176 The Flower Garden [Chapter 



good shape and remove any weak growth. It is a 

 good plan to cut them down to a bud that will be 

 likely to throw a good shoot. Hardy Perpetuals or 

 monthly Roses often fail to give more than a few 

 early spring flowers at the tips of the branches. If 

 the plants are in good condition, and the branches of 

 some length, peg the ends down to the ground with 

 a clothes-pin or stick, as the tendency in Rose growth 

 is for new wood to start from the highest point. 

 Bending the end down brings the highest point at 

 the middle of the branch, which will then break and 

 bloom. 



Roses, especially the old hardy kinds, will often 

 refuse to bloom, though well cared for and sufficiently 

 pruned. In such cases root-pruning may be resorted 

 to by cutting down on two sides of the plant with 

 the spade and severing a part of the roots. This will 

 often induce bloom when all other methods fail. 

 Plants occasionally run to roots as well to tops. 



So many and varied are the insect enemies that a 

 hardy Rose, with even fair foliage, is rare during the 

 season of bloom, unless ceaseless warfare has been 

 waged from the first swelling of the buds. Slugs, 

 rose thrip or hopper, and rose-bugs make the life of 

 the rose-grower a weariness. On this account alone I 

 would recommend discarding the June Roses in favour 

 of the Teas, which are fairly free from these pests. 

 Their dark-green, healthy foliage is a striking con- 

 trast to the worm-eaten, rusty foliage of the hardy 



