CHAPTER IX 



ROSES IN POTS (continued) 



PRUNING 



THE plants must be pruned early in March if the weather is open 

 but not so early if it be sharp and cutting, and the only object 

 to be borne in mind in this their first pruning is the making of the 

 plants. Give no thought to the producing of exhibition blooms, 

 none to the production of any blooms at all they will come of 

 themselves but concentrate on building the plants, so that in 

 due course when they are taken indoors with definite and exacting 

 work to do they may be well equipped for it and account for them- 

 selves satisfactorily. Incidentally, some of them will never reach 

 the houses, for it is quite probable that a few may be lifted and 

 sold when in bloom during the ensuing summer, but as they would 

 flower just in the midst of the rose season their value would be the 

 minimum and the demand for them very desultory. They were 

 potted and plunged and treated for next year's house work, and 

 that must not be lost sight of, for only so can they be turned to 

 profitable account. 



The first pruning must be drastic, hard ; it cannot be too severe 

 provided the cuts are made just above selected, plump, and prom- 

 ising eyes, facing outward (see Fig. 23). A multiplicity of growths is 

 not desirable, but a few strong growths are. We must so direct our 

 efforts as to produce them. Completely remove every weak growth, 

 for they encumber the plant and are useless. If the resultant breaks 

 appear too numerous, rub off the superfluous ones, especially the 

 weaker and those growing into the centre of the plant. These are 

 very simple rules and it looks almost impossible to go wrong on 

 them. Yet we have seen plenty of plants spoilt in the pruning, 

 owing possibly to the adoption of a more complex system, or more 

 probably to that of rules more empiric. 



TREATMENT 



We have now the satisfaction of seeing an adequate number of 

 selected healthy plants well started on their new career under 



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