January 16. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 297 
same as that by the Dahlia-root, namely, to see if fleshy 
roots like those of the Elm, and tubers, such as those of 
the Dahlia, could make young roots and fibres without 
the assistance of leaves; and, if they could, whether it 
was true, or not, that fibres, or the extreme points of 
roots, were deciduous, and fell off, like leaves, on the 
approach of winter. 
The result with the roots of the Elm-tree was far more 
curious, and more against the idea of deciduous fibres 
than that of the Dahlia-root. A hole, a foot in diameter 
and uine or ten inches deep, was made where the Elm- 
roots were numerous; all the big roots were cut to the 
side of this hole, and the little roots, or fibres, were left 
half through the pit and all round it. Then the pit was 
filled with rich, light stuff from the compost, or rubbish 
heap, and a mass of fresh stable-dung for the frames 
was placed near the Elm-tree early in November, and a 
fermenting heap of dung and leaves was kept “ off and 
on" over the roots till next May. In February, the hole 
was carefully opened to see the state of the roots ; none 
of the fibres had fallen off, and, not only so, but they 
increased in size, in numbers, and in length, con¬ 
siderably, during the winter, from the stimulus by the 
warmth from the dung and leaves. 
Seven years after that I proved the same experiment, 
without intending anything of the kind. Some young 
evergreens were planted in October, near a large Elm- 
tree, but had to be taken up in the spring, because a 
different plan of improvement was thought of in the 
mean time. In every one of the holes where the ever¬ 
greens were planted in fresh soil, the roots of the Elm 
pushed several inches during the winter; I think, in 
one instance, a root must have lengthened ten inches 
from October to March. 
Since then I have made various experiments, which, 
however, are foreign to “ root propagation,” but from 
which, I confess, I cannot wholly subscribe to one of the 
firmest articles in the creed of vegetable physiologists, 
and one, too, on which the foundation of the gardeners’ 
practice of the present day is mainly founded. I allude 
to the doctrine, that roots cause the production of 
leaves, and that leaves cause the production of roots; 
and that, in most instances, the one cannot be produced 
without the other. 
How many years a blind Dahlia-root will live and 
make fresh roots I do not know; but the one I had 
under my care rested all that winter, and shrivelled up 
a good deal; but next spring and summer it rooted 
afresh, and swelled out as it did the year before. After 
that I left the place, and heard no more of it. Now, it 
is well known to most gardeners, that such roots and 
tubers as do not sprout without they have buds, or eyes, 
like Potatoes, make good “ stocks” for grafting on, and 
a large branch of practice is founded on this knowledge. 
There are other roots, however, without the least 
apparent sign of eyes or buds, and every morsel of them 
makes a new plant. 
Another large branch of our practice is founded also 
on this peculiarity; but roots of this last class are not 
fit for grafting on, although some propagators make use 
of some of them that way. When “ Smith’s yellow 
Noissette Rose ” first came out, scores of people were 
deceived by their plants being grafted on pieces of the 
roots of all manner of Roses; and suckers from the 
piece of root took the place of Smith’s Rose in nine 
cases out of ten, as gardeners did not then know the 
habit and the looks of the new Rose, from the morsel of 
it in a pot, for which they paid their ten-and-six-pences. 
I recollect when there was nearly a rebellion between 
country gardeners and the trade about this Rose, and 
that way of grafting it. Still, if a good choice is made 
in Rose-roots, there is no other way by which a new 
Rose can be so easily and so quickly propagated for use, 
in private hands, as that by grafting on the selected roots. 
Mr. Rivers says, in his “ Rose Amateur’s Guide,” that 
the roots of the Manetti Rose do not throw up suckers, 
like many and most Roses, therefore, pieces of the roots 
of this Rose, about four inches long, and from the size 
of a pen-holder to that of a darning-needle, would make 
the very best stocks to graft on this next spring. The 
French, and more particularly the Germans and Italians, 
make use of the roots of the old common China Rose 
for grafting on, in preference to all other; many notices 
of this way of grafting were sent by the parties to 
Mr. Loudon’s books; but we hear very little about them 
now. I grafted many Roses, one year, on the roots of 
the Boursault Rose, at the time I thought the Bour- 
sault Rose a good stock; but in four years they spawmed 
from these roots, as much as from the Boursault itself. 
A most vigorous Rose-pillar was pointed out to me, 
last week, by one of our best Rose-amateurs here, which 
is worked on the Boursault, and never throws up a 
sucker, or but very seldom; the reason seems to be, 
that the Rose for the pillar is of a stronger constitution 
than the stock, and that the roots cannot afford to 
provide the needful supply to the stronger Rose, and 
make suckers at the same time. From this we ought 
to learn not to hud or graft a Rose on any stock which is 
much stronger than the Rose so worked. Suckers are the 
sure consequences of working a weaker Rose on a 
stronger stock; the stronger roots must have a vent 
in some way or other, and suckers are the more natural 
way of using up the greater supply from the roots. 
Some people are more expert at budding Roses; some 
do not succeed so well with budding as with cuttings; 
and some are more successsful with grafting. I once 
knew a man who could not strike Dahlia cuttings, “ if it 
was ever so;” but he never failed in grafting them on 
the blind tubers, late in April. 
Tree Poeonies are difficult to strike by cuttings, and 
few, in this country, can work them that way; they do 
better grafted on blind tubers of the herbaceous kinds, 
and even that way, they are among the most difficult to 
graft of all plants we propagate by root-grafting. 
Root-grafting is the easiest of all kinds of grafting, as 
it can be done by the fire-side, without any stooping; 
worsted thread is the best thing to tie such grafts with, 
and the best clay for such grafting is a thick paint of 
clay and water put on with a small brush, made with a 
piece of matting on the end of a stick, or a tuft from 
an old hair-broom ; and to keep the paint from crackiug, 
nothing is so good as a little dry sand dredged on while 
the paint is yet soft; then, if the grafted part is buried 
in the soil in a pot, and the pot is placed in a warm pit, 
the graft is almost sure to take. Almost any plant will 
graft on its own roots, and many plants are, or may be, 
increased that way easier than by cuttings; an Apple 
graft, or a Pear graft, will work on a small piece of the 
root of the same trees, and so will a Jasmine, and a 
thousand other plants, so that one need never be at a 
loss for a stock for this or that plant, if he has the plant 
by him. 
The particular plant which runs in my head all the 
time I am now writing, is the beautiful Dielytra spec- 
tabilis, for this is just the right time to pot the roots 
from the open borders for flowering early in-doors. This 
time two years I took up my only plant of it, and divided 
it into eight pieces, as I would an old Dahlia root, with 
a bud or buds to each piece ; but there were six times 
more blind, but fleshy roots, which I could not use, and 
I dressed them and put them in by the heels to be ready 
to graft by the following May or June; but I forgot to 
do that, and this time last year I had as many plants, by 
dividing, as I had need for. Still, the roots which I had 
in by the heels, at the end of twelve months were as 
fresh as ever, but never made a single fibre all the time ; 
and last week, when I was trenching the border, the 
same roots were as fresh as ever, and quite fit for 
