2(i<> 
THE CULTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF ROSES. 
than budding. The theory is this : at the 
baseof the leal' is a small hud, which, after the 
leaf falls away from it, becomes prominent, 
and eventually, if left on the tree, becomes a 
branch. By taking a leaf off with part of the 
bark, this incipient hud comes with it, and 
by inserting this bark under the bark of 
another Rose-tree, say one of these common 
Briers, it unites as if it were originally a part 
of the Brier itself; but the bud retains all the 
character of the one it came from, and is not 
changed in the smallest degree by its transfer 
from its own to another stock. This is the 
fact upon which all propagation by budding 
is founded, and, therefore, we have two leading 
points to consider in setting about this opera- 
tion : first, we must have the green bark of 
the stock, into which the buds are to be 
inserted, rise easily, which it does all the 
while the branch is green and growing ; and, 
secondly, we must wait until the bud, small 
and almost imperceptible as it is at the base of 
the leaf, is old enough to be removed with 
safety. In a general way, the buds of summer 
Roses are not ready till nearly Midsummer, 
and the bark will not easily rise from the 
w r ood of the stock much after that. The 
budding season may, however, be called from 
the middle of June to the middle of July, and 
not very much longer : what is meant by the 
bark easily rising is, easily leaving the wood, 
so that it would be easy to peel a branch by 
stripping the bark off. The first thing, then, 
to look to, is to obtain branches of the Rose 
tree from which we want to produce other 
plants. If you obtain these branches before 
you are ready to use them, plant the thick end 
in the ground, and do not let the sun come 
near them, as it would destroy them soon ; 
but they ought not to be an hour longer than 
you can help unused. Get some bast matting 
for ties, or very coarse worsted, which some 
prefer, because it gives way better if the bud 
swells, and wdll stand the weather longer. 
With a very sharp knife, called a budding 
knife, if you have one, and, if not, any other, 
and a thin piece of hard wood or ivory, like a 
diminutive paper knife, you may go to work. 
The knife is to slit the bark down to the wood 
wherever you mean to put in the bud, and the 
piece of hard wood or ivory, with a sort of 
blunt edge like a paper knife, is to divide the 
bark from the wood by running it along under 
the bark, on each side the slit. Being thus 
provided, go to your stocks with your branches 
of the trees you want to propagate in your 
apron, for you ought to have front pockets, 
and the bast matting should be tucked in the 
apron string ; take hold of the stock firmly, 
and shorten both the branches to a foot, or 
even less; then with your knife cut a slit in 
the bark, within half an inch of the base of 
the branch upwards, and on the upper side, 
an inch and a half long ; about the middle of 
this slit make a small cut across ; then with 
your ivory, or thin wood — or more properly, 
if you have it, with the handle of your bud- 
ding knife — raise up the bark on both sides ; 
then take the branch of your Rose-tree, 
from which you take your buds, and with 
your sharp knife shave out of the branch a 
thin piece of the wood, beginning half an inch 
below a leaf, and taking the knife along to 
come out half an inch above the leaf. This 
small bit has to be inserted under the bark on 
both sides, bringing the leaf which is where 
the bud is. to the exact place where the cross 
cut is : when it is neatly inserted, take your 
W*. 
piece of matting, and place the middle of it 
across the slit just under the leaf; pass it 
under, and cross it backwards and forwards 
along the branch till the bark is completely 
tied down close, and only the leaf and bud 
exposed. As the weather at this time is often 
very hot, it is a good plan to tie a bunch of 
loose moss over all, and water the moss occa- 
sion ally the first few days, because it keeps off 
the burning sun, even if dry. and greatly pre- 
serves the newly-disturbed bark. It will be 
easily seen that the quicker this operation is 
performed the better, because if the sap of 
the bud, or that of the raised bark, have 
time to dry, the union of the one with the 
other cannot be completed with any degree 
