Our young friends may desire to raise their own roses, so we will give
them a few directions. The best time to take cuttings is from October
to January. The wood must be ripened; cuttings are usually made with
three or four eyes. These cuttings are best put into a cold frame, or
in a box prepared with equal parts of sand, leaf mould, and loam; all
they require is sufficient protection not to freeze. Cuttings placed in
such frames about the last of October, will be rooted sufficient to pot
by March. Cuttings can be placed in rows quite near together, say an
inch apart, and the rows three inches apart. This space allows you to
press the soil firmly about each stem. One thorough watering, when put
in, to settle the soil closely around them, will usually be all that is
necessary until they begin to root in the spring. Some varieties will
root much easier than others. As soon as they are well rooted, they
should be potted in two inch pots, shaded and watered for a few days,
and gradually hardened off by exposing them to the air; in this way
they can be sufficiently rooted to plant in the open ground in April or
May. Layering is more easily done from about the middle of June to the
middle of September, always using shoots of the young growth--that is,
a growth of three or four weeks old, or such as are not so much ripened
as to drop the leaves; or in other words, the cut should always be made
at that part of the shoot where there are as green and healthy leaves
below as above the cut. This condition of the shoot is very important,
in order to produce a well-rooted layer.
Another mode of layering, not in general use, is, to place the layer
where the incision is made, in a three or four inch pot, sinking
the pot in the ground to the level of the rim; all the roots being
confined in the pot, when the layer is lifted, no check is given to
them. Layers so made may be planted out in the fall, and if a little
mulching is given round the roots, not one plant in a hundred will
fail; while if the layering is done in the usual way, without pots,
a heavy percentage is almost certain to be lost during the winter.
To the florist, without proper means of propagation, this method of
layering roses in pots will be found very advantageous, as every layer
so made will make an excellent flowering plant by spring, if kept in a
green-house or cold-pit, during the winter, and will prove nearly as
valuable to the purchaser as large one year old plants.