PRUNING. 69 



make g-ood bushes. It must not be thou£,'-ht that 

 pruning- can in any way be neglected because larger 

 bushes are sought for, or because quantity is preferred 

 to quality. On the contrary, greater care is needed to 

 shape the trees and to prune for quantity of bloom. 

 We employ what we will term long pruning, that is, 

 the cutting back of all last year's wood, so as to leave 

 a goodlv number of the middle eyes to a rod or shoot, 

 according to its variety, or even class. 



All weakly shoots are cut back to one or two eyes 

 at the base, and the centre of the tree is thinned out 

 and kept as open as possible. In pruning, the eye we 

 cut to is invariably an outside eye. This prevents the 

 tree from becoming congested and the crossing of 

 branches. In the pruning of old and neglected trees, it 

 pays to be severe. Having cut out all dead wood and 

 weakly shoots, shorten first of all, shoots, to half their 

 length, and then start your careful pruning; 

 that is, consider the future shape of the tree, 

 and cut back to two, three, or four eyes 

 accordingly. Severe pruning on an old tree, 

 if healthy, should produce vigorous shoots that 

 will soon carry an abundance of flower. The pruning 

 of Garden Roses is the school for Rose growers, be- 

 cause so much latitude can be given in the cutting away 

 of wood. Results can be watched and varieties studied 

 ^'ithout the possible loss of an exhibition flower 

 through being too merciful in pruning. As we have 

 said, we are growing for a mass of flowers, and the 

 varieties we plant are calculated to give the desired 

 effect. These will include Summer and Autumn-flower- 

 ing trees; and here let me impress upon the grower 

 the great necessity of removing Summer flowers as 

 ■soon as they are over. This helps forward the 

 Autumn crop, and does not allow the tree to get ex- 

 hausted. Thin out malformed buds and sickly shoots, 

 ■cut off every other day dead flowers, removing as few 

 leaves in the operation as possible ; this will help the 

 new wood to form and ripen early for Autumn flower- 

 ing, and also to withstand the early frosts. 



