OUTDOOR ROSE GROWING 



should again go carefully over his plants and cut 

 out all weak growths, keeping only the most promis- 

 ing shoots of the most vigorous canes. It will gen- 

 erally be necessary, in order to secure this result, to 

 cut back to two shoots, but with a particularly 

 vigorous and promising growth leave more, in which 

 case, however, cut off the weaker growths below — 

 in other words, following out the first theory, the 

 fewer buds the more sap to each. 



The English custom for exhibition varieties, as a 

 general rule, is to wait until the flowers have been 

 formed and then to cut out such growths as are not 

 required, mainly because they are not promising, 

 and to allow all the vitality contained in the sap to 

 go to the blooms which are left. Such blooms, 

 receiving all the nourishment, tend to be larger and 

 more perfect than the average flowers. However, 

 they do not surpass the average bloom recommended 

 to any marked degree, and they cut down the num- 

 ber of flowers so greatly that they are not worth the 

 sacrifice they entail except for exhibition purposes. 



The bush should be carefully and thoroughly 

 pruned according to the rules given above, an addi- 

 tional and very necessary point being that the cut 

 ought to be made not less than one-quarter of an 

 inch above the bud and not more than one-half of 



an inch from it. The cut should not be straight 

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