October 3. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
3 
lopment and progress; but, after all, we must expect 
occasional failures; so many are the contingencies that 
may conduce to failure. 
“ As to the period of root-pruning, thero is every 
reason to consider that period which is most proper to 
remove dociduous trees or shrubs as the best for the 
root-pruner. One of the worst effects that I have wit¬ 
nessed in the root-pruning of trees of some size, is their 
liability to become infested with scale or red spider in 
the ensuing summer. This I have repeatedly found the 
case, and is doubtless owing to the enriched character 
of the sap, which suits the insect better than that in 
trees of luxuriant character, and possessing powerful ab¬ 
sorbing fibres. But by root-pruning, as soon as the fruit 
is gathered, bearing trees, and about the third week of 
September, those which are barren, a host of now fibres 
will be formed ready for spring work, and -the extreme 
severity and suddenness of the shock will be relieved. 
In all cases, the soil excavated in the act of root-pruning 
had better be exchanged ; this may at all times be done 
with any adjacont fresh soil, for it is nonsense to intro¬ 
duce composts of a stimulating character in its room, 
where a tree is luxuriant already. I do not consider 
root-pruning is a proper remedial measure for other 
than trees over-luxuriant. Whatever may bo the merits 
of annual or biennial root-pruning by system, it is 
quite certain that it can never attain a position beyond 
that of a hobby ; not one gardener in ten can find time 
for such tedious and labour-consuming proceedings. 
“ Besides, the pinching back all late spray and root- 
pruning, the preparing stations for any fruit-tree plant¬ 
ing necessary, is another important proceeding for the 
end of September. This period is also a capital time to 
replenish the compost-yard, as also to char all collected 
materials in the rubbish-yard. This should never be 
missed; its use is important in every division of gar¬ 
dening.” 
OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER CUTTINGS. 
When I was in Perth Nursery, thirty years since, wo 
used to have all the evergreen cuttings finished by the 
end of September; they were then all planted in No. 
24-pots, and in a very sandy compost; the cuttings for 
one pot, being all of one size in height and strength, 
were as close to one another as they could stand : the 
pots were kept in cold pits, or plunged in sand-beds, and 
covered with mats stretched over temporary coops, 
crates, or cradles; and wc seldom lost one cutting out of 
five hundred. 
There were no Hose - cuttings in those days, and 
standard Roses were but then being introduced; but 
wo had a better way of increasing some Roses by layers 
than is now practised or recommended in England. 
There was one thing about which almost all the hands in 
that largo establishment were very jealous—the credit of 
our nursery skill in rearing and sending out good examples 
of everything we sold; wc, of course, to the last boy, 
being included in the firm, and we would think it an 
everlasting disgrace to “ send out” such plants as some 
people do now-a-days. Early in October, and before all 
the leaves dropped off the Gooseberries and Currants, 
we began making cuttings of them. A head man would 
collect the different kinds, and tie them in bundles, 
with a tally-stick in each; and the law was, that one 
bundle only should be loosed at a time, all the cuttings 
of it to be made and tied again in a bundle, and the 
refuse swept away before the next bundle was loosed. 
These precautions were necessary to save the credit of 
the firm for sending out things true to name. Now, as 
I have never since heard of a better plan, it is just the 
one I would recommend, at this season, to those who 
are about to start with Rose-cuttings on a large scale. 
I take it for granted, that more Rose-cuttings will be 
made during the next six or seven weeks than has been 
made, in an equal space of time, since the flood; there¬ 
fore, some system ought to be adopted throughout, else 
we shall have fusions and confusions of kinds, which no 
man can set to rights under a twelvemonth at least. 
Just think of the vexation, after having ever so many 
Roses on their own roots, and by your own hands, that 
you cannot make sure of planting any one bed with two 
or three kinds of them to suit; and all this from not 
going to work the right way at first. Look at the 
wonderful simplicity of language, and the enormous 
multiplicity of details in the plan adopted by our 
generals for landing the army in the Crimea; then look 
at the result, and say if language was given to man to 
hide his thoughts, or if there is anything on earth too 
great for the simplest language to encompass and 
explain;—yet, without a system, all goes without its 
value, even to the sweeping of the hearth. Therefore, 
if you do not happen to know of a better system than 
mine, about the Gooseberry and Currant cuttings, adopt 
it at once for Rose-cuttings. Where Roses are cared for 
at all, they are named in some way or other. They will 
not be all ready in one dffy, or week, or even a month— 
the dry harvest-time stopped some for the season, and 
the rain aftcrv ards pushed others into new growth 
beyond their time; still, one kind is likely to be in the 
same condition all over a garden, and every cutting of 
that kind should be gathered in ono day, numbered with 
a tally, and tied into a bundle. There is no fear of harm 
if that bundle, and all the bundles, lie on the grass, or 
anywhere, for hours, at this season of the year; so that, 
if it is a fine day, one had better get as many kinds of 
cuttings together as are in a fit state, and if to-morrow 
or the next day happens to rain, the cuttings are at 
hand and ready to keep you employed in-doors; then, 
of course, you will do as wo did at Berth—sweep asido 
the refuse from ono bundle before you open the next; 
else, if a piece, or shoot, from your very favourite Rose 
falls among the refuse, you might ns well look for a 
needle in a hay-rick, as to make sure that you have had 
the right shoot back again until you see it struck and in 
flower next August. 
If you are in a hurry, or have to leave for a week or 
ton days, let that not hinder you from taking the cuttings 
the moment you and they are ready. You can put them 
in by the heels in damp earth, and in a shady place, till 
you have more time, and it does not mnttor “ a bit” if 
they lie in by the heels for ten days or a fortnight, but 
it matters a great deal if they get too ripe, by being 
left till a more convenient season. 
It is just the same after Rose-cuttings are made, they 
need not, of necessity, be planted that day, or that day 
fortnight, if it must be so from bad weather, or any 
other cause; put them in very safely this time by the 
heels till you are ready, or in the humour of the thing. 
Now, the day for making the cuttings is come at last; 
take, then, the first bundle, and I shall show how the 
cuttings stand; some have heels to them, and some 
have no heels, according as they were, or could be cut; 
put all the heeled ones into ono heap, and leave them to 
the last; the rest of the cuttings you will find to be in 
two ways, and you will have to prepare them in two 
different ways, so that in every bundle of Rose-cuttings, 
three kinds of cuttings are generally found, and there 
must bo three ways of making them—the heeled, the 
