102 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE CHAP. 
globular form of a Rose. Rose petals are evenly 
arranged, and do not cross each other in an inward 
direction; such should be the shape of the plant. 
Bearing in mind that the top bud left of each shoot 
will grow first and in the direction in which it 
points, we should always cut back to a bud that 
looks outward, and take care that the centre will not 
be overcrowded. To get rid of a misplaced shoot it 
should be clean removed at the very bottom; merely 
cutting it hard back will only make it grow the more. 
It must be our endeavour each year to do away with 
as much old wood as possible, and in the case of 
strong growers to lessen the number of their shoots 
rather than their length. We should picture to 
ourselves what the plant will look lke in full 
growth, and remember that a lover of Roses is 
more likely to leave too many than too few shoots. 
There is a saying in Hast Anglia, ‘‘ No man should 
hoe his own turnips,’ meaning that he is not likely 
to thin them sufficiently; but those who are used 
to thinning grapes and other garden produce will 
probably have got over this difficulty. 
The next question is, how far, 7.e. to how many 
buds, are the shoots to be cut back; and the answer 
is to be found in the golden rule of pruning, that 
more buds are to be left on each shoot in proportion 
‘as the plant, both as a variety and an individual is 
strong, and less in proportion as it is weak. To a 
novice in Rose-growing it appears strange at first 
that we should cut away almost all there is left of a 
weakly-growing and precious variety, which would 
seem to be almost exterminated by such severity, 
and yet leave longer shoots on a strong sort which 
seems better able to stand the rough treatment; but 
