Pruning. 87 



CHAPTER VII. 



Pruning. 



I BELIEVE pruning to be the most important operation in Rose-culture, and, at 

 the same time, the most difficult to obtain the mastery over and to apply with 

 success. 



The difficulty arises chiefly from the extensiveness of the genus, which is made up 

 of varieties differing so much from each other in habit and character. What a strik- 

 ing contrast does the tiny Lawrenceana, seldom exceeding eighteen inches in height, 

 present to the other extreme of the genus, the Ayrshire and Sempervirens, which will 

 form shoots fifteen feet long in a single year. And there are kinds of every inter- 

 mediate degree of vigour and character, and hence the difficulty the great variation 

 of practice required in the application of pruning. 



But, beyond this, the manner of pruning is partly determined by the object the 

 operator has in view or by the condition and health of the plant. A rose intended 

 to form a Standard would require different pruning to one wanted to form a Pillar 

 Rose, although the variety were the same. When flowers are desired of the largest 

 size, as for exhibition, the plan should differ from that pursued to obtain broad 

 masses of flowers. Again, a Rose in vigorous condition, when healthy and full of sap, 

 requires less pruning than when, owing to soil, situation, age, or other causes, it is of 

 moderate or weakly growth. The same degree of pruning applied to each condition 

 would produce opposite results. Close pruning would be the means of improving the 

 health and flowering of a weak tree ; it would induce a vigorous one to form wood- 

 shoots only, producing few or no flowers. 



From the above remarks it will be seen that after the fullest and most careful 

 examination of the subject, pruning depending so much on circumstances, a great 

 deal must be left to the judgment of the operator ; a certain degree of practice is neces- 

 sary before any great attainment in this art can be arrived at, and I would not advise 

 the uninitiated to trust himself too far before he has well marked the manoeuvres of 

 some skilful friend or practitioner. 



I know many instances in which amateurs, who take delight in attending to their 

 own Roses mar the beauty of their trees for want of considering the principles of 

 Rose-pruning. Many trees from too much pruning grow most luxuriantly, but show 



