STANDARD, PILLAR, AND WEEPING ROSES. 6i3 



thoroughly before he commences. He should look, not only 'at it, but through 

 it ; and this, from two or three points of view : he should picture to himself 

 certain shoots removed, and the comparative advantages to the tree before they 

 are removed." The shoots are now left of greater length than in the previous 

 year's pruning ; ''firstly," he says, ''because the plant being established, will 

 have a greater command of food from the soil ; secondly, having been put in the 

 right course of formation last j'ear, in this pruning we have an eye to the 

 l^roduction of flowers." In this pruning the aim is to keep the head compact 

 and with well-ripened wood ; this system of thinning-out and shortening the 

 shoots is followed in subsequent seasons, until the tree is full-grown and 

 full of vigorous flower-bearing shoots. A closer system of pi-uning is re- 

 quisite for damask, tea-scented, French, and Bourbon roses, which make 

 neat, compact, but rather formal heads. The head the first year is left more 

 crowded, but the shoots shorter, and they are reduced by thinning-out to 

 three shoots, -which, in the autumn, have become much more numerous. In 

 the case of autumnal roses, most of these will bloom the first autumn, after 

 which all shoots not wanted are thinned out, and the others cut close in in the 

 spring. There is great danger, however, in acting on general directions, as 

 almost every kind of rose requires a modified treatment. The Provence rose 

 requires a free use of the knife, shortening every shoot to three or four buds. 

 The moss-roses require similar treatment : Rosagallica should have all spray- 

 like shoots cut out in May, if for summer, or in October if for autumn bloom, 

 and all strong shoots shortened to six or eight buds. Hybrid Chinese, as large 

 standards, require peculiar management : if shortened in too much, they give 

 strong growth, but no flowers ; they should, therefore, be thinned out to 

 prevent crowding, and the other shoots shortened to twelve buds or so. 

 Hybrid Bourbons bear closer pruning, in the first week of November if early 

 flowers are required, to five or six buds, removing all wood that has borne 

 flowers ; for late flowering, do the same in April. 



2006. Hybrid perpetuals form admii-able standards, but they require a 

 richly-manured soil, and watering with manure-water in dry weather, cutting- 

 oflf about two-thirds of the more vigorous shoots of the year's wood la 

 November, if for early bloom ;— in March, if for late, cut off three-fourths of the 

 less vigorous ones, and thin out so as to prevent crowding in the summer. Bour- 

 bons require little pruning ; thin out in March or April, and shorten all long 

 shoots to four or five buds, pinching off the ends of long vigorous shoots in 

 summer, so as to make them break. 



2007. Tea-scented roses are scarcely fit for standards in our climate, unless 

 protection can be given them. Mr. Rivers recommends their being budded 

 on stems two feet high, so that they may be protected by attaching to each 

 plant, stakes placed triangularly, and stretching over them a piece of tifiany 

 tacked to the stakes, and brought within two inches of the ground, which will 

 keep them in perfect health during winter. At the end of April prune off all 

 superfluous wood and dead shoots, and they will bloom in great perfection. 



2008. Weeping RosesditQ roses of vigorous, pendulous growth, worked on stems 



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