106 The Rose Garden. 



Close pruning when applied to trees in a weakly condition has great renovating 

 power. I recollect well, when pruning some Roses in pots, noticing a plant of Arch- 

 duke Charles (Chinese) in a very bad state. It had produced such puny flowers that 

 during the flowering season I more than once failed to identify it. The stock was 

 hide-bound i.e., had ceased to swell and the shoots were stunted and scrubby. 

 The latter were all thinned out to three, two of which were shortened into three eyes. 

 The remaining one, which was the strongest, was shortened in to one eye. The plant 

 was afterwards treated as the others. The single eye on the strong shoot was 

 developed with surprising vigour, and in the ensuing Autumn I found the hide-bound 

 bark was burst asunder by the swelling of the stock, and beneath a new bark was 

 forming. The plant gradually improved and became as healthy as any in the col- 

 lection. 



To do justice to the Autumnal Roses, the Summer flowers should be cut off just 

 after flowering, removing as few leaves as possible in the operation ; or, if these 

 flowers are for any reason not much valued, remove them just before flowering, by 

 which the vigour and beauty of the later flowers will be increased. 



The tender kinds, such as the Chinese and Tea-scented, are not unfrequently 

 severely injured by frost. When this is the case, all the dead wood should be cut 

 away; I have, under such circumstances, pruned level with the ground and obtained 

 an abundant flowering. Necessity, however, urged this, rather than prudence. A too 

 vigorous growth not unfrequently arises from it, followed by its evil consequences of 

 late flowering only, unripened wood, and great susceptibility of frost. 



There are some Roses which, although at times very beautiful, do not in general 

 expand their flowers. From some cause, which has been said to be too great a 

 degree of fulness, the buds remain sealed at the top till they drop from decay. 

 Examples of such are La Reine, Pierre Netting, and Monplaisir. In France many of 

 this nature take rank among the finest of Roses ; they are also excellent with us when 

 grown in the forcing house. 'Too much moisture combined with cold favours this 

 tendency, and thus the seasons have a great influence over these kinds. But another 

 favouring circumstance is too great a degree of vigour in the plant. The first causes 

 are evident. Let us illustrate the last. In the Spring of 1844 a few plants of the 

 Duchesse de Nemours (Hybrid Perpetual) were neglected ; the soil in which they 

 grew was neither manured nor forked ; the plants were not pruned, the variety being 

 counted worthless. They grew, but their vigour was greatly diminished ; and what 

 were the consequences ? The flowers were produced in surprising beauty, the novelty 

 and richness of the colour attracting everyone's attention, and all who beheld admired 

 them. But mark : a plant that had been treated well, in common with other Roses, 

 dropped every bud before expanding. 



Pruning, in the light in which we have hitherto considered it, may be said to con- 

 sist of thinning and shortening ; but it has long appeared to me that thinning might 



