62 PRUNING. 



eyes, care toeing taken that the top eye is pointing onward; the ob- 

 ject of this is to obtain strong branches growing outward, to make a 

 wide head. As the shoots grow, notice the best and strongest that are 

 growing in a position to widen the head, and leave them to make all 

 the growth they can ; allow any shoot that is growing up strong in the 

 centre to grow also ; and further, a most important point, rub off, or 

 cut off with a very sharp knife, all weakly growing shoots, all that 

 grow inward and cross the head, and wherever two cross each other, 

 remove the weakest. The branches that grow outward will be good 



SECOND YEAR'S GROWTH OF BUD. 



enough and well enough in one season's growth to leave any length 

 you please towards making a proper sized head ; but as five or six of 

 these branches will not make a full head, the next season they may be 

 shortened to half their growth, taking care that the end bud must be 

 an under one, for all the tendency of the Rose is to grow upward, and 

 't is only when the natural growth is outward, or downward, that the 

 weight prevails to keep it in a horizontal or drooping position. This 

 second year, and indeed every subsequent year, every branch that does 

 ttot assist to form a handsome head without crowding, must be taken 



