54 PBUNING. 



The " Plucca " pruners, or secateurs, enables the 

 gatherer of flowers or fruit to reach out and cut with 

 one hand a bloom or fruit, the secateurs retaining- it in 

 position in perfect safety until the hand is drawn in. 

 This saves a lot of stepping^ on the well-dug border 

 and much damage when a flower or fruit is only just 

 within reach. For general purposes, the small attach- 

 ment is easily taken off, and when the heavy pruning is 

 done it can be replaced. The shape is correct and the 

 grip perfect, which means so much when you have a 

 heavy day's work to get through. I have very little 

 use for the parrot-billed secateurs with the rounded 

 points to their blades, for in cutting small wood they 

 are far too clumsy, and you cannot work quick enough. 

 In Mr. C. A. Jardine's ** Medoc " secateurs we have 

 the perfect Rose-pruner without the ** serpette " or 

 knife attachment, so invaluable for vines and fruit 

 trees. Indeed, if there is much heavy work to be done 

 amongst climbers and old cut-backs, the knife attach- 

 ment will prove of great help, and in the preparing of 

 standard briars from the hedgerow a real boon. For 

 myself, however, I prefer Mr. Jardine's pruner in size 

 No. 9, with the " serpette " or knife removed, for Rose- 

 pruning, but replaced for the pruning of fruit trees. 



Armed with a pair of either of the above makes, a 

 grower can get through nearly all his work, and if he 

 does come across wood too strong for the secateurs, 

 which is seldom — for the No. 9, like the famous mili- 

 tary pill, does most things — he must use his knife to 

 help him out. I have no use for the saw, be it ever so 

 sharp, pointed, and fine; indeed, I believe much harm 

 is often done by its use on Rose trees, for, be as careful 

 as you will, it is very hard not to graze the bark. 



So much for pruning implements. And now as to 

 their use in the Rose garden on the various varieties of 

 the Queen of Flowers. 



For the guidance of the amateur, I consider it 

 simplest to treat of pruning under the following head- 

 ings : The pruning of Climbers, Pillars, Garden Roses, 

 Weeping Roses, Standards, Dwarfs. 



