JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
146 
[ February 24, 1881. 
most of the seed had fallen, and although it had a liberal 
dressing which included lime, and the soil itself is a good sub¬ 
stantial one, yet there was nothing at all worth cutting on it 
last year.—W m. Taylor. 
ROSES ON THEIR OWN ROOTS. 
In an article bearing on the above subject at page 125 
“ Y. B. A. Z.” takes exception to a few remarks of mine with 
respect to the slow process of producing Boses from cuttings. 
Perhaps “ Y. B. A. Z.” would not have questioned my assertion if 
I had worded it thus—“ To produce Roses ‘ in quantity ’ on their 
own roots is a very slow process.” Your correspondent furnishes 
a very strong argument in favour of my assertion by the experi¬ 
ment he made in 1879, when he “inserted between four hundred 
and five hundred Rose cuttings, and the year following he had 
nearly fifty plants large enough for transplanting.” If this was 
all “ Y. B. A. Z.” obtained from, say, 450 cuttings it is indeed a very 
slow process, and “ Y. B. A. Z.” need no longer “ wonder it is not 
more adopted.” In comparing the two methods of propagation 
your correspondent, respecting the Manetti stock, says, “ Some¬ 
times they are budded the year after planting, but this is not the 
ordinary plan.” “ Y. B. A. Z.” is decidedly in error here, as it is 
a most unusual and unnecessary delay not to bad them the first 
year after planting, while I know of some who plant Manetti 
cuttings in nursery rows in the autumn and bud them the 
following summer. 
Respecting “ARosarian’s Gardener’s” observation on the 
same page, I am very pleased to find an instance in favour of 
Mardchal Niel thriving on its own roots, albeit time is young with 
the plants at present, which undoubtedly received very special 
treatment in the way of heat, moisture, and feeding during the 
growing season ; and although your correspondent may appear 
warranted in auguring favourably from their present appearance, 
they may nevertheless prove a mortifying failure. 
I certainly cannot lay claim to having struck “hundreds of 
Mardchal Niel which in due time produced hundreds of flowers,” 
and would most respectfully ask “A Rosarian’s Gardener” 
what became of them, and how long they lasted. My own ex¬ 
perience, however—which I do not look upon as infallible—has 
taught me the very opposite. I was furthermore confirmed in 
this a short time since when visiting a large establishment where 
flowers are grown for cutting expressly to supply a branch of the 
establishment at one of the most fashionable seaside resorts in the 
south. In looking through the Rose houses I chanced to remark 
to the foreman that out of numerous inquiries as well as from my 
own knowledge I had never found the Mardchal do well and 
prove satisfactory for any length of time on its own roots. He 
instantly drew my attention to a plant, the last one of a batch 
they had on their own roots, and he at the same time assured me 
they had never done any good. A case of the kind was never 
better exemplified, as there were worked plants of the same kind 
in the house in the most luxuriant health. They had proved 
highly satisfactory, and so far as appearance went they were 
likely to do so for a very long time to come, while the plant in 
question was in a state of advanced decrepitude.— Oxonian. 
Reference has been made on pages 125 and 126 to the young 
plants of Mar6chal Niel here, and I willingly give the details 
pursued in their cultivation. Before doing so, however, I must 
say I do not agree with “ Oxonian,” on page 86, where he 
refers to the production of Roses on their own roots as a slow and 
tedious process. From my own experience I do not consider it a 
slow or tedious system ; for example, take Gloire de Dijon, strike 
cuttings during February, grow the plants in pots for one season, 
and they will produce the following spring on an average twenty 
blooms each. Lamarque, Belle Lyonnaise, and Reve d’Or strike as 
freely as the “old Glory,” and all will make equally as much 
wood in a season, but the two former will not bloom so freely. 
Again, strike cuttings the same month of Catherine Mermet, Isa¬ 
bella Sprunt, Horn ere, Safrano, and others, and they will in one 
season make as good plants as those worked on the Manetti or 
Briar and sold in the autumn by the majority of nurserymen. I 
can go further—they will make stronger plants the following 
year than many of those worked upon any stock. I have in¬ 
variably found that worked plants of many varieties of Teas do 
not grow with that vigour they do when on their own roots and 
are independent of the stock. The Manetti as a stock I consider 
useless except for the purpose of manufacturing Roses under the 
present system. How long will many Roses live upon it ? Leave 
a portion of the stock above ground, and it quickly dies or makes 
but poor progress. The Mardchal will not do upon it. It may do 
well for one year, when it will have exhausted the stock and it 
dies. In the majority of cases it will not live long enough for the 
Mardchal to throw out roots from the union and support itself. 
The Mardchal will thrive satisfactorily on the Briar for a few 
years, when it cankers at the union and dies. I have also seen it 
die when on the Briar when it has not caukered, but the majority 
die through cankering—the Briar not swelling in proportion to 
the Rose worked upon it. I believe there is ample proof in 
the country if collected to prove that the Briar is not a suitable 
stock for the Marechal Niel, its life upon it is not long enough. 
To return to the plants referred to here : they are now in 
10-inch pots, and the Marechal Niel has grown stronger than the 
Gloire de Dijons rooted at the same time and grown exactly under 
the same conditions. Three of the Marechals scarcely vary more 
than 6 inches in the length of shoots, which are over 25 feet in 
length. They are now breaking into growth, and I counted on 
one plant thirty-three flower buds visible, and there are between 
sixty and seventy breaks in all at the present. The remaining, 
say thirty-three, are scarcely forward enough to see the flower 
buds yet, but without doubt many of them will flower. The 
smallest plant rooted at the same time has made over 15 feet of 
growth. Gloire de Dijon did not attain more than 15 feet, but 
branched and made a greater number of shoots. 
Young shoots quite soft were selected for the cuttings of the 
Mardchal Niel about 2 inches in length, taken with a small heel 
from not extra strong shoots. The “ Glories ” were short pieces 
of the same length cut to a joint, no heel, quite green wood not 
nearly half ripened, and in this condition the majority of Roses 
strike well. Six-inch pots were prepared and well drained, filled 
with loam and sand, three parts of the latter to one of the former, 
to within an inch of the top, which was all sand. No foliage was 
taken from the cuttings, not even the bottom leaf. They were 
inserted as thickly as possible, well watered, and plunged in the 
propagating frame. The frame was not opened for several days 
until it was thought watering might be necessary. The admission 
of air is, I believe, the cause of many Rose cuttings damping off 
when young tender wood is employed. They quickly callused 
and the top growth of ths Marechals began, but no harm resulted, 
as some say is the case when growth takes place at the top before 
roots are formed. They rooted as quickly as Pelargoniums and 
nearly as freely. They had the aid of slight bottom heat, and the 
frame stood in a temperature of 65°. As soon as roots were formed 
the plants were potted singly in 3-inch pots and returned to the 
frame for a week or ten days. The growths that had started at 
the top were pinched and roots were made quickly. The plants 
were gradually hardened and placed under the shade of some 
Cucumbers for a few days. They remained in this temperature 
(65° at night) until they attained about a foot in length, which 
was in a very short time. Each was supplied with a stake 3 feet 
in length, and the plants placed in 6-inch pots, and in about ten 
days removed to a vinery in which a suitable temperature was 
maintained to gradually harden them for cooler treatment. In a 
short time the plants were removed to the Rose house and placed 
at one end of the side stages. The strongest were placed in 8-inch 
pots and given longer stakes. They soon became too large for 
the position they were in, and the roof was already too full of 
Roses trained under it. The greenhouse was selected as their 
future position, and to make room for them some less worthy 
objects were thrown away. When removing them towards the 
end of June they were 4 or 5 feet in length, some more. They 
were all placed in 10-inch pots to save disturbing them again, but 
they were not really ready for this shift, as the pots were not so 
full of roots as I should have wished before placing them in such 
large pots. A severe check ensued, and growth was brought to a 
complete standstill. At first I thought it had been occasioned 
through the operation of potting ; but my foreman, to whom the 
work was entrusted, assured me that could not be the case, as he 
had done them all carefully himself. Being a trustworthy man 
his statement on that point was sufficient, and we looked in other 
directions for the cause, which we never found. To our surprise 
the whole started strongly from the base, some just above the soil, 
others below it. The former shoots grew but little more. Nothing 
in the end was lost by the check or small rest they enjoyed, for 
they made rapid progress and grew with such luxuriance as I 
never saw young Roses grow before. The Marechals reached the 
top of the house before stopping, a distance of 24 feet from where 
the pots were standing, and three of them grew 2 feet too long 
for the house and had to hang down. 
The soil used for potting was rich fibry loam, a seventh part of 
old Mushroom bed refuse, consisting of half leaves and horse 
droppings, and a 6-inch potful of bone dust was added with 
plenty of sand to keep the whole porous. No stimulants were 
given during the season, but plenty of water while growing. The 
plan's wire liberally syringed to keep down spider, aphides, and 
