2G8 
THE CULTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF HOSES. 
stocks, or stocks partaking of the nature of 
China stocks. It is only the deciduous kind 
of stock which is confined to the spring graft- 
ing. The French growers are famous for 
grafting, and it is not uncommon to see the 
solid stock of a large size cleft to make room 
for a small bit of choice wood ; they holding 
it to be a waste to throw away the prunings 
of the Rose, and giving much attention to the 
profitable use of them. We have seen a 
French grower, after purchasing a choice tree, 
cut off all the prunings as close as possible, 
and put them in his pocket. This, we thought, 
was sufficiently indicative of which Rose had 
to be sent to him ; but he no sooner got home 
to his own nursery, than he cut the wood into 
lengths of two eyes, and actually grafted 
twenty-five stocks with the wood, and some 
with two pieces of the wood. His method 
was to cut down a slit on one side the stock, 
which he had first cut down rather sloping, 
with an eye on the upper side of it, making a 
second cut down, a little angularly, so as to 
take out a piece like a thick narrow blade of a 
knife; that is to say, thick at the back, and 
a sharp edge in front : cutting the lower 
half of his graft to fit in this place, he bound 
it there with worsted, and then, having some 
composition already described, he soaked 
narrow bits of linen in it, and strapped them 
neatly round, so as to exclude the air, and the 
linen, of course, stuck there, as he finished it, 
by the cooling of the composition. Many of 
these Roses bloomed in the proper season, and 
here the advantage over budding was seen; 
for they had good heads before the buds put 
in the following Midsummer had fairly started, 
and this is, in fact, the only object of grafting. 
It uses up the wood which must be otherwise 
wasted in many cases; for, although cuttings 
will strike, they will not flourish at all times, 
on their own roots, so well as on the more 
vigorously growing stocks, or, at any rate, 
they will not for some years ; the stocks, for 
the most part, being well-established, full- 
grown, vigorous-rooted plants ; whereas, the 
plant on its own root has to be pruned down to 
it for years before it can be making strong wood. 
STANDABDS ON THEIR OWN BOTTOM OB ROOT. 
It is very common to see among dwarf or 
Bush-roses, a strong shoot growing upright, a 
sucker from the root; and it is frequently the 
case that these will rise up to five or six feet 
high. In the Moss-roses this is often to be 
found. These may always be trained into 
standard trees, with heads in every way pro- 
portioned to the stem. As soon as a vigorous 
shoot of this kind makes its appearance, cut 
in the bush at bottom rather hard, as it will 
tend to strengthen the root, which will be 
relieved of some of its work by the operation. 
When the shoot has attained the required 
height, pinch off the top : this will encourage 
side shoots, all of which, except the two or 
three at the top, must be rubbed off. It 
rarely, however, occurs that any side-growth 
is made the first season ; so that the better 
way, unless the shoot be getting too long 
early in the season, is to let it ripen its w r ood. 
The latter part of the autumn you may look 
at the root, to see what state it is in, and how 
far it may be dependent on the main root. If 
it be closely joined, so that there would not be 
sufficient root if separated, the old bush 
must be sacrificed, and the root secured for 
the standard. As the upper part of the shoot 
may not be well ripened, it will be as well to 
bind a hayband round it, or tie some moss or 
other litter to save it from sharp frost, though 
moderate ones will not injure. In the spring, 
cut the end off as low down as will do for 
your purpose, and when the buds shoot out it 
will be seen that the three or four upper ones 
come first ; all others on the stem must be 
rubbed off ; nor is it any great use having 
two buds on the same side of the tree, if you 
can manage to have three, or even four within 
a few inches of the top, pointing different 
ways, they will form the better head. These 
may grow as hard as they will, and if they 
show bloom, pick it off as soon as you can get 
hold of it, to strengthen the other portion of 
the tree. Continue to be watchful as to other 
buds that will continually be pushing from the 
main stem, and let not one grow but those you 
have selected for the head. At the end of the 
year these will have made considerable growth, 
and, instead of being cut back the next spring 
to two eyes, as is the practice with many, cut 
them back only as far as to insure the strength 
of the remainder, say so as to leave five or six 
eyes. The next season of growth there will, 
out of three or four branches, come four or 
five branches each. Those which come in 
their places, to help to form a handsome head, 
may be allow r ed to grow, but if any come so 
as to cross others, or where there is plenty of 
growth already, let them be rubbed off; but 
it is quite possible for an eye to shoot where it 
is not wanted, and yet the first or second eye 
of that shoot may be in a direction to fill 
up a vacancy where it is necessary: this must, 
of course, be looked to before buds are 
