108 The Rose Garden. 



longer than on others of the same kinds ; the flowers were pronounced by competen 

 judges to be superior to any of the same kinds they had previously seen. In Octobe 

 the plants were taken up and potted. When pruning, I found very little work fo 

 the knife. The shoots were so adjusted that I had, with few exceptions, only t< 

 shorten them ; thinning out, in which consists so much of the mutilation above com 

 plained of, was unnecessary. In the following summer they made nice round plants 

 some producing from six to twelve excellent flowers, and such were actually shown a 

 the Metropolitan exhibitions the first year. It is no exaggeration to say that the; 

 were superior to others a year older which had been treated in the ordinary way. Ii 

 disbudding especially, it is advisable to commence upon a plant when quite young 

 It may be made to assume the same form as recommended in general pruning, or an; 

 other the cultivator may desire. When a plant is first purchased it may be necessar; 

 to practice thinning ; but after this time the same end may be accomplished by th 

 better means. 



When disbudding, it is evident that the more vigorous in habit a plant is, other thing 

 being equal, the greater space must be left clear from bud to bud, to allow the vigorou 

 shoots room for development* 



This, we say, is evident, and the converse is no less so ; but, be it remarked, wit! 

 regard to the small-growers, that they often produce buds so thickly on the shoot 

 that it is necessary to remove a greater number in a given length than from th 

 strong-growers. 



We will exemplify this by the aid of the following engravings. Fig. 28 wa 

 sketched from a plant of Coupe d'He"be (Hybrid Bourbon) ; Fig. 29 from a plant o 

 Persian Yellow (Austrian). 



These are both young plants, and we commence by thinning and shortening, a 

 previously explained, which is shown by the thin and thick lines, as before. 



The habit of the Coupe d'Hb (Fig. 28) is erect, its growth vigorous, and th 

 buds are formed at long intervals. The habit of the Persian Yellow (Fig. 29) i 

 branching, its growth vigorous, and it is remarkable for the proximity of the buds t< 

 each other. I have now before me a shoot of the Persian Yellow, about a foot long 

 on which there are twenty buds ; whereas one of Coupe d'Hbe, of the same length 

 has only six buds. But the Persian Yellow does not develop its branches so strong 

 as the latter, and the foliage is not so large ; therefore the buds may be allowed t< 

 remain closer together. On the Persian Yellow I rub out two or sometimes thre< 

 buds together, as shown by the open buds in Fig. 29, and leave one, as shown by th< 



* In the Nurseries, where Roses are cultivated not by hundreds but by hundreds of thousands, it would not pa; 

 at present prices to apply disbudding, on account of the great additional labour it would impose. In the genera 

 system of pruning we have to look through our plants once only during the year ; in disbudding they will requir 

 looking through several times. This is the only objection I can see to the general adoption of the practice. Surel; 

 to the amateur it is none. It should be remembered that although scarcely any plant will flourish under so littli 

 care and attention as the Rose, yet assuredly none will repay more bountifully whatever may be bestowed on it. 



