46 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
ROSE PROPAGATION. 
Discussed Before the American Rose Society by Dr. W. Van Fleet 
_ Objections to Manetti and Dog Brier Stocks—Hybrid Stocks 
Favored—Varieties for Both High and Low Budding—Grow, 
ing Conviction That Stock is as Important as Scion. 
At the annual meeting of the American Rose Society in New 
York city last month the following paper on the propagation 
of roses was read by Dr. W. Van Fleet, Little Silver, N. J.: 
But little effort has been made to ascertain the rose stocks best suited 
for American use. Rose growers here mainly propagate cuttings 
and “own root” roses of all varieties that may be increased in that 
manner have, until very lately, been much preferred for culture, both 
under glass and in the open. Recent successful commercial trials, 
however, have shown the advantage of grafting certain forcing roses 
on stocks resistant to the “eel worm,” as well as to supply a root system 
of greater vigor than is inherent in the variety wanted. Then, too, a 
considerable number of the most desirable hardy roses propagate very 
sparingly, if at all, by cuttings. The increase by root cuttings and 
clump division is slow and precarious, so that budding and grafting on 
congenial stocks remain the only practicable methods. 
We have hitherto accepted the stocks most approved by European 
growers as without question the most available, and for greenhouse 
commercial work the Manetti rose, of hybrid China parentage, may 
always be most useful; but for outside planting both Manetti and dog 
brier have proven dismal failures under our climatic conditions. 
The latter does not thrive at all, and the former, while vigorous 
enough, suckers badly and ceases growing too early after dry summers 
to encourage late blooms in those varieties disposed to autumnal 
flowering. 
OBJECTIONS TO MANETTI. 
Manetti roots are very fibrous, forming a perfect mat in rich, moist 
soil; but they run shallow and are quickly affected by drought. They 
drink greedily soluble nourishment, but seem unable to extract much 
plant food from dry soil. The common experience with roses worked 
on Manetti is that they are troublesome and short lived, unless so 
planted as eventually to throw out an adequate root system of their 
own. The great majority of the imported budded roses are discarded 
after blooming a season or two, and the remaining plants seldom de¬ 
velop into the strong, vigorous specimens we have a right to expect. 
These defects in European stocks have been long known, though but 
little effort has been made to find more useful substitutes. One nur¬ 
sery in the West claimed some years ago to use Mme. Plantier, a vig¬ 
orous and very hardy rose of much-mixed parentage, but of the hybrid 
China type, with great success; but we have not heard much about it 
since. Our naiive Prairie rose, Rosa setigera, has been used in an ex¬ 
perimental way by the writer and others with much success, both as a 
stock for budding and for root grafting. It is exceedingly hardy, the 
foliage is resistant to most diseases, and the root system is strong and 
penetrates the soil deeply. Buds or grafts unite readily, and the union 
seems very permanent, but time has not tested the latter claim. All 
varieties tried grow well on this stock, which may be easily increased 
by seeds or cuttings. It is of a climbing habit, and the canes are not 
suitable for high budding for tree or standard effects. The roots sel¬ 
dom sucker, all the new growth starting from the crown. 
HIGH AND LOW BUDDING. 
For high budding we have found nothing better than the Penzance 
hybrid sweetbriers, rose Bradwardine, Amy Robsart, and Anne of 
Gierstein. They grow here more upright and vigorous than the type 
species, and are not subject to sun scald like standard Manetti. Other 
hybrids of the sweetbrier, with General Jacqueminot, and with various 
hybrid perpetuals, of our own raising, have the same characteristics. 
There is no suckering, and they are easily increased by cuttings. 
Lord Penzance and other sweetbrier hybrids, containing blood of the 
Persian Yellow class, should be avoided for this purpose. The canes 
are more slender, and propagation is less certain. 
The most suitable stocks for low or dwarf budding and root grafting 
appear to be hybrids of Rosa multiflora and R. Luciae, more widely 
known as R. Wichuraiana. Seedlings of Clothilde Soupert crossed 
with Crimson Rambler furnish the best example of the former class. 
Some are thornless, or nearly so, strong, rapid growers and deep 
rooters. They work very easily and the buds or grafts soon make a 
firm union. They can be increased by the cuttings of green and hard 
wood with the greatest facility. 
Crosses between Crimson Rambler and R. Wichuraiana. to use the 
name best known, are still more vigorous, but less upright in the habit 
and quite thorny. They strike readily from cuttings, and also root as 
freely from the tips as a dewberry, when allowed to trail. The roots 
penetrate the soil deeply and the bark works with the greatest ease 
when ready for budding. 
Crosses between R Wichuraiana and China roses sometimes possess 
great vigor. One plant two years from the seed, planted in poor, 
gravelly upland, threw a trailing cane 20 feet long last summer. They 
all seem very easy of propagation and are more upright and less thorny 
than R. Wichuraiana itself, which trails as flat as a melon vine. 
R. WICHURAIANA HYBRIDS. 
The roots of R. Wichuraiana and its hybrids go deep down in the 
soil, and if there is any moisture or fertility they will find it. They 
will thrive on the most barren slope when established, and the plants 
look as though they would endure for all time. The long, smooth 
roots are admirable for grafting, and they can be worked as easily and 
certainly as apple roots if good wood is fitted to them. The grafts may 
be tied with twine or lightly waxed and packed in damp moss, and kept 
rather warm until union is effected. 
Neither R isa multiflora nor R. Wichuraiana hybrids sucker, but 
buds start freely from the crown, which should be set rather deeplydn 
budded plants. There is no trouble with suckering from the root 
grafts. Plants of the above hybrids grown from cuttings of good 
sized wood are very manageable, and would seem to be preferable to 
Manetti for most purposes. 
R. multiflora seedlings are being used to some extent by commercial 
rose growers, and they seem to be growing in favor; but we think 
hybrids of the Rambler series would be more satisfactory. Helene, a 
very vigorous and almost thornless seedling of crimson Rambler, is 
now in commerce, and looks as if it would answer the purpose admir¬ 
ably, though we have not tried it. 
While rather off the subject, the writer would mention that Perle des 
Jardins, budded on an established plant of Cherokee rose, Rosa laevi¬ 
gata, is giving splendid blooms of almost exhibition quality, in a cold, 
damp house, where five years’ effort with potted Perles on own roots 
and Manetti only resulted in a chance “bullhead” once or twice a 
a year. Further trials will be made with teas and hybrid teas on this 
stock. 
IMPORTANCE OF STOCKS. 
There is a growing conviction among propagators that the stock is 
as important as the scion, and grand commercial results have come 
from the proper selection of resistant and congenial stocks in the cul¬ 
ture of grapes, plums, and other fruits. The breeding of stocks by 
hybridization and selection may become as essential as the production 
of new varieties, if American rose culture is ever to reach its proper 
development in the horticultural world. The conclusions above de¬ 
tailed are based on very limited experimentation, and are offered only 
to stimulate further research in that direction. 
SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES. 
Secretary W. Lee Wilson, Winchester, Tenn., announces the 
appointment of the following committees for the Southern 
Nurserymen’s Association by President J. C. Miller : 
Transportation Committee — G. H Miller, Rome, Ga.; N. W. Hale, 
Knoxville, Tenn.; C. S. Boren, Pomona, N. C. 
Legislative Committee — Charles T. Smith, Concord, Ga.; W. D. 
Grifliug, Jacksonville, Fla.; W. T. Hood, Richmond, Ya. 
Executive Committee — J. C. Hale, Winchester, Tenn.; P. J. A. 
Berckmans, Jr., Augusta, Ga.: II. S. Chase, Huntsville, Ala.; John A. 
Young, Greensboro, N. C.; Orlando Harrison, Berlin, Md. 
All the nursery trade news in the NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
