Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 1682, 16 February 1884, Page 7

GARDEN

SEASONABLE NOTES.

Eose Cuttings.— Tho season- will soon bs on us for striking rose cuttings iv the open air, and there are a greab many of them which, I believe, would succeed better with us on their own roots. This is a subject on which there has been a great deal of correspondence in the Home horticultural papers of late years, both for and against. Whether the roso will succeed bettei 1 on its ovrn root or not no doubt depends greatly upon soil and situation, the class of roses selected also having something to do with the matter. I believe that with a good selection of roses, according tr the soil and situation, we could iind a good collection that would do very well on their own roots, if not better than on any stock yet found, for either budding or grattiug tho rose on. Pew operations are more fascinating than this. Tho secret lies in beginning at the right time and in using the right sort of materials. From August to October are considered the besi; time in England' for striking cuttings of roses in the open air. ■ These months correspond with February and April in New Zealand. They in England consider 50 to 60 per cent, of plants a fairaverage in striking either in the open air or in frames with or without bottom heat. If you want to make plants at express speed you must have a hot-bed or bottom heat, specially prepared, but if you are patient a hot-bed ia not necessary. With n hot-bed properly madayou can get well-rooted plants in six weeks, but if you have only an old cucumber or melon bed you must be prepared to wait two or three, weeks longer, and of course if we have them; in tho open air they will require longer still, but if we have patience I believe we will lose nothing in waiting. Wo may safely count on from 90 to 100 per cent, of plants in the open air, if there is proper care in selscting the materials, while the constitution of the plants is stronger if the propagation is continued in a steady and regular w<ty. During the early stages of the cuttings they can hardly be kept too cool. Tho cool period extends from the time of insertion to that of callusing. The moment this is completed the cuttings should have suflicienl heat to force roots to spring forth fiom the indurated vital surface of tho callus. During the first stage the cutting advances towards a plant in virtue of its internal supplies. During the second it must be fed from without, or it parishes. It is "most essential to bear this in mind if a full measure oi" success is io be attained. The processes am not more distinct than the different; radios o£" Sfesd required for their completion. Duringthe first the rate of growth can scarooly be too. slow ; during the second it can hardly be too> fast. _ A good many make tho mistake of considering rose cuttings safe ao soon as they ar& callusod. They are not, and hundreds of them perish, apparently from sheer exhaustion^ aftar this stage in growth towards rooting has been gained. Nor ia it to be wondered at. All* the vital foree — the whole of tho organisabl© mattir contained in the few inches of stem — has been expended in making good the first: step towards roots; therefore, unless the second is quickly taken the cutting cannot Iivo» for it would have to do so on nothing. Heat applied during the earlier stages of the cutting; is equally injurious — it develops the growingforce of tho cutting in tho wrong direction and at the wrong end. Ifc U easier to start buds into shoots and leaves than to form a callus, hence any oxcess of heat turns the growing force into these, and as there is not enough for both purposes the cuttings that make top growth too early seldom root. So true is this statement that it may be accepted as an axiom that the more top growth the higher the per centage of deaths among rose cuttings. CooJ^ careful treatment seems essential to the grivvi-c tation of vtl al forco towards the base oi the, cuttings. Experience has so far proved.: then soundness of this theory by showing that thei open air or a cold close house is tfcp most favourable to tho calluslug of rosa cuttings, Thcs latter is the best, and for this reason, that sc» soon as the cutting are caused they may ba placed in heat to force the callus to for-m roots. Though a fair amciint of &uceesa may be obtained in tho &}jon air, yof rose cuttings are. often wrecked in the second stage by cold spells* o£ weather and otaor causes. Whatever.hinders their rooting endangers their safety. T/ho strongest roas' cutting can only liva ai limited time without roots. It is exhausted afc 1 both endc- and it would often be difficult to> • show whether the callus at its base or thei growing shoots hav.e robbed ifc most. That both drain cuttings of thcr-i- vital fluids is obvious enough to all practical men, who kv& found many cuttings with growing shoots or> their crowns and abortive roots at their base yet dead in Ilia middle. The besi and surest prevontivo of such losses is tho placing of tbo outings ma temperature oS 55, degrees or 60 degrees as soon as they are callused, Soota are developed afc one©, and these send up sunphes in timo to. xo-JSU tho exhausted cuttinea and support the growing shoots} and expanding leaves, l^vom this point no time should ha lost, for as soon as the roots are formed oach cutang ■ should have sv pot to itself, and thus, before tho cuttings could be rooted on tho old system, • tho plaats may be fillJßg a four-inch or ■even a sixonch pot, with wots, and beiiwri nice bushy flpwenng pl %n ts within less thaW? roar of the tune o^ho insertion of the cutt^s Thus, by the compound method of Wafc .lose cuttings, not, only are they moss. suSv • rootod bqfc they are rooted i n less tb^aTf theJwml and they start with more v%oS and are. wuoa sooner developed into Wring plants, ■Tins applying of heat at tJ»Q second staged more nece^a.yin tho dtf, country than >lt ks witnuß Bub where ifceanba applied l vri« voS? i *° ? ' OOt^"- PI ' eCCSS ' d kes P th ° young _ plants u> a more vigorous aael healthy condition, I,'he best time lov raisin" rose e.»f mont^tjlHovvard-s the end of next, and a very fiood method la to piepare apiece of suitable .Rrnur.d, very m ?o h as you would prepare a bed for oniony, with a K ood proportion of sand i'tv.ei!) the cuttings in rows, by siiutjlv nre^ii^' thoin in ; do not use a dibber, as the KS I .seldom so compact round tho cutting, S 8 * bo necessary to uso one see that tfwre is no vacancy left below or round tha cutting? Th£ cuttings may bo planted i* rows about one' foot apart and six ii w h^ rrotn each other W X only two ortfc Wv w «« above the ground.