THE ROSE GARDEN. 125 



so soon as the flowers have decayed ; for in addition to the neat appearance it 

 gives to the Rose Garden, it prevents the formation of seeds, which, when suffered 

 to ripen, draw to themselves that matter which should be stored in the branches. 



After worked Roses have been planted some years — say from six to ten — the 

 health of the plants often becomes impaired ; the wood annually produced grows 

 weaker and weaker, and does not attain that maturity and size necessary for the 

 production of fine flowers. The stems, unless washed occasionally, become covered 

 with moss and lichens, and, if the soil be at all inferior, they probably cease to 

 swell. Too little pruning will produce this state of things ; but there are other 

 causes. If we carefully remove a tree in this condition, we shall find it abounds 

 in large sucker-like roots, about the thickness of one's little finger, almost desti- 

 tute of fibre, and which have been burying themselves deeper and deeper in the 

 earth every succeeding year. Thus they become placed farther and farther from 

 the reach of nourishment, while the tree, increasing in size, requires a greater sup- 

 ply. The consequence is, the tree dwindles and becomes debilitated. This is 

 especially the case when deep planting has been practised. When this state of 

 things is visible, the plants should either be root pruned, or, which is better, taken 

 up altogether and replanted. Let this be done early in the autumn ; and when the 

 plants are out of the ground cut off' all the suckers, and shorten the roots moderately 

 close, which will induce an abundant emission of fibres. Prune the heads closely 

 in spring: never mind sacrificing the flowers. The removal of trees of this age, 

 and the shortening of the roots, would alone prevent a perfect flowering the first 

 season : look only to the formation of the tree. It is, perhaps, not advisable to 

 remove the whole at once : let a few be thus treated every year ; for the second 

 year after replanting, having regained their vigour, they may be expected to flower 

 as beautifully as ever. 



The best labels I can find for durability and neatness are wooden ones, three- 

 quarters of an inch wide, three inches long, and about the eighth of an inch in 

 thickness. In one end of these a hole may be pierced with an awl, and copper 

 wire passed through, by which they are fastened on the branches. Wooden labels 

 are also preferred for naming plants in the ground. If well painted, and the names 

 written with a dark pencil when the paint is wet, the writing will remain plain for 

 four or five years, and often much longer. When stuck in the ground, the lower 

 end of the stick should be covered with pitch for an inch or so above the line of 

 the level of the ground. 



To have Roses in bloom during the chilly months of autumn is the greatest 

 triumph of modern cultivators ; and perhaps this property of the Rose has recom- 

 mended it to popular notice more than any other. Now, although we do not, in 

 a general way, recommend summer-pruning, yet it is desirable to practise it to ob- 

 tain late Roses. At the end of August 1846 I cut back the main shoots of about 

 thirty sorts of Autumnals, when the flower-buds were about as large as a French 

 bean ; and on the 17th of November I gathered flowers as fine as I had seen them 



{Bio. I.) !/3 



