Own Root vs. Budded Roses 
W HEN we first started this business over sixty years ago, foreign-grown 
budded -and grafted Roses were the only Roses to be had. They 
were so unsatisfactory at that time that our Mr. Dingee, the founder 
of this business, conceived the idea of growing Roses on their own 
roots for American homes and gardens. The undertaking was looked upon 
with about as much favor as was Morse’s telegraphic invention. To-day 
Own Root Roses are just as much an improvement over the ancient system 
of budding and grafting on wild roots as the railroads are over stage coaches. 
Some Catalogue Houses, Nurseryman, Seedsmen and Department Stores, 
who are without the equipment or knowledge of growing Own Root Roses, 
import great quantities of these cheap budded Roses from Europe, where 
they are grown in a wet soil, producing a quick, soft growth, and- are 
offered here as heavy specimen or Star size plants. The budding is usually 
done on wild Manettia Rose stalks by taking a 
bud from the original plant and inserting it 
under the bark of the Manettia and binding it 
thereon, as in Illustration No. 5. The first 
year the budded Rose makes a 
rapid, soft growth, probably pro- 
ducing some blooms, but the 
second year the wild root begins to 
assert itself and grows with 
tremendous vigor, throw- OWN ROOT ROSES.—An own root plant is started 
ing out wild shoots from | by taking a portion of a branch from the mother plant 
the roots, thus sapping | and putting in sand until the roots are formed at the 
the life from the top, | bottom, as illustrated in No. 1. This is what is known 
which usually dies, as in | as a rooted cutting. Note how the fibrous roots are 
illustration No. 4. Note the shoot from the side | formed. In Illustration No. 2 we have a first size own - 
with the foliage thereon, which is the wild Rose that | root plant grown in pots. No. 3 illustrates a two-year-old 
will not bloom, or is it ornamental; also note the dead | plant grown in a 4- or 5-inch pot. Note the many fibrous 
branches of the original Rose budded thereon. This | roots, which soon establish themselves in the soil after 
is an actual photograph of a two-year, budded Rose. | planting; also how each shoot or branch is crowned 
Anyone who wants Roses and not wild shrubbery | with a bud: how these branches are formed and how 
should buy only the best or Roses grown on Their | the increase in size is made by making new shoots. 
Own Roots. Such are The Dingee Roses, known the | Compare this photograph with the one of the budded 
world over. We sometimes wonder why these budded | plant (No. 4) and note how different. A budded plant 
Roses are offered by some firms: selling them to an | cannot increase in size unless the increase is made on 
unknowing and unsuspecting public, but, as Barnum | the weak budded branch and then very seldom, but 
said, ‘‘American people like to be humbugged.”’ We | Own Root Roses increase in size each year, unless 
are content to adhere to the principles laid down by | destroyed, and are permanent, producing finer and 
the founder of this business, who, notwithstanding the | better blooms each season. They are the only Roses 
many ridiculous claims put forth by men who were | suitable for the varying climatic conditions of our 
yet unborn when Mr. Dingee was active in the busi- | country, and we cannot emphasize too strongly the 
ness of producing Own Root Roses, now claim to | importance of knowing the kind of plants you are 
have invented this method of production. | getting before placing an order for them. 
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