CHAPTER YI 



PRUNING 



Somebody came once to " see my Roses " about the 

 middle of a backward April, and I told him they were 

 not to be seen. But he said he had "come some 

 distance : of course there was no bloom or even growth, 

 but might he see the plants ? " When I said there were 

 no plants to be seen, he was incredulous and dissatisfied 

 till I took him out to the long lines of Rosebeds. As 

 we approached there was nothing to be seen but clean 

 cultivated beds of soil : and it was only on close inspec- 

 tion that the rows of stumps or stools at their regular 

 distances could be distinguished from the ground. 

 Every year the whole of the plants in my beds, H.P.s 

 and Teas alike, for the standards are elsewhere, are thus 

 swept clear away nearly to the level of the ground, 

 though two or three or even more inches are left of a 

 few extra vigorous sorts. 



This is pruning for exhibition ; but a novice might 

 perhaps not only ask why I thus destroyed nearly the 

 whole of the plants I had so cherished the year before, 

 but also go on to the wider question •' Why is pruning 

 necessary for any purpose ? Why shoidd not our Rose- 

 trees grow as fine and large as they will ? " 



The answer is to be found in the manner of the 



