220 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES 



by no means difficult, not from books, but from some 

 neighbour Budhist, who will quickly teach him as 

 much of transmigration as he desires to know. If he 

 learns to make one slit only, so much the better, the 

 transverse cut being quite unnecessary, and liable to 

 cause breakage if too deeply made. 



Select strong buds from your Rose-trees. It re- 

 quires some little resolution to cut away the cleanest, 

 most healthful wood, but the recompense is sure and 

 ample. Do not expose your cuttings to the sun — a 

 watering-can, with a little damp moss in it, is a good 

 conveyance — and get them comfortably settled in 

 their new homes as soon as it can be done. In a 

 month or so you may remove the cotton — if you use 

 bast, a natural decay will remove it for you ; in 

 November you may shorten the budded shoot to 5 or 

 * 6 inches from the bud ; and early in April you may 

 cut it close to the bud itself. You must now keep a 

 constant supervision over your budded stock, removing 

 all superfluous growth, and having your stakes in 

 position, so that you may secure the growing bud 

 against those sudden gusts which will force it, if not 

 safely fastened, ^ clean out' of the stock. These 

 stakes must be firmly fixed close by the Briers, and 

 should rise some 2 feet above them. To this upper 

 portion the young shoot of the Rose, which grows in 

 genial seasons with marvellous rapidity, must be 



