288 ON PRUNING ROSES. 
will stand forcing for a short time, and will soon throw up their blooms ; 
but, like bulbs of all sorts, they are injured by forcing before their 
roots are made. 
Introduce Roses, Lilacs, Violets, Lilies of the Valley, and other 
plants, to bring them early into bloom, and watch after and destroy all 
insects as they appear. Chinese Primroses sown last spring should be 
encouraged, that they may blossom about Christmas. These are 
extremely subject to suffer from damp; they ought, consequently, to 
oceupy a dry and airy situation during winter. Orchids generally 
should be kept free from every kind of excitement; give no water at 
the roots, and a very moderate degree of atmospheric moisture. 
ON PRUNING ROSES. 
BY ROSA. 
A ONE-YEAR old budded plant usually has but one shoot ; such should 
now be cut down, so as to leave three, or, at most, four eyes. The 
branches which proceed from them must, at the end of the season, be 
cut back to two eyes, and on the third season a proper-formed head will 
bloom. In future the same process of cutting to two eyes must be 
adopted, and eutting clean away any part of the head that appears to 
interfere with others. It must always be kept quite open to the 
middle, and stand free from entanglement, that air and light may be 
admitted without obstruction. Always let the last bud of a shoot 
pruned be at the dower side, so that when it pushes it may grow rather 
outwards than erect. This tends to form the head more properly, and 
prevent confusion, which oceurs when all new shoots grow erect, as the 
head becomes crowded. At the time of pruning too, if there are buds in 
the interior of the head that, on pushing shoots, would grow inwards, 
and so be injurious, they should now be rubbed off. All weak shoots 
should be cut away, leaving only the strongest. 
The China Roses do not require the shoots to be cut back to two 
eyes, but the heads be thinned out, so as to leave the shoots at a proper 
distance from each other. Jf the head should have become ill-shaped, 
then a part may be cut off to equalize it, but otherwise do not shorten 
the shoots. When Climbing Roses have filled up their allotted space, 
and the branches are too thick, they must be thinned out, so as to pre- 
vent confusion. If the Pillar Roses are becoming too bulky, the 
shoots should be cut back to a few eyes. ‘This process may be done 
every year, if desirable, so that any required size or shape is readily 
formed and kept. Do not prune the Banksian Roses in autumn or 
winter, as the present shoots are those which supply the flowers of next 
season, A thinning out of the shoots i swmmer is only necessary for 
this section of Roses. 
