection of buds is important. Do we not see the same characteristic of one 

 plant reproduced in its offset ? We bud or graft a piece of growth that may have 

 sported in some favoui-able form, and expect it to, more or less, perpetuate the freak, 

 yet very little care is usually exercised in the selection of buds, and guarding against 

 taking them from a weakly plant, or one producing indifferent blooms of its 

 particular variety. Choose the buds, then, from a shoot bearing a good repre- 

 sentative blossom. 



Fig. 80 illustrates a piece of rose growth, with buds in 

 various conditions. The bud a is too forward, and the seat 

 would probably tear away when removing the small portion of 

 wood ; h is too young ; c gives us a bud in the right stage and 

 shows the method of detaching the same. Do not bring the 

 knife quite through the bark at the base of the bud, but tear 

 away a strip so that when removed it represents d. The advan- 

 tage of this is found when removing the small portion of wood 

 covering the seat or root of the rose bud. Turn back the bark, 

 and with a slight jerk detach the piece of wood, when, if the 

 bud be in the proper condition you will find the root of the bud 

 very prominent, and evidently well suited to rest on the wood 

 of the foster stock. 



To prepare the stock, make a cut with the point of a knife : 

 two and a-half inches long is suflB.cient. Do not cut deeper than 



just through the bark, and then lift the bark gently with the bone-handle of your 

 knife or a piece of thin wood. The less you disturb the thick, sticky sap below 

 the bark the better, and the quicker and cleaner the whole operation is performed 

 the greater are the chances of success. Slip the prepared bud beneath the raised 

 bark, and then slide it down as nearly as possible to the base of the dwarf stock, or 

 close to the main stem of the standard briar ; c and d in Fig. 81 will explain this. 

 It only remains to tie in the bud, avoiding constriction and leaving the eye, e, exposed. 



In about three weeks the bud will have taken, or died ; in the latter case bud on 

 another branch of the standard briar, or carefally insert a second upon the opposite 

 side in case of dwarf stocks. Never mutilate the growth of any stock just previous 



Fig. 80. Choosing and 

 TAKING OUT Rose Btjds. 

 a, Too advanced ; 6, too 

 weak ; c, right stage, and 

 partly cut out ; d, remov- 

 ing wood before insertion 

 in stock. 



