ROSES AND THEIR CULTURE 229 



healthy plants and superlative blossoms. For 

 the roses of a general character however (as dis- 

 tinct from the Hybrid Perpetuals and Hybrid 

 Teas) spraying is rarely required, since the really 

 good varieties of both climbers and shrubs are 

 rugged enough to withstand all sorts of attacks. 

 It is not possible to go into all the details of 

 either spraying or pruning here, however; but 

 a list of authoritative books on the rose will be 

 found at the end of the book, which will pro- 

 vide explicit directions for the least as well as 

 the greatest of rose garden operations. 



I must say this, however, as to pruning: cut 

 your roses as freely as you will — all of the Hy- 

 brid Teas and Teas as well as the others, though 

 it is less important with them — because the rose 

 always blooms upon new wood; in other words, 

 its flowers are borne on branches that have risen 

 during the current summer. Pruning (of any 

 plant) induces the formation of new branches to 

 take the place of those sacrificed, therefore free 

 cutting — which amounts to pruning — of the 

 rose induces constant formation all through the 

 season of just the wood necessary to insure 

 more blossoms. And in cutting the flowers, 

 cut with as long stems as possible without 

 sacrificing undeveloped flower buds, in order 

 to induce the new wood to form low down on 



