SOILS, PLANTINGS, PRUNINGS 35 



that weak-growing Roses should be pruned 

 hard, and strong-growing ones lightly. The 

 second, of which it is hardly necessary to 

 remind any fairly experienced Rose or fruit- 

 grower, is that the eye (or bud), to which 

 we cut back, should point outwards, so that 

 the shoots may not fill up the centre of the 

 bush and smother each other. I nearly 

 destroyed a fine standard of La France by 

 neglecting this point one year. Returning 

 down from abroad late that Spring, I found 

 so many flower buds already formed, that I 

 was weak enough to shrink from what seemed 

 a positively herodian massacre. And it took 

 the tree two years to recover from my folly. 



In favourable seasons our work begins in 

 March, with the Hybrid Perpetuals, some of 

 the most hardy being pruned first for early 

 blooming. The shoots of strong growers 

 such as Ulrich Brunner^ Frau Karl Druschki, 

 Margaret Dickson, Mrs. John Laing, Magna 

 Charta, &c., need only be cut back to a 

 convenient length with regard to the general 

 shape of the plant, and one or two of the 



