14 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



short. This is the best way of pruning weakly- 

 growing Roses. Notwithstanding what is advanced 

 in this chapter, and in previous sections, on the impor- 

 tance of breaking up and diffusing vital force into 

 many rather than one channel, yet it is equally 

 needful at times to concentrate force, for concentra- 

 tion of vital energy is power. And it is found in 

 practice that the easiest way to strengthen weakly- 

 growing Roses is to short-prune them to a single or 

 very few buds. The force that would otherwise 

 have been diffused through six or a dozen buds and 

 shoots, is thus concentrated into one, two, or three 

 as the case may be. See the illustrations of long 



Fig. 33. — Long Pruning. 



and short pruning, and their results, wliich make all 

 this plain. 



But of course there are endless gradations be- 

 tween these two extremes, and only practice among 

 the Roses themselves will teach the whole art of 

 prmnng. And not orAj the quantity of bloom, but 

 its quality, is largely dependent on the mode of 

 pruning adopted, and the extent to which it is 

 carried. Prune too little, you may have many 

 blooms of inferior character; prune too much, you 

 may have a few fine ones or none at all. Those, 

 however, who prune for the highest quality of 

 flowers only or chiefly, must prune harder — that is, 

 cut closer — than those who prune for size or form of 

 plant, as well as quality-. 



Tb.e Time to Prune Roses.— Those culti- 

 vators who grow quantities alike out of doors and 

 under glass, prune every month in the year, per- 

 petual pruning being in fact the surest receipt for 

 continuous blooming. But — leaving the pruning of 



Roses under glass to another occasion — there are 

 thi^ee general seasons for the pruning of out-of-door 

 Roses, with various times for disbudding, pinching, 

 and root-pruning abreast of or between these prun- 

 ing times. These are autumn or winter, spring, and 

 summer. 



The Autumnal Pruning of Roses. — The 



two months of October and November are the most 

 suitable for this. Not only is the frost, if any, 

 less severe, but the wounds get partially healed over 

 before the severities of the -^-inter strike, injure, find 

 hinder from heaHng the newly-made wounds. Not 



Fig. 34 — Sliort or Close Pruning. 



only this, but having pruned off the superfluous 

 wood, the buds left for bloom have the whole of the 

 so-called dead season before them, and fill up into 

 larger size and firmer substance. For the fluids of 

 plants are by no means stagnant, nor the forces of 

 growth at rest, diu-ing winter. Hence, as ah-eady 

 pointed out, for all really hardy and non-excitable 

 Roses — such as the Cabbage, Moss, Provence, Alba, 

 Gallica, Scotch, Ayrshire, and other climbers — 

 autumn or winter pruning is the best. All these 

 Roses also, except some of the two last, thrive and 

 flower best short or close ]3runed. Prune early, and 

 cut hard, are also good rules for hastening the bloom- 

 ing season the following year. 



The Austrian Briar, or Persian Yellow, is, haw- 

 ever, an exception to this close pruning of once-a- 

 year blooming Roses. Some of the more excitable 

 Roses, such as the Hybrid Perpetuals, may also be 

 partially pruned in the autumn to insure their 

 safety from high storms of wind that not un- 

 frequently break, bruise, or destroy such. These 



