This trouble, however, is such that the plant is in most cases neglected. Budded or grafted roses are thus very unpopular in this country, and those on their own roots are deemed the only ones which it is safe to plant.
The practice of budding has brought into cultivation a form of the plant which is highly ornamental, but which can never become very general in this country. The Tree Rose is an inoculation upon a standard some four or five feet in height, generally a Dog Rose or Eglantine. The tall, naked stem, a greater part of which is unsheltered by any foliage, is exposed to the full glare of our summer sun, and unless protected in some way, will often die out in two or three years. Its life can be prolonged by covering the stem with moss, or with a sort of tin tube, provided with small holes, to allow the air to enter and circulate around the stem. This is, however, some trouble; and as many will not provide this protection, a large part of the standard roses imported to this country will gradually die out, and rose bushes be generally employed for single planting, or for grouping upon the lawn.
In budding, there are two requisites: a well-established and thriftily growing plant, and a well-matured eye or bud. The operation can be performed at any season when these requisites can be obtained. In the open ground, the wood from which the buds are cut is generally not mature until after the first summer bloom.
[Fig. 10].—BUDDING THE ROSE.
[Fig. 11].—BUDDING IN THE BRANCHES.
[Fig. 12].—BUDDING A POTTED ROSE.
Having ascertained by running a knife under the bark, that the stock will peel easily, and having some perfectly ripe young shoots with buds upon them, the operation can be performed with a sharp knife that is round and very thin at the point. Make in the bark of the stock a longitudinal incision of three-quarters of an inch, and another short one across the top, as in a, [fig. 10]; run the knife under the bark and loosen it from the wood; then cut from one of the young shoots of the desired variety, a bud, as in b; placing the knife a quarter to three-eighths of an inch above the eye or bud, and cutting out about the same distance below it, cutting sufficiently near the bud to take with it a very thin scale of the wood. English gardeners will always peel off this thin scale; but in our hot climate, it should always be left on, as it assists to keep the bud moist, and does not at all prevent the access of the sap from the stock to the bud. The bud being thus prepared, take it, by the portion of leaf-stalk attached, between the thumb and finger in the left hand, and, with the knife in the right, open the incision in the bark sufficiently to allow the bud to be slipped in as far as it will go, when the bark will close over and retain it. Then take a mat-string, or a piece of yarn, and firmly bind it around the bud, leaving only the petiole and bud exposed, as in c, [fig. 10]. The string should be allowed to remain for about two weeks, or until the bud is united to the stock. If allowed to remain longer, it will sometimes cut into the bark of the rapidly growing stock, but is productive of no other injury. It is the practice with many cultivators to cut off the top of the stock above the bud immediately after inoculation. A limited acquaintance with vegetable physiology would convince the cultivator of the injurious results of this practice, and that the total excision of the branches of the stock while in full vegetation must be destructive to a large portion of the roots, and highly detrimental to the prosperity of the plant. A much better mode is to bend down the top, and tie its extremity to the lower part of the stock. Several days after this is done, the bud can be inserted just below the sharpest bend of the arch. When the buds are to be placed in the branches of a stock, as in [fig. 11], the top of the main stem can be cut off, and the branches arched over and tied to the main stem, as at f; the bud is then inserted in each branch, as at c. The circulation of the sap being thus impeded by the bending of the branches, it is thrown into the inoculation, and forms then a more immediate union than it would if the branches were not arched. After the buds have become fairly united to the stock and have commenced growing, the top can be safely cut off to the bud, although it would be still better to make the pruning of the top proportionate to the growth of the bud; by this means, a slower, but more healthy vegetation is obtained. When the buds are inserted very late in the season, it is better not to cut off the top of the stock or branches until the following spring, and to preserve the bud dormant. If allowed to make a rapid growth so late in the season, there would be great danger of its being killed by frost. European cultivators are very fond of budding several varieties on one stock, in order to obtain the pretty effect produced by a contrast of color. This will only answer where great care is taken to select varieties of the same vegetating force; otherwise one will soon outstrip the others, and appropriate all the nourishment. It is also desirable that they should belong to the same species. When a bud is inserted in a plant in pot, as in [fig. 12], the main branches are left, and a portion of the top only cut off, in order to give the bud some additional nourishment.