328 POPULAR GARDEN FLOWERS 



to prune lightly, and when, after a few years, the bushes 

 have become too straggly, to plant fresh ones. Roses 

 are cheap enough in all conscience, and changes give 

 opportunities of trying fresh sorts. All this comes with 

 experience and observation, and while knowledge of the 

 varieties is being acquired, the amateur may lean to severe 

 pruning. The annual pruning and training of pillar and 

 arch Roses is a matter that puts no small strain on the 

 courage of the grower. He examines the plants in 

 autumn, and he finds that each plant consists of several 

 old and several new canes, the former grey or brown in 

 colour, the latter brownish green. So far good. All that 

 has to be done is to cut out the former at the base of 

 the pillar, and tie up the latter (which in the case of very 

 vigorous varieties are quite likely to have started off on 

 a roving expedition among adjacent shrubs) in their 

 places. Doubt creeps in when it is discovered that 

 there are several young shoots on the upper part of the 

 old ones, and that most of the pretty sprayey shoots that 

 clothe the top of the pillars are dependent on them. 

 What is to be done ? It is a choice between tangle and 

 order. Personally I never hesitate. The old canes go 

 if there are young ones to take their places, and although 

 I grieve momentarily to see the top spray disappear in 

 a mass, my feelings are assuaged directly it is out of 

 sight and the ypung canes are tied in, for I can see 

 clearly that as soon as growth begins there will be 

 abundance of fresh flowering growth. When tying in 

 the young canes the grower will find that it is best to 

 have his first band about a foot above the ground. From 

 this point he can begin to work the canes round the 

 pillar, until, a foot or eighteen inches higher up, he has 

 got some at the sides and the back as well as in the front, 

 so that the whole pillar is clothed. No canes are to 



