174

6

PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING.

THIS may be performed in the forcing-house in January, and in the open air in February and March. There are many modes of grafting: those most eligible for roses are the common whip-grafting,' using clay as a covering, and ' cleft-grafting,' using wax or pitch: the former is generally the most successful; and if the stocks are potted a year before being used, strong blooming plants of the Perpetual Roses may be made in three months.

A neighbouring amateur has been very fortunate in grafting roses, merely gathering his stocks from the hedges in January and February, and immediately grafting and potting them after the operation; in doing so covering the union of the graft firmly with mould, using no clay, so as to leave only three or four buds above the surface, and placing them in a gentle hotbed, in a common garden-frame, keeping them very close. close. In this simple method of operating I have seen eighteen out of twenty grafts grow; but, owing to the stocks not being established in pots a year, as they ought to have been, these plants have not made strong and luxuriant shoots the first season. Stocks may be potted in October, if none can be had established in pots: these may be used in January or February with much success.

In whip-grafting of roses in pots it will be as well to omit the usual tongue by which in open air the graft is, as it were, hung on the stock; this tongueing weakens rose-grafts too much; as their shoots are generally pithy. To prepare a young stock for grafting, you must cut off its top with a gentle slope; on the upper side of the stock-i. e. on the side of the highest part of the slope, take off with a sharp knife a slice of bark, with a very small portion of wood about 1 inch in length; then take part of a shoot about six inches in length, and pare its lower end down quite thin till it fits accurately on the place, in length and more particularly in breadth, so that the bark on graft and stock are joined closely; bind the graft to the stock firmly with strong bast mat, which has been soaked in water, and then place clay over it, so as to leave no crack for the admission of air: presuming the stock to be in a pot, it may be plunged in sawdust or old tan, leaving two buds of the graft above the surface, in a gentle hotbed, and kept close till it has put forth its shoots; when these are three inches in length, the clay may be taken off, and air admitted gradually by propping up the light; if Perpetual Roses, they may shortly be moved to the greenhouse, where they will bloom in great perfection in early spring. After this first bloom their shoots should be shortened, and if required they may be planted in the open borders, where

they will flower again and again during the summer: if Summer Roses they will flower but once, but they will make strong shoots and establish themselves for another season; if a forcing-house is used instead of a hotbed frame, they must be plunged in the same materials, as this keeps the clay moist, and generally ensures success. If convenient, grafting-wax, made as follows, may be used in lieu of clay: 1 lb. Burgundy pitch, lb. common pitch, 2 oz. bees'-wax, and oz. mutton fat, melted, and put on with a brush while warm.

In cleft-grafting, the first operation is to cut off your stock to the height required, with a clean horizontal cut, taking care to make this just above a bud: opposite to this bud, cleave your stock, making the cleft about an inch long: and avoid, if possible, cleaving through the stock. Your graft, or scion, for both terms are employed, may be from three to four inches long; having from three to four buds on it; cut one inch of the lower end of your graft to the exact form of a wedge, then pare off one side of the wedge very thin, leaving a bud, if possible, on the thick side; open the cleft with the point of your knife, or the flattened haft of a budding-knife, and insert the thin side of your one-sided wedge, till the barks of both stock and graft are perfectly even; bind with a piece of cotton twist or worsted; cover the side of the stock in which is the cleft, and also

the top of the stock, with grafting-wax, and plunge in gentle heat, as recommended for whipgrafted roses. Grafting-pitch must alone be

used. If the grafts are small, this is a very nice mode, but difficult to describe; and the same result may be obtained by rind-grafting,* a very neat method. Before this operation the stocks must be placed in the forcing-house for a few days, till the bark will run, i. e. part readily from the wood; the top of the stock must then be cut off cleanly, and without the least slope; an incision, as in budding, must then be made through the bark from the crown of the stock downwards, about one inch in length, which can be opened with the haft of a budding-knife; directly opposite to this incision a bud should be left, if one can be found, on the stem of the stock; the graft must then be cut flat on one side, as for whipgrafting, and inserted between the bark and wood, bound with bast, or cotton twist, and covered with grafting-wax. In March this may be done with young shoots of the current season from the forcing-house; they must be mature: as a rule, take only bloom shoots that have just shed their flowers-these are always ripe. To those who love roses, I know no gardening operation of more interest than that of grafting roses in pots in winter; blooming plants of the Per

The best stocks for this kind of grafting are the Rosa Manetti.

N

petual Roses are made so quickly, and they are so constantly under observation; but for this a small forcing-house is of course necessary; a house twelve feet by eight feet, with an eighteen-inch Arnott's stove, will do all that is necessary: and the expense of a structure of these dimensions is very moderate. What can be done in the way of propagation in so small a house with method is quite astonishing. A hotbed frame will give the same results, but the plants cannot be viewed in bad weather with equal facility; that interest attached to watching closely every shoot as it pushes forth to bud and bloom in all its gay attire, is lost. To the mind happily constituted this is a calm and untiring pleasure; the bud breaking through its brown wintry covering into verdant leaves, replete with the delicate tints so peculiar to early spring, and unchecked by cold and withering blasts, makes us feel vernal pleasures, even in January; and then the peeping flower-buds, perhaps of some rare and as yet unseen variety, add to these still calm hopeful pleasures, felt only by those who really love plants and flowers, and all the lovely creations of nature.