THE EOSE AND ITS CULTUKE. 



HI 



result. However, even among those children of 

 nature, the pruner may occasionally cut the strong 

 '>.o make room for the weak, and give a lead here 

 •and a tie yonder, a help to one struggling shoot and 

 a hindrance to that strong, encroaching, overshadow- 

 ing one, that will add greatly to the heauty and rich- 

 ness of the hank or maze of Koses ; hut he must 

 leave no visible trace of his presence behind, or 

 half the charm vanishes. 



And this principle of concealing the processes, 

 and presenting, as far as may be, only the finished 

 results of them, should run through and dominate all 

 cur prunings and trainings of Roses. Cuts, ties, 



the pruning or thinning needful to perfect their 

 blossoming will also contiibute to moulding and 

 keeping them in the most enjoyable and useful 

 forms. 



Standard Rose with Single Bud.— As such 

 are within reach of all, it may be well to take this, 

 first of all, as an illustration of how Roses can be 

 pruned into any desired form. There are two ways 

 of proceeding in the matter : one of stopjiing the 

 growth of the current year, so as to force them into 

 forming two, three, or more distinct shoots the first 

 season, and that of allowing the first shoot to grow 



shreds, nails, stakes, should all be as little seen as 

 possible ; and the Roses, even during the process of 

 moulding into shape, and especially when finished, 

 should appear just as if they had grown so. Nature 

 in the stocks, or tied to a whipping-post, would be 

 the most apt and true description of not a few Roses 

 one sees under the process of injudicious or over- 

 training. In many cases, too, the training is never 

 finished; the Roses are always going to be, never 

 are, things of beauty : the ground is too poor, the 

 stakes, poles, or arches too high, the plants too 

 strong, or the supports too weak; and hence the 

 Roses are never finished nor perfect. 



No doubt, where many Roses are grown, it is 

 almost impossible to have them all perfect, prune and 

 train as we may ; but it is far better to curtail their 

 numbers than spread mediocrity and advertise failure 

 over a wider area. Many Roses, too, may be grown 

 without much training. The natural tendency of 

 many species and varieties — for example, most of the 

 Teas — is to form nice bushes of different heights ; 



to its full height and ripen before j)runing. The 

 last will be chosen for purposes of illustration, 

 so as to make all more plain and easily understood. 

 Fig. 35 shows the shoot as it appears in the 

 autumn. The whole of the strength of the root 

 being concentrated into this one shoot, it has grown 

 very vigorously, as may be seen. In the winter, or 

 spring of the next year, the single shoot is cut back 

 to within three buds of its base. This severe cutting- 

 back is needful to insure that the basis of the future 

 head shall be well and truly laid as close to the 

 main stem as possible. Few things mar the beauty 

 of the Rose-tree more, or destroy its true character 

 sooner, than allowing its first main branches to start 

 at some considerable distance from its root- stock or 

 the crown of the briar. By cutting the first shoot 

 or shoots " home," as it is technically called, at first, 

 such evils or unsightlinesses are prevented. 



Pruning the Second Year. — By cutting the 

 three branches back within three buds of their base 



