no 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GAHDENINa. 



or the latter were -worked so low as to look like a 

 dwarf. Similar contrasts may he drawn between 

 pillar and weeping Roses. The more perfect each 

 after its kind, the more charming the symmetry of 

 each, and the "stronger and more satisfactory the 

 contrast between them. 



These principles must be clearly borne in mind, and 

 persistently applied in practice, in pruning Roses into 

 form. All modes of pruning already described, with 

 many modifications of each, will be needed to succeed 

 perfectly in this, as it were, building up Roses into 

 shape with the knife. The phrase reads like a bull, 

 but it is f uU of meaning and of truth. A branch, 

 or series of branches, is needed somewhere. A cut 

 may have to be made some distance from the base 

 or blank space before it can be produced, and much 

 calculation and contrivance must always be exercised 

 if the form desired is to be crowned with perfection. 



A superfluity of material is almost more difficult 

 to deal with than a scarcity. By looking well ahead 

 this may generally be prevented by disbudding, a 

 species of prevention that saves a great deal of cut- 

 ting and carving afterwards. 



Early Pruning Essential. — If a stitch in 

 time saves nine, a cut in time may save ninety and 

 nine, and is in fact the only way of moulding Roses 

 and other plants into good forms. Other mis- 

 takes, cultural or otherwise, may be pruned off, or 

 grown out of, but structural ones mostly endure 

 for a lifetime. To rectify thesff later on is to 

 destroy the bush or tree. Hence the importance 

 of a clear perception of form from the first, and 

 persistent efforts to keep it constantly in view after- 

 wards. As the twig is bent, the tree is inclined. 

 Yes, and it is even more true that as the Rose is 

 pruned, so it may be made to assume almost any 

 shape or form desired. As has been already shown, 

 there are great natural diversities. But most of 

 these can be greatly intensified, and others equally 

 or more strikingly induced, by artificial treatment. 

 Hardly any family of plants is so pliable in the 

 hands of the trainer as the Rose. Under his guidance 

 the one shoot becomes three, or any desired num- 

 ber of shoots, and on these any sized or shaped Roses 

 may be built up. And this question of the number of 

 shoots to start with is one of the very first that have to 

 be decided by the trainer. It is by no means so easy 

 PS it seems. Returning to the bud, for instance, some 

 prefer one only on a briar, others two, many three. 

 Practically a good many briars determine the re- 

 sults for themselves, by only producing one or more 

 shoots fit for budding on. But either way, by stop- 

 ping or pruning, the rosarian may Foon have as 

 many Rose-shoots for the base of his future plant as 

 he may choose to use. 



ITumlaer of Shoots. — Perhaps on the whole 

 three shoots as nearly alike in strength, and at about 

 equal distances apart, form the best base to start 

 with, as there is mostly more beauty, if not a better 

 chance of fortune or success, in odd than even 

 numbers. But Nature protests against hard and fast 

 lines in the exact number of her Rose-shoots as else- 

 where. AVhen we cut for three wo may get but 

 two, and sometimes onlj' one, or we may lose one 

 or more by accident, as if to prevent the trainer 

 from adhering too slavishly to general rules as to 

 making base-shoots. 



The question of character and form of Rose, species 

 or varieties, also comes in to confuse, and it may be 

 confound our numbers ; pillar, pyramid, and climbing 

 Roses requiring difllerent numbers from standards and 

 dwarfs. 



For pyramidal Roses, for example, four shoots are 

 not only better than three, but almost necessary to 

 success — that is, one central shoot with three posted 

 at as nearly as may be equal distances, so as to form 

 a triangle round its base. These may either be 

 forced out at the base of the shoot itseU, or may be 

 independent branches proceeding from the root- 

 stock. The latter may help to widen the base of the 

 pyramid, and to give it bulk and massive beauty 

 in less time than if it were aU produced from the 

 central stem. 



Then, again, where such qualities are not only 

 not required, but would be a positive drawback, as 

 in the case of piUar, climbing, or scrambling Roses, 

 such are mostly built up on one stem only, or 

 multiples of one, for succession, as the first one 

 warrants. One of the chief charms of such Roses 

 is their slenderness in contrast with their height; 

 and though tastes differ and practice varies in regard 

 to this vital matter also, it is certain that a pillar 

 Rose with a large base becomes a pyramidal one 

 spoilt, and few objects are less satisfactory than a' 

 climbing Rose with a large proportion of its mate- 

 rial huddled together at its base, instead of climbing 

 high and running far from such coigns of vantage 

 as the tail stake, tree, chimney, or arch affords it, 

 showering down its beauty and fragrance with wp.n- 

 ton prodigalitj"^. 



Of course there are in most gardens places for 

 climbing and all other Roses,. in which the highest 

 art and best taste are exhibited by simply planting 

 them, and leaving them alone to i-amble or scramble 

 at their own sweet will, in their own wild and free 

 natural ways, over stones, roots, tree-stumps, banks of 

 uneven soil, rocks, gravel or chalk-pits, old quarries, 

 or any unsightly, out-of-the-way place that needs 

 clothing or furnishing. In such positions, and for 

 such purposes, the less the pruner or the trainer 

 interferes, the more perfect and satisfactory the 



