340 
The Garden Magazine, July, 1923 
seedmen. It is much more convenient to order from our own dealers 
when possible than to have to send to Europe when but a few packets 
are needed.—A. H. Botsford, Edgemoor, Delaware. 
William Robinson Says Grafting the Rose is a Costly Delusion 
To ihe Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
R. T 1 LLOTSON in The Garden Magazine for March heads his 
note on page 31 “Does the Grafted Rose Pay?” 
There is abundant proof here in England that it not only does- not 
pay but does infinite harm! He mentions the Manetti Rose; I often 
wish that Mr. Manetti, who raised it, had never been born! The 
Manetti Rose has been sent out by millions from the Continent to 
nurseries in Britain (mostly Scotch) and any Rose grafted upon it will 
tlower for a year or so, after which nothing comes of it. 
A favorite Rose with me was Catherine Mermeix. I put it in the 
best position in my garden, but at that time—many years ago—1 did 
not know the evil effect of the Manetti graft. My Rose made about 
two leaves a year to my astonishment. It would not be easy to tell 
of anything that has done more harm in British gardens than the 
Manetti stock. The stock which is most in use in nurseries in Britain 
at the present day is the Dog Briar (Rosa canina). In its natural 
state it is a vigorous and handsome plant on heavy soils. The “trade” 
took it up as the handiest means of increasing Roses where the object 
was to get rid of the stock quickly. 
The Rose Caroline Testout, which is shown as an illustration in 
Mr. Tillotson’s article as making a very poor growth, grows in my 
garden very vigorously from cuttings—the way it ought always to be 
grown; and the same is true of many other Roses. Before the coming 
of the China Roses (Rosa indica) not a great deal of harm was done by 
grafting, because the old garden Roses were allied to the Briar, and 
many of them, and good ones too, seemed to thrive upon it. The 
trouble really comes when we have to deal with the most beautiful 
Roses in the world, that is to say, the Roses of Indian origin. For 
them it is a totally different stock, and so they perish in the way des¬ 
cribed by Mr. Tillotson. Such Roses, grafted on the Briar, after a 
few years soon cease to flower and have to be thrown out. 
One serious consequence of this is that people who live on sandy, 
chalk, or gravel soils say they cannot grow Roses at all—or so they are 
told in books and they give up attempting to do so. This is wrong 
because sandy and chalk soils, if deep enough and the plants are grown 
on their natural roots, give very good results. 
An instance of this and an almost pathetic one happened to mv 
knowledge years ago in this fair county when I went to see a fine place 
owned by a noble family for years, in the Downland but at the foot of 
the hills where the soil is better. This was about 20 years ago and my 
fight against bedding-out had then hardly touched the subject. There 
1 saw all the beds set out, the first week in June, with little starved 
Geraniums, Calceolarias, and blue Lobelias and all the stock bedding- 
out of that day—and in the midsummer months when nature herself 
is alive with beauty! After leaving the place I walked across the hills 
and, a mile or so away, came to a small cottage which was literally 
covered with Roses of the old Pink China, not only the walls but 
clambering over the roof. 1 asked the cottager where she got her 
plants and she told me they were from cuttings from the nosegay made 
on the occasion of her daughter’s wedding. And in this simple way 
had grown up a picture far finer than anything 1 had seen in the 
nobleman’s garden. The Pink China Rose (the first to become popular 
in our country was this old Pink Rose) is always at its best from cut¬ 
tings; but in spite of that fact the nurseries continue to send out such 
Roses worked on the Dog Briar. 
MORE TRIVATE Q ARDENS 
I JNDER the auspices of the Federated Garden Clubs of Long Island 
^ a group of public-spirited citizens, stimulated by the generous 
example of Westchester County (see page 276, June G. M.), are opening 
their gardens to visitors on Saturdays from June 16th to July 14th for the 
benefit of the Wayside Home for Girls at Valley Stream, L. I. There 
are a number of beautiful places on Long Island and both garden clubs 
and individual gardeners will be glad to avail themselves of this op¬ 
portunity for combining personal pleasure and public service. 
The June list as it reached us on date of going to press included the 
following gardens; Mrs. Roswell Eldridge, Dr. and Mrs. Preston P. 
Satterwhite, both gardens at Great Neck; at Westbury, Mrs. Robert 
Bacon, Mrs. J. C. Phipps; Roslyn, Mr. Henry D. Walbridge, Mrs. 
Harold Godwin; Mrs. F. N. Hoffstot, Sands Point; Mr. W. R. Coe, 
It is a mistake to suppose that the use of this stock gives us constant 
bloom in summer. I have seen both in northern France and England 
many Rose gardens without a flower in midsummer. The Dog Briar, 
being itself a short blooming bush, is not likely to favor long blooming 
in the China Rose grafted on it. Here, in the summer, 1 have blooms 
all through the fine season. Continuity of bloom is essential to the 
Rose garden and the hotter the soil and the more southern the situa¬ 
tion the more need there is for the plant to be on its own root. There 
is no occasion for tests or scientific investigation to make this dear— 
any one can prove it for himself. The nurseryman will use the graft 
because what they call “the stuff” can be handled easily. The China 
Rose has a much more tracing and running root than the Dog Briar of 
our low lands, which has a root like an anchor. 
The amateur can best settle this for himself bv putting in cuttings of 
half-ripened wood in the early fall, in that way we get a good plant 
in one year, which is certainly shorter than can be had by the usual 
practice of grafting. 
The very common idea that clay is desirable for all Roses is wrong. 
Clay only suits the Briar. Given a deep soil there is no need for clay. 
The trouble is the more delicate root system of the Tea Rose and the 
only way to meet the difficulty is to offer well-grown plants on their 
own roots kept in some kind of compressed clay or paper pots and put 
in the ground direct. In countries where the winters are so severe as 
in much of Northern America it will be easy to strike Roses in this way 
in the cool house if not in the open air and so get to the planter without 
difficulty. But in the present state of things, the right way for the 
amateur is to work from cuttings only. I have had my China Roses in 
a vigorous state thirty years planted and not a plant among them sick. 
Some Roses we get from the trade, like Bouquet d’ Or and Gloire de 
Dijon seem constitutionally allied to the Briar and seem to grow well 
and endure on that stock, but although I have plants of these in good 
health after so many years, I should certainly never plant one of that 
kind if I could get them on their own roots. The amateur, when putting 
in cuttings, should begin with certain vigorous Roses viz.: Zepherine, 
Belladora syn. Wm. Waddell, Prince dc Bulgarie, Bouquet d’ Or. 
Certain vigorous Roses we get from the trade seem to do well in a 
time—of such are Bouquet d’ Or, Rene d’ Or, and lastly a great favorite 
of mine, Lamarque. The last time George Paul was here he was 
pleased to see this old Rose on a south wall because, as he said, few 
people grow it now. It is one of the greatest Roses I know for the 
warm walls here, and should be magnificent in the warmer states 
struck from cuttings as it always ought to be. 
Madame Leon Pain is a Rose chosen for its beauty among many here 
—we have in two places in the flower garden plants bought from the 
trade in the usual grafted state. It is one of the Roses that does not 
give up the ghost after a few years struggle with the Dog Briar, but 
keeps a fair show for ten or more years. The suckers and the Briar 
are removed as soon as seen. Two years ago we put in cuttings of the 
half-ripened wood in September in the fruit garden in higher ground 
and in more free loam. Those struck well and remained where put in, 
they look very healthy and flowered well last year until late in the fall. 
So we have in all about forty plants of Madame Leon Pain constantly 
in view. And the fact may show that my views as to the Briar are not 
based on mere theory, many other good Roses have been looked at in the 
same way for over thirty years.—W. Robinson, Gravetye, Sussex, 
Engl a nd. 
CORRECTION. —On page 249 of the June Garden Magazine 
there is an illustration of Schizanthus incorrectly entitled Nemesia. 
The error is self evident on account of the foliage which in Nemesia 
is not cut as shown in the illustration referred to.— Ed. 
THAT DO "PUBLIC SERVICE 
“Planting Fields,” Oyster Bay; Mr. Walter Jennings, “ Burrwood,” 
Cold Spring Harbor; Mrs. H. Van Rensselaer Kennedy, Hempstead; Mrs. 
Irving Cox, Mill Neck; Mr. Geo. D. Pratt, “ Kilinworth,” Glen Cove. 
The garden of Mrs. Robert Waller and others at Southampton will 
make July 14th an interesting day. Additional dates and details will 
be found in the local papers or may be had from The Wayside Home, 
Valley Stream, L. 1 ., and from The Garden Magazine, Garden City. 
That the Federated Garden Clubs of Long Island are championing 
the splendid work of Wayside Home is heartening and perhaps points 
the way for garden clubs elsewhere. It is a logical affiliation of inter¬ 
ests, too, for the efforts of Wayside are concentrated upon turning out 
capable and fine-spirited citizens by helping the girls to be not only 
good housewives but good farmers and good gardeners as well. 
