March 24, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
227 
it would be successful. There are two objections to the plan, how¬ 
ever ; one is that wo cannot cut back the tap roots, and the other is 
that we only renew a small portion of the soil. The other plan, 
although it takes more time and is more troublesome, is, in my 
opinion, the better of the two. This is to raise a portion of the 
roots, say one side, or half of them one season, and the remainder 
the following season. The roots should be loosened and lifted up, 
and the whole or as much as possible of the soil removed and replaced 
with new. After the roots have been shortened they should be put 
back and the soil made firm round them. This might be done any 
time when the plants are at rest, but early autumn is the best time for 
the operation. The newroots may, and probably will, form before the 
ensuing winter. An easier method of doing nearly the same thing 
consists in cutting a trench round the base of the plant—not too 
close—half way round one year, completing the circle the next. 
The trench may be about a foot wide, and as deep as the roots seem 
to go. The roots being cut off where they come into the trench, 
grow vigorously in the new soil with which the trench should be 
refilled. But here again the weak point is that we cannot cut 
back all the tap roots. 
GRAFTING ROSES. 
There are tricks in all trades, we know, but I think that the 
greatest amount of the trickery in Rose growing occurs in the 
grafting, or rather I ought to say in the sending out in many 
cases of such poor rubbish, such weak and miserable specimens of 
Fig. 41.—Grafting Scion and Stock. 
plant life, that anybody who knew what he was about, if asked the 
question, would say, without one moment s hesitation, that the pot 
was by far the most valuable part of the whole thing. •» 
Grafting proper is not a business that many beginners can suc¬ 
cessfully carry out, but still one may wish sometimes to buy 
grafted plants ; and such being the case, I think the beginner 
should know something of how it is done, and so I propose now to 
tell him. 
There are two ways of grafting Roses—a right way and a 
wrong way. I am going to give the beginner a description of both. 
To start with, let us suppose it is early spring, and you step with 
me into the garden. Here is an old standard Rose tree, which, 
like most other standard Rose trees of its age hereabouts, has died 
away at the top. Round the base you see there are a plentiful crop 
of suckers or thin briars about the thickness of a lead pencil ; one 
of these we secure with a bit of root to it. Now we step into the 
greenhouse and cut a growing shoot from a Rose in a pot, but we 
do not remove the leaves, as in budding. I cut the top of the stock 
di;igonally, and I also cut a small piece off the branch of the Rose, 
with a bud and leaf to it, diagonally also. I fit these two together 
in such a way that the inner barks of both are in contact, and I 
bind the two firmly together with roffea. Now I put the lot in a 
small pot, and plunge it in strong heat, nursing it tenderly for a 
few weeks, keeping the light from it, syringing it often, and 
coddling it generally. In a very short space of time it begins to 
grow. It grows so rapidly that I have heard it said that plants are 
produced in six weeks ; and such plants ! Plants that carry 
failure in their very appearance. Plants that are worse than worth¬ 
less ; plants that are frauds, for they take up room, and prevent us 
utilising our space with plants that will grow. These will not. 
This is the wrong way to graft Roses. 
Now for the right way. This little briar stock has been grow¬ 
ing in this pot twelve months. On turning it out we notice that 
the ball is one mass of fibrous roots. I slice the top off, as before 
described, and I bind on a bud, and then plunge the little plant in 
heat ; but note the difference. In the first case the plant had its 
roots to make, and its branches simultaneously. It had to grow at 
both ends at once—we know what burning the candle at both ends 
means. Here the roots are all provided to begin with ; the plant is 
complete from the first. As soon as the bud begins to grow we 
repot into a larger size, the roots immediately grasp the new soil, 
and the plant begins to grow in earnest. Now, here a great heat is 
not detrimental—though it is just as well not to overdo it in that 
respect—because the plant is an established one, as far as roots go. 
(If the beginner have a greenhouse, a very instructive experiment, 
illustrating the effect of heat on old potted and newly potted plants, 
will be to grow two such plants side by side in heat ; the result 
will be in the case of the old potted plant, success ; in the case of 
the other, failure.) The latter-described system is the right way to 
graft Roses. 
If I were going to buy grafted plants, I should certainly w r ant 
to know whether they were grafted in the pots or not. Plants 
grafted as described in the first case will never do any good, it is 
contrary to common sense that they should ; they may make a puny 
growth and bear a few small flowers, but they will never grow 
vigorously or well ; they will gradually dwindle away and perish. 
The best way to buy all Roses, in pots or out of pots, grafted or 
budded, is by sample. If they look strong and healthy and are 
growing vigorously—I am alluding to the grafted plants now—you 
may depend upon it that they were propagated on the right 
system. 
Grafting, no matter how carefully it is done, as a rule never 
produces the sound healthy plants that we get by budding. In the 
one case the bud is inserted under the bark of the stock, tied over, 
and in course of time the bark entirely grows over the cut, and the bud 
is as firmly fixed in as if it had grown there naturally. In the case of 
grafts the bud is simply tied on, and the bark unites sometimes on 
one side, sometimes on the other, and in some cases, if the job be well 
done, and the bud and stock accurately fitted, on both. But out of 
a thousand stocks and buds how many can be got to fit accurately ? 
If the union of the stock and bud be potted below the surface of 
the soil, in all probability in a short time roots will be emitted from 
there, and if this be the case the plant will be much more likely to 
live and do well. 
Grafting is only useful to the nurseryman. It enables him to 
cut up a new Rose—for which he has paid perhaps a guinea, perhaps 
more—to make the most of it, to multiply it quickly, and to dis¬ 
tribute it among the amateurs at a much lower rate than he could 
afford to do if he adopted the slower, but at the same time surer, 
method of budding.—D. Gilmour, jun. 
fiTo be continued.) 
PEACH-GROWING UPON OPEN WALLS. 
Any remarks upon this interesting subject are perhaps open to criticism, 
but what I have to say is based upon practical experience. We will 
assume the trees are ready for nailing or tying, it is immaterial which 
course is adopted ; in any case plenty of room should be left for the 
■wood to swell. If nailing is resorted to, I advise all nails to be drawn 
and cleansed previous to their being used again. Often we see the old 
nails and shreds are allowed for years, and just the young growths 
nailed in, which practice is a sure way of keeping some of the many 
pests alive through the winter, and all who have not tried raffia as a 
substitute for shreds I should advise to do so, for when shreds are used, 
unless very narrow, the portion of the wood covered never ripens, and it 
is here that the wood often dies back. If raffia be used the matting 
should be just twisted round the nail and the branch brought to it; the 
trees look better and are less trouble to keep clean. 
We have our trees covered with a double thickness of netting 
stretched over poles which rest on the top of the wall, and are placed 
4 feet from the base of the wall, so that it enables anyone to walk inside 
and see how the trees are progressing from day to day. This covering 
will remain on till the fruit is set and the trees covered with foliage, after 
which time I consider they are safe. Strict attention must be paid to 
the trees as the flowers are falling, at which time the aphides generally 
attack. If such is the case the trees should be well syringed with the 
garden engine, with tobacco water and a little sulphur, for if the fly be 
allowed to gain a hold upon the young growth failure will undoubtedly 
be the result. On the other hand the trees should be disbudded, and 
that with a careful hand. The wood should be laid in regularly, thinly, 
and systematically, allowing onlysuch to remain as is wanted. Nothing 
is worse than to cross the wood or lay it thickly, for under such conditions 
the trees cannot be kept clean. After this be done little is required than to 
keep the trees right, provided they are syringed at least four times a week, 
but if possible they should be done every day. 
Thinning the Fruit .— This also requires judgment, and must be done 
carefully, selecting those which are well placed and upon the most 
