750 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 25, 1891. 
The Amateurs’ Garden. 
SEASONABLE WORK inthe GARDEN. 
Poinsettias. — Expose the plants to all the sun¬ 
shine possible, keeping them near the glass, to 
prevent the stems from getting drawn and leggy. 
This applies more particularly to the earliest batch, 
which is difficult to keep as dwarf as one would 
desire. Give a little ventilation at night during 
warm weather. Old plants that were cut down and 
restarted will continue to supply cuttings for late 
batches, which will make dwarf plants and come in 
useful. The bracts will not, and cannot, be expected 
to be so large as those on the first struck cuttings. 
Begonia insignis, &c. — Begonias grown on for 
winter flowering are now making rapid progress, and 
must not be overlooked in the matter of potting 
before they get root-bound. They should receive 
their final shift before long, after which, when the 
roots are getting pot-bound, liquid manure should be 
supplied. Ventilate freely night and day during the 
continuance of fine weather. This applies to B. 
insignis, B. Digswelliana, B. semperflorens, and its 
large varieties, B. Knowsleyana, and others. 
Euphorbiafulgens(jacquiniaeflora).—This use¬ 
ful winter flowering subject delights in a high tem¬ 
perature and plenty of sunshine. Old plants are 
useful, inasmuch as they supply a large quantity of 
cut flowers. The tops at least should come within a 
short distance of the glass ; and young plants will do 
best on the front benches, or in pits where they will 
be fully exposed. If plunged in fermenting manure 
so much the better. 
Campanula pyramidalis — The utility of this 
plant for conservatory decoration cannot be over¬ 
estimated, not merely the typical blue form but the 
white, pale blue, dark blue and other shades, which 
may now be had from a good strain of seed. Now 
is the time to sow for next year’s batch of plants. 
Sow in boxes or pans, and pot off the seedlings singly 
before they get crowded. The object should be to 
grow on the plants as vigorously as possible by good 
treatment and timely potting, and they will flower 
all the better for it next year. 
Subtropical Plants in Beds. — Such things as 
Ricinus, Polymnia grandis, Wigandias, Tobaccos, 
and other plants of that nature, are now making 
rapid growth, and should be securely staked to 
prevent their being blown about by the wind, which 
is liable to do damage during storms. Work of this 
kind done early prevents a deal of trouble afterwards. 
Carpet Bedding. —Much care will now be re¬ 
quired to keep the beds neat and trim owing to the 
rapid growth of the different subjects employed. 
Pinch the leading shoots of Tagetes signata fre- 
quently'to prevent it getting too tall for its neighbours. 
Peg down Verbenas so as to cover the ground with 
a neat carpet. If the shoots are pinched no flowers 
can be expected. Heliotropes, Ageratums and Alter- 
nantheras must be treated in the same way. The last- 
named should be closely pinched back after the 
ground is closely covered. 
Spring-flowering Plants. —The advantages of 
a cool, north aspect border for this class of plants is 
great, especially in the more sunny southern counties. 
Where the soil is light, rich, and naturally moist, or 
kept so by watering, many such things as 
Daisies, Aubrietias, Arabis, Polyanthus and others 
can now be divided so as to increase the stock. 
Keep them well watered till re-established, and fine 
tufts for planting out in autumn will be the result. 
Choice subjects of which the stock is small may be 
propagated by cuttings in sandy soil under a hand 
light behind a north aspect wall. 
Intermediate and other Stocks. — Seeds of the 
Intermediate, Brompton, Queen and other Stocks of 
that race should now be sown in pans, and pricked off 
in boxes as soon as the cotyledons get firm. When 
they have made a few leaves pot off singly in small 
6o-size pots, in which they may be kept till Septem¬ 
ber, and then shifted into 40-size pots, in which they 
may be wintered in a frame. After getting estab¬ 
lished in the smaller size, grow them in frames, 
giving plenty of ventilation for a time, and afterwards 
removing the lights entirely till late in autumn. 
Roses — Propagate by budding and by cuttings. 
The latter should consist of short, well-ripened side 
shoots, removing them with ji heel of the old wood if 
possible. Make up a bed of sandy, rich soil in a 
sunny position, and after inserting the cuttings firmly, 
cover them with a hand light. The soil about them 
cannot be made too firm. Shade from sunshine, but 
remove the lights at night, except when windy, to 
give them the advantage of the refreshing dew. 
Choose dry but cloudy weather for inserting the 
buds. Shade with Rhubarb or other leaves for a 
few days if necessary. 
Cherries and Currants. — Birds prove very 
troublesome during dry weather to Cherries, red 
and white Currants, &c., which should be protected 
with nets. 
Raspberries. — Plants in bearing must be protec¬ 
ted with the same care as Cherries. Unless large 
numbers of suckers are needed to make fresh 
plantations, the quarters should be gone over and all 
suckers cut down with the hoe, in order to allow the 
air to circulate freely amongst the stools to ripen 
the fruit on the bearing canes and also the young 
wood. 
THE STRAWBERRY 
SEASON. 
Within a radius of about ten miles of Norwich there 
are a great number of market gardens in which 
small fruits and vegetables are very largely grown. 
Just now the Strawberry crop is the all-absorbing 
subject'of attention, and a large number of women 
are employed in picking and marketing the fruit. 
Norwich market is the centre of the trade, and an 
immense amount of business is done there between 
the hours of 2 and 9 a.m. On the 27th of 
June, Strawberries fetched ns. a stone of 14 lbs. 
Three days previously the growers got 14s. a stone, 
but prices soon came down. On the 4th inst. a grower 
who has fourteen acres under Strawberries had 100 
stone in the market, which brought in 4s. the stone. 
Since then 3s. has been about the general price,though 
one morning there were so many tons in the market 
that only the low price of is. 6d. was obtained. 
The present season differs little from the past 
ones except that it is later. The variety growm in 
this district for the first crop appears to be a local 
one. Not a large fruit but a solid one, rather hard, 
not very juicy, and consequently travels wells. For 
seconds President and Sir J.Paxton are favourite kinds 
As the season advances from this time Strawberries 
get dearer, but if the sale returns are large the out¬ 
goings are large also, and the labour bill is a 
heavy item. — T. IF. 
THE RATIONALE OF 
BUDDING ROSES. 
Outline of a Paper Read Before a Gardeners' 
. Society. 
July is the month for budding Roses, and during 
that month there is a marvellous activity in all the 
great Rose nurseries. But there is no reason why 
the amateur should not bud a few Roses for himself, 
for briar stocks are not difficult to procure, if not 
from the hedge-rows at least from a nurseryman, in 
the autumn season. 
The budding of Roses is one of the most interest¬ 
ing experiments the garden affords, and it is not 
difficult to master the details of it. The physiology 
of the act is worthy of notice. A bud in proper con¬ 
dition is a single eye protruded above the angle or 
axil of the foot-stalk of a leaf attached to a healthy 
shoot of spring-formed, juicy, and somewhat ripened 
wood. It is attached to the surrounding bark, 
which is firm, stout, and of good texture, but not 
hard or rigid. The natural position of such a bud 
indicates the one to which it ought to be removed ; 
it rests upon a portion of fresh, sappy alburnum—as 
the botanists term it — to which is attached the fibres 
of a similar texture. From this contact it has to be 
separated by the knife, and therefore it is vain to hope 
that it can be transferred with success to any new stock 
unless the quality and characteristics of that stock be 
similar to those of the shrub from which it is to be 
severed. The first required condition is the secre¬ 
tion of the proper matter, cambium, to such an 
extent as to ensure the free rising or separation of 
the tender bark from the new wood below it, and 
that equally in both stock and scion. The second 
condition is that as the bud was seated on the juicy 
alburnum, where it was attached by a system of 
vessels constituting what is termed " it§ root," and 
which includes pith and a conducting vascular tissue, 
so it must, when removed, be made to rest and 
repose upon a surface, as far as possible, in absolute 
juxtaposition, so nearly allied to and closely 
resembling that form from which it was removed as 
to permit, first, its close adhesion, and, second, its 
actual union, producing an ultimate blending of 
parts incapable of removal, except by actual force. 
This “ root ” is that part of the woody matter which 
connected the bud with the alburnum of its native 
stock. 
To ensure success therefore — the relative condition 
of the stock and scion being ascertained by the 
facility with which the bark rises from the green 
wood, and the moisture of both surfaces—a free and 
even portion of the stocks to be budded should be 
chosen, round which the ligature employed to keep 
it in position can pass without interruption. A twig 
being ready, furnished with three or four plump, but 
not far-advanced eyes, the operator is to make the 
regular incisions with a very keen budding knife, 
quite home to the wood of the stock, and then raise 
the edges of the bark clearly, and wide enough to 
ensure the certain admission and passing of the strip 
of bark .to its full length, allowing also from one- 
sixth to one-third of an inch clear space of bark to 
remain between the bud and the cross cut on the 
stock, in order to admit the passage of the ligature 
between and above both. This completed detach a 
bud, not cutting as is sometimes directed to the 
depth of half the wood, but by passing the knife 
from an inch or more below the eye to half-an-inch 
above it, just so deep to ensure the raising of so 
much of the wood, particularly under the eye, as 
shall cause that part to be at least level with, if not 
rather prominent above the parts, and below it. Then 
—always bearing in mind the necessity of the com¬ 
plete contact of the part below' the eye and the w’ood of 
the stock—pare away the lov'er edges of the shield, 
removing any protruding wood at either extremities, 
and indeed everywhere else, excepting that portion 
of it which attaches to the eye above its base. In 
budding Roses it is prudent to detach the whole of 
the leaf from its stalk, because the shield and bua 
being small and little juicy, a transpiring surface, as 
is that of the leaf, may carry off moisture tco 
rapidly, but with larger and more juicy subjects, Ike 
those of the Pear, Apple, and Cherry, practical men 
leave one-third of the leaf. 
The bud being ready, it is to be slipped tenderly 
into the stock, guiding and easing its course by the 
finger and the haft of the knife, so that it slide cen¬ 
trally under the lips of the long cut, and be equally 
lapped over and guarded by therm The shield is to 
be pressed dovm till the eye itself be below the cross 
cut, and then, holding it at the stalk, the little pro¬ 
jecting bit of bark at the upper part is to be cut quite 
level across, and made to rest accurately against the 
edge of the rind of the stock ; the bark of the scion 
and that of the stock thus touching each other. As 
it is of great consequence that the bud with its bark 
pass easily down the slip rind of the stock, many 
persons moisten its inner surface by drawing it over 
their tongue, and as, in fact, the first principle of 
success is pressure, like that of the moistened leather 
of a school-boy’s sucker, this application is of some 
service. 
As to the ligature, there is nothing better than a 
soft and strong moistened strip of rafia, such a strip 
a quarter-inch wide being ready, and the bud duly 
inserted, the bark at the top of the slit should be 
closely pressed against and over the bud, just where 
the two edges join ; and then, holding the tie by its 
two ends—the loop being under the stock and exactly 
below the bud — bring it up towards the edges of the 
slit, so as to grasp and draw them towards each other, 
thus closing in the bud and binding it down. Cross 
the strip, pull firmly right and left, carry the ends 
tow-ards the back, lacing and crossing it at every 
movement till it pass below the slit, then work up¬ 
wards, and tie behind. Three precautions are 
required : first, to see that the strip entirely covers the 
cross cut, and a little space above it; then, that the 
eye be not bound down, but have freedom to sw r ell ; 
and, lastly, that the pressure be firm and equal from 
top to bottom, sufficiently so as to make every part 
of the shield touch the sapwood of the stocks, v'ithout 
wounding the tissues or forcing juice to ooze 
from them. 
Tf a bud so prepared and inserted fail, there must 
be"* some error in judging of the appropriate 
Condition of Qiie or both of the members, or some 
