PRUNING 



177 



immediately above a bud — preferably one that points 

 away from the centre of the plant. The slanting cut 

 ought to begin about on a level with the bud, but on 

 the opposite side of the stem; the knife will then be 

 brought out just above the bud itself. It is an extremely 

 bad practice to cut the stem at any point regardless of 



Several Hybrid Tea roses produce one vigorous shoot which develops 

 at the expense of the other growths. It must be hard pruned 

 as shown. 



the position of the buds, for the piece of bare stem above 

 the uppermost bud looks untidy, indicates slovenly 

 gardening, and will, moreover, die back to the bud. 



The question of how much of each stem to cut away 

 is one that has to be decided very largely by the pruner, 

 but one might give general directions, as follows : Shoots 

 that are not so thick as an ordinary lead pencil ought to 



