Parsons on the Rose / A Treatise on the Propagation, Culture and History of the Rose

by Samuel Browne Parsons

The plants from which these cuttings are to be taken should be prepared and treated as in the preceding chapter. In February and March the cuttings are made and inserted in sand, either in pots or benches, in a house of the same temperature as that in which the parent plant has grown. These pots or benches would be better covered with glass, but it is not essential. After the cuttings have rooted, they can be potted into small pots, and placed in a house of moderate temperature. About the middle of May they can be taken out of these pots and planted in the open ground.

BY LAYERS.

This mode is more particularly applicable to those roses that bloom only once in the year, and which do not strike freely from cuttings, although it can be equally well applied to all the smooth-wooded kinds. It can be performed at midsummer and for several weeks afterward, and should be employed only in those cases where young shoots have been formed at least a foot long and are well matured. The soil should be well dug around the plant, forming a little raised bed of some three feet in diameter, with the soil well pulverized and mixed with some manure thoroughly decomposed, and, if heavy, a little sand. A hole should then be made in this bed about four inches deep, and the young matured shoot bent down into it, keeping the top of the shoot some three or four inches above the surface of the ground; the angle thus being found, which should always be made at a bud and about five or six inches from the top of the shoot, the operator should cut off all the leaves below the ground. A sharp knife should then be placed just below a bud, about three inches below the surface of the ground, and a slanting cut made upward and lengthwise, about half through the branch, forming a sort of tongue from one to two inches long, on the back part of the shoot right opposite the bud; a chip or some of the soil can be placed in the slit, to prevent it from closing, and the shoot can then be carefully laid in the hole, and pegged down at a point some two inches below the cut, keeping, at the same time, the top of the shoot some three or four inches out of the ground, and making it fast to a small stake, to keep it upright. Care should be taken not to make the angle where the branch is pegged at the cut, as the branch would be injured and perhaps broken off; the best place is about two inches below the incision. The soil can then be replaced in the hole, and where it is convenient covered with some moss or litter of any kind. This will protect the soil from the sun and keep it moist, and will materially aid the formation of new roots. These are formed in the same manner as in cuttings; first a callus is produced on those parts of the incision where the bark joins the wood, and from this callus spring the roots, which, in some cases, will have grown sufficiently for the layers to be taken from the parent plant the latter part of the following autumn; in some cases, however, the roots will not have sufficiently formed to allow them to be taken up before another year. The summer is the best period for layering the young shoots. Early in the spring, layers can be made with the wood formed the previous year. Where it is more convenient, a shoot can be rooted by making the incision as above, and introducing it into a quart pot with the bottom partly broken out. This pot can be plunged in the ground, or if the branch is from a standard, it can be raised on a rough platform. In either case, it should be covered with moss, to protect it from the sun, and should be watered every evening. We recollect seeing in the glass manufactories of Paris, a very neat little glass tumbler, used by the French gardeners for this purpose. It held, perhaps, half a pint, and a space about half an inch wide was cut out through the whole length of the side, through which space the branch of any plant was inserted, and the tumbler then filled with soil. When the roots were formed and began to penetrate the soil, they could be easily perceived through the glass. Although an incision is always the most certain, and it is uniformly practiced, roots will in many varieties strike easily from the buds; and a common operation in France is simply to peg down the branches in the soil, without any incision; in some cases, they give the branch a sudden twist, which will break or bruise the bark, and facilitate the formation of roots.

Some Chinese authors state that very long branches may be laid down, and that roots may be thus obtained from all the eyes upon them, which will eventually form as many plants.

Vibert, a well-known rose cultivator in France, remarks upon this point: “Upon laying down with the requisite care some branches fifteen to twenty-four inches long, of the new growth, or of that of the previous year, and upon taking them up with similar care, after twelve or eighteen months, I found only the first eyes expanded into buds or roots, while the rest had perished. I have seldom seen the fifth eye developed, while I have frequently known the whole branch entirely perish. I speak in general terms, for there are some rare exceptions, and the different varieties of the Four-seasons Rose may be cited as proof that a great number of eyes of the same branch have taken root.”

This is the opinion of an eminent rose grower; but if, as he states, the Monthly Damask Rose will root freely in this way, many of the smooth-wooded roses would undoubtedly root still more readily, and our rapid growing native rose, Queen of the Prairies, would very probably throw out roots readily, when treated in this manner. It is worth repeated experiment; for, if rapid growing roses, like some of the evergreen varieties, the Greville, and the Queen of the Prairies, could with facility be made to grow in this way, rose hedges could be easily formed by laying down whole branches, and a very beautiful and effective protection would be thus produced, to ornament our fields and gardens.

SUCKERS.

Many roses throw up suckers readily from the root, and often form one of the principal causes of annoyance to the cultivator. For this reason, budding and grafting should always be done on stocks that do not incline to sucker. The Dog Rose—on which almost all the imported varieties are now worked—is particularly liable to this objection, and it is no unusual thing to see half-a-dozen suckers growing about a single rose-tree. When the health and prosperity of the plant are desired, these should be carefully kept down, as they deprive the plant of a material portion of its nourishment. When, however, they are wanted for stocks, they should be taken off every spring with a small portion of root, which can generally be obtained by cutting some distance below the surface of the ground. They should be planted immediately where they are wanted for budding, and will soon be fit for use. Many fine varieties of the summer roses will sucker in this way, and an old plant when taken up will sometimes furnish a large number of thrifty stems, each with a portion of root attached.

BUDDING.

Fifty years ago, budding and grafting were very little practiced, excepting with new varieties, that could with great difficulty be propagated in any other way. Within that time, however, the practice has been constantly increasing until now, when it is extensively employed in Europe, and roses imported from France and England can very rarely be obtained on their own roots. To this mode of propagation, there is one great objection, while the advantages in some varieties are sufficiently great to counterbalance any inconveniences attending the cultivation of a budded or grafted rose. It is generally the case, that the stock or plant on which the Rose is budded is of some variety that will throw up suckers very freely, which growing with great luxuriance, will sometimes overpower the variety budded upon it, and present a mass of its own flowers. The purchaser will thus find a comparatively worthless bloom, instead of the rare and beautiful varieties whose appearance he has been eagerly awaiting, and upon the head of the nurseryman will frequently descend the weight of his indignation. This difficulty can, however, be avoided by a very little attention. The shoot of the stock can very readily be distinguished from that of the budded or grafted variety by its growth and foliage, even if the age of the plant will not allow the point of inoculation to be recognized. In passing the plant in his walks, let the owner simply cut away any shoot of this character that may spring from the stock or root. The budded variety thus receiving all the nourishment from the root, will soon grow with luxuriance, and present to the eager expectant as fine a bloom as he may desire—at the expense only of a little observation, and the trouble of occasionally taking his knife from his pocket.