94 PARSONS ON THE ROSE. 



of the old wood, because it is generally only the young 

 wood that produces large and fine flowers ; the shortening 

 and thinning out of the young wood, that the root, having 

 much less wood to support, may devote all its nutriment 

 to the size and beauty of the flower ; and the formation 

 of a symmetrical shape. If an abundant bloom is de- 

 sired, witliout regard to the size of the flower, only the 

 weak shoots should be cut out, and the strong wood 

 should be shortened very little ; each bud will then pro- 

 duce a flower. By this mode, the flowers will be small, 

 and the growth of new wood very short, but there will 

 be an abundant and very showy bloom. If, however, the 

 flowers are desired as large and as perfect as possible, all 

 the weak wood should be cut out entirely, and all the 

 strong wood formed the last season should be cut down 

 to two eyes. The knife should always be applied di- 

 rectly above a bud, and sloping upward from it. The 

 preceding observations apply principally to rose bushes, 

 or dwarf roses ; with pillar, climbing, and tree roses, the 

 practice should be somewhat different. The former two 

 need comparatively little pruning ; they require careful 

 thinning out, but should seldom be shortened. The very 

 young side shoots can sometimes be shortened in, to pre- 

 vent the foliage from becoming too thick and crowded. 



Pillars for roses can be made of trellis work, of iron 

 rods in diff*erent forms, or of wood, but they should en- 

 close a space of at least a foot in diameter. The cheapest 

 plan, and one that w^ill last many years, is to make posts 

 of about 1| or 2 inches square, out of locust or pitch- 

 pine plank, and connect them with common hoop-iron. 

 They should be the length of a plank — between twelve 

 and thirteen feet — and should be set three feet in the 

 ground, that they may eflTectually resist the action of the 

 wind. The Rose having been cut down to the ground, is 

 planted inside of the pillar, and will make strong growths 

 the first season. As the leading shoots appear, they 



