96 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE CHAP. 
principal reasons why pruning is necessary. A rose 
is not a tree to grow onwards and upwards, but a 
plant which in the natural course every year or two 
forms fresh channels for the majority of the sap, 
and thus causes the branches and twigs above the 
new shoots to diminish in vitality. In seems better, 
therefore, to speak of Rose-plants than of Rose- 
trees, especially since standards are now less used, 
and so many new varieties are dwarf in their 
growth. 
The objects of pruning are :—T'o maintain the life 
and strength equally throughout the plants, to mould 
and preserve their shape, and to give more vigour, 
colour, and substance to the flowers. Owing to the 
natural habit of growth before mentioned, a consider- 
able amount of wood must be taken away annually 
to prevent the shoots robbing each other, and when 
nature is interfered with art must go a little further 
to make and to keep a plant of well-balanced shape. 
And also, even for ordinary garden purposes, a 
considerable amount of strength and sap must be 
reserved for each bloom, or, in the case of the dark 
H.P.s for instance, they will not show their true 
colours at all. 
The principal art of pruning—that of forming and 
maintaining a shapely plant of well-placed shoots— 
has almost died out in modern out-of-door Rose 
culture. This is owing to the neglect now shown 
to the Hybrid Chinas and Hybrid Bourbons, really 
strong-growing varieties but only blooming once: 
to the decreased popularity of standards where a 
well-balanced head is more noticeable and necessary 
than in a dwarf or bush plant: and to the fact that 
most enthusiastic Rosarians care more for perfect 
