VI PRUNING 113 
varieties, really fine flowers instead of a mere mass, 
wherein are some dead, some overblown, some not 
out, and all poor. I can never pass such a great 
head of buds in a neighbour’s garden without my 
fingers instinctively longing to be at them and ease 
the struggling competing crowd. 
It should be remembered that the production of 
fruit, flowers, or even flower buds, has just the 
opposite effect upon the constitution of a plant to 
that which is given by the growth of shoots and 
leaves. Jn the latter case the plant is growing, and 
the roots are increasing in proportion to the leaves. 
But in the former case the plant is engaged in 
reproduction, which is to some extent weakening 
and exhausting. So all lovers of flowers should 
bear in mind that as the removal of leaves, to any 
considerable extent, weakens a plant, so the cutting 
off of flowers or buds strengthens it. We should 
never be afraid to cut Rose-blooms ; we sometimes 
hear, ‘‘Oh! I thought it was a pity to cut that 
splendid Rose on that little plant,” when asa matter 
of fact it was still more a pity to have left it. 
A large head of clustered Rose-buds is a great 
strain on the root and the plant, and the sooner this 
strain is relieved the better by far will be the bud 
that is left and the earlier and finer will be the 
autumnal bloom. 
In growing for exhibition this operation of dis- 
budding is most important (see Chap. XI) and must 
be strictly practised on the Teas as well. But for 
general purposes many of the Teas are greatly 
improved in beauty if a bud or two be left with the 
Rose, only those immediately surrounding the central 
bud being removed. 
I 
