THE EOSE AND ITS CULTURE. 



17 



Pruning as a Means of Renovation.— 



The increased vigour of a grazed vine is said 

 to have first directed attention to the merits of 

 pruning. Be that as it may, there is no doubt 

 that the removal of weakly or superfluous wood 

 has a stimulating influence on Roses. This is 

 most marked often in the case of tall stan- 

 dard or climbing Roses. These, from their wide 

 area, and the enormous amount of foliage and bloom, 

 naturally become exhausted sooner than others. 

 Hence the necessity of exceptionally severe pruning 

 at times to renew their health and vigoirr. Branches 

 may not only be shortened, but entire limbs or parts 

 of the Rose may be removed bodily. Sometimes the 

 entire head may be cut off. The best season for these 

 radical prunings is the autumn or winter. Such 

 very extreme measures are seldom needful, unless 

 in the case of previous neglect. They are mostly, 

 however, when adopted, quite effective in re-iavi- 

 gorating the Rose-trees. Huge adventitious — that 

 is, forced or unnatural — buds are formed in the 

 bark, nurtured into si2;e and strength during winter, 

 and burst into vigorous growth in the spring, and 

 these renew the strength and the growth of the Rose- 

 tree. In other cases such buds show and break before 

 the plants are cut back. In all such it is well to 

 take stock of the condition of the plant, and act 

 accordingly. If its general health is all that can 

 be desired, rub off these buds at once ; but if not, 

 carefully cultivate them, and cut back as much and 

 as far as possible, to give them a better chance. 



Strong-growing climbing Roses, mostly on their 

 own roots, very often throw up such shoots from 

 their root-stocks, or the base of their main branches. 

 One or more of these succession shoots should be 

 preserved almost every year, and some of the older 

 shoots cut out. By such skilful manipulations the 

 health and vigour of such Roses are preserved, and 

 they continue to be objects of verdure and beauty 

 for a life-time. In fact, by this system, all that is 

 partially exhausted, or wholly worn out, is removed 

 armually, and new wood, full of youthful force, is 

 brought forward in its stead. Nor is this all, for 

 the new wood above has its counterpart in fresh 

 roots below, so that the entire plant is rejuvenated by 

 these methods of pruning. Perhaps this plan of re- 

 suscitating partially worn-out Roses is less practised 

 than it used to be. The life of individual plants is 

 less prized now that the art of budding, and other 

 means of propagating Roses, are better understood 

 and more widely practised. Still sentiment and 

 common sense suggest the wisdom of saving old 

 Roses, and virtually making them young again, by 

 such simple modes as those here described. Roses 

 thus treated not only renew their youth, but fre- 

 quently far eclipse all their earlier beauty. 

 26 



The Pruning of Different-shaped and 

 Sized Roses. — As these must first be formed before 

 they are pruned, and as in their formation training 

 must run abreast of or overlap pruning, it wiU be 

 most useful to explain the two processes together in 

 our next chapter on the Training of Roses, which 

 will therefore open with a section on the efiicacy 

 of pruning in moulding Roses into shape. 



Pruning Implements. — A sentence or two on 

 these will fitly conclude this chapter. The knife for 

 pruning Roses may either have a straight or curved 

 blade. It matters little, so long as it is sufficiently 

 strong and sharp. Both these qualities are essential. 

 Hence, unless for small plants and the mere cutting 

 of the current year's wood, budding-knives are of 

 little use. The point should also be rather narrow, 

 very sharp, and specially strong. Dead Rose snags, 

 as they are called, are hard as stags' horns almost, 

 and when not too large for the knife- should be 

 whipped off with one clean cut. 



When large, or for the removal of big branches, 

 the handiest implement is a small-toothed, narrow, 

 specially sharp saw. The saw-cuts should, however, 

 always be trimmed over afterwards, to make them 

 smooth and clean, and thus facilitate their rapid 

 heahng. It is a fact that vegetable tissues will 

 hardly close over a saw-cut, but heal rapidly over a 

 smooth cut of the knife. 



The same remark applies to the cut of shears, or 

 the secateur, so popular as a Rose and other pruner 

 in France, which may be most succinctly described 

 as scissors with one cutting edge. These, and 

 especially the latter, bruise the wood and the 

 bark ; neither is the cut so clean as that of a 

 sharp knife. Both shears and secateurs are often 

 used on climbing, pillar, pyramidal, and tall stan- 

 dards to save time. But neither equals the knife, 

 and it is astonishing how rapidly this does its work 

 in skilful hands. 



Dressing the "Wounds. — This is quite a 

 mistake, though not a few rosarians practise it. 

 It is like the old plan of dipping a cut into 

 Friar's Balsam to make it heal the sooner. It 

 did just the reverse, and increased the pain ten- 

 fold to boot. Bind it up in. the blood, and it 

 begins to heal at once. And so in a measure with 

 the growing bark and the sap of Roses. Make the 

 wounds as small, cut them as smooth and clean as 

 possible, and leave the healing to nature, and it will 

 be done well, and as speedily as possible. Dress them 

 over, no matter much what with, and you hinder 

 the process of healing, and render the perfect sound- 

 ness of the wound impossible. 



