46 PICTORIAL PRACTICAL ROSE GROWING. 
What would happen is this: In spring the shoots near the 
tips of the branches, d. which first made a move in February 
or early March, would grow rapidly. The shoots nearest of 
all to the top would be the strongest; others, however, would 
break lower down. We should, in short, get a great many 
young branches near the top of the bush; the lower part would 
be comparatively bare. 
Now, here we are given pause at once. Firstly, our un- 
pruned bush is obviously going to be a spreading bush, and it 
is going to be top-heavy. If we want our Roses to be sprawly, 
and of a water-on-the-brain aspect, well and good. If we do 
not, bad. Secondly, the flower-producing energies of our 
unpruned bush are going to be very much diffused. We stand 
to get a great many flowers, but they will be small, and they 
will be of no particular shape. If we want a great many 
flowers, and do not care what shape they are, well and good. 
If we want fewer fine flowers, bad. 
It all amounts to this: We can, if we like, leave bush A 
just as it is, and have no dividing line e at all; but before we 
decide on that let us at least have the issue before us. We 
can have a healthy bush, but we cannot have a compact one. 
We can have a great many flowers, but we cannot have fine 
specimens of the particular varieties. 
Those who are going in for the non-pruning system must 
now please step aside for a few moments until I have dealt 
with those who have set their hearts on compact bushes and 
fine flowers. To all such the dividing line, e, becomes some- 
thing very important indeed. Unfortunately, while it looks 
clear enough on paper, with the wide gaps between the upper 
and the lower shoots, it is not so clear on the growing bushes ; 
how shall we find it? We can get at it in this way: When 
growth begins in late winter on the upper part of the bush, 
an examination of the lower part will reveal little reddish 
swellings. These are buds. Counting from near the ground 
line upwards until we have come to six of them, we can say, 
“There, just above the sixth bud, is my letter e.” Count the 
buds on each shoot in the same way, and the dividing line is 
arrived at. 
We must not, however, put our pruning knife through at 
once. If we did a catastrophe might ensue. Those eager 
young shoots which are bursting near the top of the bush in 
February are taking the sap and keeping the lower buds—the 
really important buds—dormant. In March or early April 
comes a sharp frost, and those froward shoots get very sharply 
nipped. No matter. The buds are safe because they are not 
growing. If we had cut to e directly the tips, d, began to 
move, we should have concentrated the sap on the bottom buds 
and caused them to break into shoots, which of course would 
have had to bear the brunt of the “ nip.” 
