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THERE ARE five modes of propagating the rose,—by layers, by cuttings, by budding, by grafting, and by suckers.

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This is perhaps, for the amateur, the most convenient and certain method. The best season for layering is the summer, from the end of June to the end of August; and, for some varieties, even later. The rose which is to be multiplied should be in a condition of vigorous growth.

Loosen and pulverize the soil around it; and, if heavy and adhesive, add a liberal quantity of very old manure mixed with its bulk of sharp sand. The implements needed for the operation are a knife, a trowel, and hooked wooden pegs. Choose a well-ripened shoot of the same season's growth, and strip off the leaves from its base a foot or more up the stalk; but, by all means, suffer the leaves at the end to remain. Bend the shoot gently downward with the left hand, and insert the edge of the knife in its upper or inner side six or eight inches from its base, and immediately below a bud. Cut half way through the stem; then turn the edge of the knife upward, and cautiously slit the stem through the middle, to the length of an inch and a half, thus a tongue of wood, with a bud at its end, will be formed. With the thumb and finger of the left hand raise the upper part of the stem erect, at the same time by a slight twist turning the tongue aside, steadying the stem meanwhile with the right hand. Thus the tongue will be brought to a right angle, or nearly so, with the part of the stem from which it was cut. Hold it in this position with the left hand, while with the trowel you make a slit in the soil just beneath it. Into this insert the tongue and bent part of the stem to a depth not much exceeding two inches. Press the earth firmly round them, and pin them down with one of the hooked pegs. Some operators cut the tongue on the lower or outer side of the stem; but this has a double disadvantage. In the first place, the stem is much more liable to break in being bent; and, in the next place, the tongue is liable to re-unite with the cut part, and thus defeat the operation. When all is finished, the extremity of the shoot should stand out of the ground as nearly upright as possible, and should by no means be cut back,—a mistaken practice in use with some gardeners.

In a favorable season, most of the layers will be well rooted before the frost sets in. If the weather is very dry, there will be many failures. Instead of roots, a hard cellular substance will form in a ball around the tongue. In the dry summer of 1864, the rose-layers were thus "clubbed" with lumps often as large as a hen's egg; but cases like this are rare.

In November, it is better in our severe climate to take up the rooted layers, and keep them during winter in a "cold frame;" that is, a frame constructed like that of a hot-bed, without the heat. Here they should be set closely in light soil to the depth of at least six inches, and covered with boards and matting; or they may be potted in small pots, and placed in a frame or cellar.

Layers may be made in spring from wood of the last season's growth; but laying the young wood during slimmer, as described above, is much to be preferred.

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All roses may be propagated by cuttings; but some kinds strike root much more readily than others. The hard-wooded roses, including the entire family of the Hardy June roses, and especially the Mosses, are increased with difficulty by cuttings. The Hybrid PerpÉtuais root more readily; while the tender ever-blooming roses, including the Teas, Noisettes, and Chinas, are propagated in this way with great ease.

Cuttings may be made from the ripened or the half-ripened wood. In the case of roses, and of nearly all ligneous plants, cuttings made from the ripe wood do not require bottom-heat, and are more likely to be injured than benefited by it. On the other hand, cuttings of the soft or unripe wood strike root with more quickness and certainty if stimulated by the application of a gentle heat from below.

In propagating roses from the ripe wood, the cuttings must be made early in autumn from wood of the same season's growth. The chances of success will be increased if they are taken off close to the old wood with what is called a "heel;" that is, with a very small portion of the old wood attached. The heel should be trimmed smooth with a sharp knife: the cuttings may be six or eight inches long. Strip off any leaves which may still adhere to them, and plant them in rows, at a depth of about five inches, in a cold frame. The soil should be very light, and thoroughly drained: water it, to settle it, around the cuttings. On the approach of frost, they should be protected with boards and mats, giving them air on fine days during winter. In the spring, a white cellular growth called a "callus" will have formed at the heel of each cutting, which, if the process succeeds, will soon emit roots, and become a plant.

Propagation in summer from the half-ripe wood is a better and less uncertain method. In June and July, immediately after the blossoms wither, and before the rose has begun its second growth, cuttings should be made of the flower-stems. Each cutting may contain two or three buds. The lower leaves must be taken off; but the upper leaves must remain. Trim off the stem smoothly with a sharp knife below the lowest bud, and as near to it as possible without injuring it.

If the cuttings are taken off with a heel, as above described, the chance of success will be greater. They may now be inserted at the depth of an inch and a half around the edge of a small pot filled one-third with broken crocks, and the remainder with a mixture of loam, leaf-mould, and sharp sand. Now place them in a frame on the shady side of a hedge or fence, water them to settle the soil, and cover them closely with glass. Sprinkle them lightly every morning and night; and, when moisture gathers on the inner surface of the glass, turn it over, placing the dry side inward. If mould or decay attacks the cuttings, wedge up the glass a little to give them air. In a week or two, they will form a callus; after which they may be removed to a gentle hot-bed, kept moderately close, and shaded from the direct sun. Here they will quickly strike root, and may be potted off singly into small pots.

Another mode of propagation, and a favorite one with nursery-men, is practised early in the spring. In this case, the cuttings are made from forced roses, or roses grown on greenhouse rafters. Some propagators prefer the wood in a very soft state, cutting it even before the flowers are expanded. The cuttings may be placed in pots as in the former case, or in shallow boxes or earthen pans thoroughly drained with broken crocks. The soil should be shallow enough to allow the heel of the cutting to touch the crocks. They are to be placed at once on a moderate bottom-heat, covered closely with glass, and shaded from the direct rays of the noontide sun. Their subsequent treatment is similar to that of summer cuttings. They must be closely watched, and those that show signs of mould or decay at once removed.

After the callus is formed, they will bear more air. When rooted, they should be potted into small pots, and placed on a hot-bed of which the heat is on the decline. Towards the end of May, when the earth is warmed by the sun, they may be turned out of the pots into the open ground, where they will soon make strong plants.

Many American nursery-men strike rose-cuttings in spring, in pure sand, over a hot-bed or a tank of hot water, in the close air of the propagating-house. They must be potted immediately on rooting, as the sand supplies them with nothing to subsist on. We have seen many hundreds rooted in this way with scarcely a single failure.

The management of difficult cuttings requires a certain tact, only to be gained by practice and observation; and the gardener who succeeds in rooting a pot of cuttings of the Moss Rose has some reason to be proud of his success.

With respect to the relative value of roses propagated by the methods above described, the most experienced cultivators are unanimous in the opinion, that those raised from layers and from cuttings of the ripe wood, without artificial heat, are superior in vigor and endurance to those raised from the half-ripe wood with the stimulus of a close heat. Unfortunately, the former method is so slow and uncertain when compared with the latter, that nurserymen rarely employ it to any great extent; and a good choice of roses on their own roots, raised without heat, is sometimes difficult to find.

The following is a mode of propagation not often practised, but which is well worthy of trial, as it is applicable to prunings which are usually thrown away. The extract is from the "Gardener's Chronicle."

"The rose is as easily propagated by means of buds or eyes as the vine. If your correspondent 'X' will take a strong shoot from almost any kind of rose in a dormant state, and with a sharp knife cut it into as many pieces as there are good eyes on the shoots, the pieces not being more than one inch long, taking care to have the eye in the centre of the piece, he will doubtless succeed. One-third of the wood should be cut clean off from end to end at the back of the eye, just as you would prepare a vine eye. In preparing the cutting-pans, it is most essential to put a good quantity of broken potsherds in the bottom, beginning with large pieces, and finishing with others more finely broken: then mix a quantity of good loam, leaf-soil, and sand, in equal proportions; rub it through a fine sieve, and fill the pans to within one inch of the top, pressing down the soil moderately firm. After that, put in the eyes in a leaning or slanting position, pressing them firmly into the soil with the thumb and finger; taking care to keep the thumb on the bottom end of the cutting, to prevent the bark from being injured. After the eyes are put in, give the pan two or three gentle raps on the bench; then put half an inch of silver or clean river sand on the top, water with a fine rose, and plunge the pans in a nice bottom heat of say sixty degrees, covering the surface over with moss to prevent the soil from getting dry: they will not require any more water for a week or ten days. The moss should be carefully removed as soon as the young shoots begin to push through the sand. In three weeks from that time, the roses will be fit for potting off into large sixty-sized pots. They should then be placed in a temperature of seventy degrees, when they will soon repay the care bestowed on them. I, however, prefer grafting on the Manetti stock. I grafted a lot in a dormant state seven weeks ago: they are now nice plants, and will be in bloom by May."—J. Willis, Oulton Park, Cheshire.

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This mode of propagation is attended with great advantages and great evils. A new or rare rose may be increased by it more rapidly and surely than by any other means; while roses of feeble growth on their own roots will often grow and bloom vigorously when budded on a strong and congenial stock. On the other hand, the very existence of a budded rose is, in our severe climate, precarious. A hard winter may kill it down to the point of inoculation, and it is then lost past recovery; whereas a rose on its own roots may be killed to the level of the earth, and yet throw up vigorous shoots in the spring. Moreover, a budded rose requires more attention than the cultivator is always willing to bestow on it. An ill-informed or careless amateur will suffer shoots to grow from the roots or stem of the stock; and, as these are always vigorous, they engross all the nourishment, and leave the budded rose to dwindle or die; while its disappointed owner, ignorant of the true condition of things, often congratulates himself on the prosperous growth of his plant. At length he is undeceived by the opening of the buds, and the appearance of a host of insignificant single roses in the place of the Giant of Battles or General Jacqueminot.

Budding, however, cannot be dispensed with, since, in losing it, we should lose the most effectual means of increasing and distributing the choicest roses. The process consists in implanting, as it were, an undeveloped leaf-bud, of the variety we wish to increase, in the bark and wood of some other species of rose. The latter is called the stock, and it should be of a hardy and vigorous nature. Two conditions are essential to the process. The first is, that the bark of the stock will "slip;" in other words, separate freely from the wood. The second is, that the rose to be increased should be furnished with young and sound leaf-buds in a dormant state. These conditions are best answered in summer and early autumn, from the first of July to the middle of September. During the whole of this period, the sap being in active motion, the bark separates freely from the wood, while there is always a supply of plump and healthy buds on shoots of the same year's growth. The only implement necessary is a budding-knife. The operator should also provide himself with strings of bass-matting, moistened to make them pliant. Instead of the bass, cotton-wicking is occasionally used. Cut well-ripened shoots of the variety to be increased, provided with plump and healthy buds. In order to prevent exhaustion by evaporation from the surface of the leaves, these should be at once cut off; leaving, however, about half an inch of the leaf-stalk still attached to the stem. Insert the knife in the bark of the stem half an inch above a bud, and then pass it smoothly downward to the distance of half an inch below the bud, thus removing the latter with a strip of bark attached. A small portion of the wood will also adhere. This may be removed; though this is not necessary, and is attended with some little risk of pulling out with it the eye, or vital part, of the bud. Now place the bud between the lips while you take the next step of the process. This consists in cutting a vertical, slit in the bark of the stock. This done, cut a tranverse slit across the top of the vertical one. Both should be quite through the bark to the wood below; then, with the flat handle of the budding-knife, raise the corners of the bark, and disengage it from the wood sufficiently to allow of the bud being slipped smoothly into the crevice between the wood and bark of the stock. Next apply the edge of the knife to the protruding end of the bark attached to the bud, and cut it smoothly off immediately over the tranverse slit in the bark of the stock. The bud is now adjusted accurately in its place, the overlapping bark closing neatly around it. Now tie it above and below pretty firmly with repeated turns of the bass-matting, and the work is done. It must be remembered, that, to be well done, it must be quickly done; and it is better to insert the bud on the north or shady side of the stock.

The bud and the stock will soon begin to grow together. After a week or two they should be examined, and the tie loosened. If the bud is put in early in the season, it may be made to grow almost immediately by cutting off the ends of the growing shoots of the stock, and thus forcing sap towards the bud. As the bud grows, the stock should be still further shortened, and all the shoots growing below the bud should be removed altogether.

Budded stocks require in this country, at least when the buds are dormant, a protection against the winter. Where there are but few, oiled paper, or something of' a similar nature, may be tied over the bud as a shelter from snow, rain, and sun; but, when there are many, this is impossible, and the stocks may be taken up, and "heeled" close together in a dry soil under a shelter of boards and mats. "Heeling" is merely a temporary planting.

In the following spring, the stocks may be cut off to within an inch of the bud, and then planted where they are to remain. When the bud is inserted near the ground,—which in our climate should always be done,—the stock should be planted in such a manner that the bud is a little below the level of the earth. To this end, the stock should be set in a slanting position in the hole dug for it; the bud, of course, being uppermost, and about an inch below the level of the edge of the hole: then the hole should be partially filled in. When the bud has grown out to the height of six or eight inches, the hole may be filled altogether. No part of the stock will now be seen above the earth. By this means, the point of junction of the stock and the bud is protected from the cold of winter and the heat of summer, and the rose will live longer and thrive better than where the stock is exposed. In many cases, the rose will throw out roots of its own above its junction with the stock, and thus become in time a self-rooted plant.

There are two kinds of stocks in common use at the present time for out-door roses. One is the Dog Rose, a variety growing wild in various parts of Europe; the other is the Manetti Rose, a seedling raised by the Italian cultivator whose name it bears. There can be no doubt, that, of the two, the Manetti is by far the better for this climate. It is very vigorous, very hardy, easily increased by layers or cuttings of the ripe wood, and free from the vicious habit of the Dog Rose, of throwing out long under-ground suckers. We would by no means say that it will not throw up an abundance of shoots from the roots if allowed to do so; but these shoots are easily distinguished by a practised eye from those of the budded rose. They may be known at a glance by the peculiar reddish tint of the stem, and by the shape and the deep glossy hue of the leaves.

They must be removed as soon as seen, not by cutting them off, but by tearing them off under ground, either by hand if possible, or with the help of a forked stick, which, pressed strongly into the earth, slips them off at their junction with the root.

It cannot be denied that many kinds of roses, budded low on the Manetti stock, will grow with a vigor, and bloom with a splendor, which they do not reach on their own roots, and which will often repay the additional labor which they exact. We once planted in the manner above described a strong Manetti stock containing a single bud of the Hybrid Perpetual Hose,—-Triomphe de l'Exposition. In the September following, it had thrown up a stem with several branches, the central shoot rising to the height of six feet and a half, and bearing on its top the largest and finest blossom we have ever seen of that superb variety. Some roses, however, will not grow well on the Manetti. Others, again, can scarcely be grown with advantage in any other way, refusing to strike root from layers, and often failing when the attempt is made to root them from cuttings even of the soft wood. Some, even when rooted, remain feeble and dwarfish plants; while, if a bud from them is implanted in a good Manetti stock, it would grow to a vigorous bush in one season. To sum up, we would say, that, for the amateur, nine roses out of ten are better on their own roots, while there are a few which can only be grown successfully, budded on a good stock.

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All the evil that can be spoken of budded roses is doubly true of grafted roses; while the advantages which the former can claim are possessed in a less degree by the latter. The reason is, simply, that, in the case of the budded rose, the junction between the stock and foreign variety is commonly more perfect than in the case of the grafted rose. Indeed, it would not be worth while to graft roses at all, were it not for the fact that grafting can be practised at times when budding is impossible. This is because it is indispensable, in budding, that the sap of the stock should be in full motion; whereas, in grafting, it may be at rest.

There are innumerable modes of grafting; but, for the rose, the simplest form of what is called "whip-grafting" is perhaps the best. In the end of winter, or at the beginning of spring, take young well-rooted plants of the Ma-netti stock, having stems not much larger than a quill. Beginning very near the root, shave off with a sharp knife a slip of the bark, with a little of the wood, to the length of something more than an inch; then shave down the lower end of the graft until it fits accurately the part of the stock whence the bark and wood have been pared off. The essential point is, that the inner bark of the graft should be in contact with the inner bark of the stock. When the two are fitted, bind them around with strings of wet bass-matting. Now plant the stock in a pot, setting it so deeply, that its point of junction with the graft is completely covered with soil. Place the pots thus prepared on a gentle hot-bed, and cover them closely with glass. When the shoots from the graft are well grown out, give them air by degrees to harden them.

A better way is to pot the stocks early in autumn, so that they may become well established. In this case, it will be necessary to cover the junction of the stock and graft with grafting wax or clay in such a manner as to exclude all air; then plunge the pots in old tan over a gentle hot-bed, so deeply that the grafted part is completely covered, the ends only of the grafts being visible. This keeps them in an equable heat and moisture. The subsequent treatment is the same as in the former case. As the stock has acquired a hold on the earth of the pot, or is, as the gardeners express it, "established," the graft will grow much more quickly, and make a strong blooming plant the same season.

In all grafting, whether of roses or other woody plants, it is necessary that the buds of the graft should be completely dormant. In the stock, on the other hand, a slight and partial awakening of the vital action at the time the graft is put on seems rather beneficial than injurious.

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In this mode of increasing roses, Nature, rather than the cultivator, may be said to do the work of propagation. Many sorts of roses throw out spontaneously long underground stems, from which roots soon issue, and which soon throw up an abundance of shoots above ground. When these suckers, as they are called, are separated from the parent, and planted apart, they make a strong growth, but rarely form plants so symmetrical as those raised from cuttings or layers.

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