4 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 3. 
j jointed, and the single-eyed; the last two are before us, 
and the jointed ones are the next safest to the heeled. 
So we take them first; a jointed-cutting is never from a 
skle-shoot, and it is seldom from a leading-shoot, which 
makes it a puzzle to many; it is always from the top of a 
small shoot that has made a second growth. Now be sure 
' to mind my italics, I put the greatest stress on them ; 
I the second, and, occasionally, the third growth of the 
season from a weak shoot makes the very best of cuttings, 
often better than the best heel; the shoot is cut just 
below where the last growth began to grow from; at that 
point you will see lots of minute buds clustered together 
\ all round a space of less than a quarter-of-an-inch, while 
: it is quite smooth below and above it, between the eyes; 
this we call a joint, or jointed-cutting, because so many 
joints seem to grow them together; this part is cut 
square across just under the joints, or with a slope cut, 
; if you prefer it, to try the experiment of the pot; all the 
I leaves may be cut off at this late season, and the top 
j part of the cutting if it is above four inches long, 
i This being the first time that the distinction between 
I a joint cutting and a single eye-cutting is made so 
plain by writing, I wish it to be thoroughly understood; 
j we gardeners never fail to take advantage of it in all 
cases where it occurs ; but I should have never thought 
of explaining a thing so simple in itself, and so evident, 
were it not that I discovered, the other night, that it 
was a mystery to some practical amateurs to whom I 
was showing the different ways in the dining room. 
The single eye-cutting is the most common in all plants, 
and is the one where you cut across under a full eye, 
and where there is a space between one eye, or pair of 
eyes, aud the next eye. When a shoot is too hard, or 
too ripe, which is the same thing, and we pull it out of 
the socket to get a heel with it, we often cut away the 
heel, because the part next to it is softer, and it is 
generally in the same state as a jointed-cutting, lots of 
little eyes clustering close together, immediately behind 
the heel. If you stand five minutes against a laurel 
hedge that is well trimmed, you will learn what I mean 
by a jointed-cutting better than any other way ; mark 
the young growths and follow down with your eye, from 
bud to bud, till you come to where that little shoot 
started from the top of the last growth, and there you 
will find the little cluster of buds at every one of them, 
I if you understand me right. 
After you are master of this, to you, most essential 
discovery, see how easy it will be to select cuttings from 
your own Roses; then, if the Rose is very young, or 
very scarce, it seems a pity to pull out side-shoots for 
heels, as no shoot will ever come from the same parts; 
j when the chances are, that if you cut low enough, and 
! just home to the heel, you secure a jointed-cutting of 
the first order, and I hold it to be as good as a full 
■ heeled-cutting, in nine cases out of ten. By taking all 
this care, and no one can ever take too much care, in 
! selecting your cuttings, you seldom need to take an eye¬ 
cutting at all, you will have plenty of them among the 
tops, which you must cut off “whether or no ”—there is 
nothing else but eye-cuttings in the tops of all the shoots 
in England. 
What would you think of silver candlesticks, chande¬ 
liers, mirrors, and side-tables, to a potting-bench, as we 
had in that dining-room ? Surely, to be born with a silver 
spoon in the mouth is nothing to all that, and Rose cut- 
: tings were never so cared for before; if they will not grow, 
it is not from want of glare and excitement; but we did 
it all for exercise, and to illustrate a lecture on Rose-cut¬ 
tings, the chief heads of which are now before you. We 
potted most of them, it is true, or rather double potted 
them on Mr. Forsyth’s plan, but the pots were to be 
plunged out-of-doors; aud when the cuttings are well 
rooted and beginning to meet round, the two pots may 
be withdrawn, and the ring-like ball be planted in one- 
half rotten dung and one-half good garden mould, with 
out disturbing a single root or leaf; and if ever you saw 
such Roses as we shall have this time next year, you 
will let us know; till then, we shall expect, as they would 
in Suffolk, that ours bear the palm. You would pro¬ 
bably prefer a solid ball to the roots instead of a ring, 
but surely you would not choose a single pot for your 
cuttings in preference to the double set, to arrive at a 
ball at last, seeing how easy it would be to withdraw the 
inside pot first and fill the hole, or, if you like it better, 
fill the mouth with something good, and when that was 
sure in the jaws of the cuttings, a whole ball would turn 
out as if it were so from the first. 
Now, were it not for any other reason, would it not be 
worth while to prune Roses in November, on purpose to 
get a thorough good supply of Rose-cuttings at once? 
aud if it would, the strongest shoots and the middle-sized 
would be those to choose for the cuttings, heels to every 
one of them, if joint-cuttings did not cast up insufficient 
numbers; or, if both were not enough, stout cuttings on 
the single-eye plan would do, provided they were taken 
from below the middle of the long shoots, the bottom 
parts being the ripest and least likely to damp or decay 
from too much moisture. All the cuttings from that 
harvest should have the leaves cut off, and not be more 
than six inches long, four of which to be buried in the 
ground, with an inch, at least, of sand all round the 
bottom of each. I would not have a single eye extracted 
from such cuttings, as they do when they want them for 
stocks, the lowest eye might turn out to be the best; 
besides, it often happens that when an eye thus buried 
starts well, roots come forth from the shoot it makes, 
and I have seen three or four young plants got this way, 
in a season, from one cutting, besides one or two shoots 
to be left on the original cutting to form a stronger plant; 
but of this increase we are never sure till we take up the 
whole for transplanting, and perhaps it will be as well 
not to crow too much at first, till we see how the tiling 
turns out; if one got but oue plant for every cutting put 
in, there would be no reason to complain. 
1 shall conclude with an experiment which has never 
yet been tried; but it struck me, more than once, this 
summer, that something might be made of cuttings in 
general, in the open ground, by planting double rows 
of them across a border, here and there, or across any 
piece of ground, like as they used to grow two rows of 
Peas together formerly; then, to facilitate the rooting, 
and to keep the bottom more safe, I thought that a 
single row of soft tiles, or something that way, might be 
set between each double row of cuttings, and the bottoms 
of the cuttings to face against the tile as against the side 
of a pot; soft bricks would do equally well, but would 
take up too much room; and I am not sure, whether 
slate would not be equally good for winter work, and 
tiles in summer; at least, the thing is feasible enough; 
and, provided the slate or tile was quite firm, and the 
cuttings as firmly made to stand against it, there could 
not be as much danger to the cuttings as when they are 
merely set in common earth. 
D. Beaton. 
BENEFITS OF COTTAGE GARDENING. 
NORTHAMPTON SHOW.— Sep. 19. 
Something like a hint has come in my way, that a 
more close attention should be paid to the headings of 
our articles. There may be people who can run, read, 
and digest only as they see a straight path before them. 
They have no objection to cut through a mountain,—or, 
rather, they will use that way when clear heads and 
brawny arms have made it for them; but they dislike 
to be taken round its base, even though the termination 
should be a valley of enchantments. Much will be done 
