THE CULTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF ROSES. 
207 
of certainty. The being damped immediately 
by the application of wet moss will hardly 
undo any mischief already done ; so that a 
sharp knife, a clean cut, and rapid action are 
necessary, and can hardly fail. If the bud 
is cut out of the branch too thick, and too 
much wood is taken out with the bark and 
bud, the wood ought to be cut thinner, or 
pulled out from the bark of the bud altogether ; 
but there is danger in taking out the wood, 
for it will occasionally bring out the "germ of 
the bud with it. The effect of this would be, 
that nothing would indicate outside what was 
wrong, but the bud would not grow. It 
would look as green, as fresh, and as com- 
pletely united, as if the germ were there. On 
this account, we have long discontinued the 
practice of taking the little bit of wood from 
the inside of the bud, and with the greatest 
success. This operation should be carried 
through all the stocks, and if you have plenty 
of buds, on each of the branches ; because two 
buds will make a head sooner than one, and 
if you choose to do so, you may put two 
different sorts on the same stock. In this 
case, you must be particular about having two 
of about the same habit, for a fast-growing 
one would soon deprive a slow-growing one 
of all the necessary nourishment; and, besides 
this, it would grow incongruously, and not be 
controllable : on the other hand, if you have 
two of similar habit, and opposite colours, it 
may be made a very pretty object. But the 
great value of this delicate, though simple 
operation, is to make an old China, or 
other strong-growing Rose, long established, 
change its face altogether. Many kinds of 
Roses may be budded on such a tree, by 
selecting all the strong-growing branches of 
the present year's growth, putting a different 
bud in each, and cutting all the other parts of 
the tree away, leaving the novelties alone to 
grow; or the buds may be all of the same 
sort, so it be some choice kind; but different 
coloured Roses have the best effect. 
GRAFTING THE ROSE. 
This is by no means so simple an operation, 
though not a very difficult matter; never- 
theless, the pith in the centre of the wood is 
against it, as well as the discrepancy in general 
between the stock and the scion. The act of 
grafting is adopted for the same purpose as 
that of budding — to propagate particular 
varieties. It is not so safe nor so certain a 
mode as budding, but in the spring there is 
no other means, and as in the purchase of 
new Roses there is generally a good deal of 
ripe wood that must be cut off, those who 
have stocks that are fit for grafting frequently 
adopt it. There are various modes of per- 
forming this operation : one or two ways are 
applicable to the old wood of the stock; other 
modes are more adapted to the last year's 
branches. In the one case, a cleft is made in 
the stump of the stock, and the wood be- 
longing to the new Rose to be inserted is cut 
in an angular form to fit it. It is then bound 
in its place by bast matting, or some other tie, 
and the joins covered with grafting clay, 
or, which is more generally used for Roses, 
grafting wax; a composition formed of bees- 
wax and resin, in equal parts, and a little 
tallow, to render it easily fusible at a low 
heat, because the real object of this wax is to 
melt at a heat which will not hurt the trees, 
but that will, on cooling, be sufficiently hard to 
keep in its place, and bear even the heat of the 
sun without running away. There are various 
modes of grafting the smaller branches of the 
stock, that is to say, the branches of last 
year's growth. One mode is, to cut the 
branch down to two inches in length, and then 
cut this short piece down the middle, cutting 
out the inside of the wood sloping outwards, 
so as to receive a wedge-shaped graft, which 
should be about the same size if possible ; cut 
this into the shape of a wedge, and insert it 
in the stock, making as complete a fit as 
possible, and be careful that the bark of both 
scion and stock must exactly join on one side, 
whether it reach the other side or not ; for, 
unless the barks meet on one side, it will be 
impossible to unite. It will frequently hap- 
pen that the scion is smaller than the stock ; 
the one must be used as you have got it, the 
other you must get as good as you can ; 
and when you have it, make the best of it. 
Others, in grafting, cut the branch of the 
stock into a wedge, and the scion is cut to 
receive it. The effect is the same in the end 
if well done, and in good grafting the join is 
soon lost in the growth. There is one ad- 
vantage in 'grafting in spring : if it takes, you 
may have Roses the same year, and thus a 
season is saved ; but, if any of them fail, the 
stock will grow, if the graft does not ; and, of 
course, if the graft does not grow, you must 
allow the top branches of the stock to grow, 
and rub off all other buds, just as if it had not 
been grafted. The China kinds will graft at 
any time of the year, but it must be on China 
