August, 1913 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



101 



ii.iiiuo oi llie stoius and Howers, 

 wliicli iiuikc iIkiu sliglitly disiigree- 

 able to handle. Unless greal vigour 

 is desired, much manure is unneces- 

 sary, as it encourages growth at the 

 expense of llowering. The plants do 

 ntjt require excessive watering after 

 they are established in a well-tilled 

 soil any more than I'etunias. Both of 

 them being covered with clammy 

 hairs, have the power of absorbing 

 the dew during the night, and by that 

 means they recuperate during the 

 night, where various other garden 

 plants would succumb on account of 

 the drought. Rather dry conditions 

 encourage flowering, it is said, to a 

 much greater extent than rich soils 

 and much watering. 



♦ 



The "ABC " of Rose 

 Pruning. 



In the first place, good pruning is 

 not so important as good planting. 

 Provided Roses have been properly 

 planted in well-prepared soil, they will 

 afterwards stand, without serious in- 

 jury, a great deal of ill-usage from 

 the most inexperienced pruner that 

 ever handled a knife, whereas no 

 amount of skilful pruning will ever 

 impart to badly-planted Roses in poor 

 soil that vigour and vitality which 

 they missed through being improper- 

 ly treated at the commencement of 

 their career. In order to give the be- 

 ginner greater confidence in the recu- 

 perative power of well-planted Roses 

 than he usually possesses, writes an 

 English grower, and make him less 

 afraid of damaging his plants by fol- 

 lowing even a very moderate sys- 

 tem of pruning, he should know that 

 were a bed of dtvarf Roses mown 

 down level with the ground, a very 

 large majority of the plants would 

 produce a good crop of beautiful 

 blooms during the same season; in 

 fact, the results would be -superior to 

 those which would follow the efTorts 

 of the novice if left entirely to his 

 own devices to deal with a similar 

 bed. 



The first consideration will be as to 

 whether the plants about to be pruned 

 are required to produce a small num- 

 ber of extra large flowers, or a larger 

 number of comparatively small ones. 

 If the former, the pruner, should he 

 wish to become a successful exhibitor, 

 will have to harden his heart and ruth- 

 lessly cut down to within about six 



inches of the ground (the writer is, of 

 course, referring to dwarf or own- 

 root roses) all the best shoots, after 

 having previously removed all the old, 

 sap\)y, and twiggy growths. To treat 

 line-looking Rose plants after this 

 fashion always seems to the neophyte 

 little short of destroying them alto- 

 gether; whereas, on the contrary, the 

 result will be that *uch plants will 

 throw up shoots of greater vigour 

 than if they had been less severely 

 decapitated. 



^ If, on the other hand, the plants be 

 intended for the decoration of the 

 garden or the production of a large 

 number of cut flowers, the treatment 

 need not be anything like as severe. 



First, as to the dwarf, or bush 

 roses, as they are sometimes called. It 

 will be well i ) commence operations 

 l)y removing all the dead wood, next 

 the soft and sappy shoots (those 

 which when cut are found to consist 

 almost entirely of pith), then most of 

 the small twiggy growths, and, lastly, 

 some of the better shoots where they 

 have become too crowded. This pro- 

 cess is called thinning out the plants, 

 and nearly every one of them will re- 

 quire to have some branches re- 

 moved. In doing this each shoot 

 should be cut clean out either to the 

 base of the plant or to where it 

 springs from an older shoot, as the 

 case may be. If the thinning be pro- 

 perly done, none but the sound, 

 strong, and well ripened (firm woody 

 shoots) will afterwards remain, to- 

 gether with a few older and less vigor- 

 ous ones. The idea kept in view 

 should be to have a moderate number 

 of shoots as far as possible equally 

 distributed over the plant, and no- 

 where crowded together, and to leave 

 the centre rather more open than the 

 sides. If the plant under treatment 

 be an old and vigorous one which has 

 not been properly pruned in the past, 

 a number of shoots may have to be 

 cut out in order to bring it into pro- 

 per form and to allow of the admis- 

 sion of light and air to the middle 

 of it. On the other hand, a young 

 plant 6i small growth may require 

 the removal of scarcely any shoots at 

 all. These two types may be regard- 

 ed as representing the two extremes 

 of the various kinds of roses that will 

 have to be treated. This thinning out 

 process is the one most often neg- 

 lected in ordinary gardens, and yet it 

 is far more important than shorten- 

 ing the shoots which are allowed to 

 remain, which may be styled the prun- 

 ing proper. 



In order to make this pruning pro- 

 \tvv as simple as pcjssible, the shoots 

 which remain on the plant, after all 

 the useless a"nd crowded growths 

 have been cut away, must be short- 

 ened back about half their length, 

 whether they come from the base of 

 the plant or from an(nhcr shoot. In 

 doing this care should be taken to 

 make each cut just above a dormant 

 leaf bud or a more forward bud, or 

 a young leafy shoot as may happen. 

 Of ccjurse, these examples are only 

 dilTerent stages of the same thing. 

 First we hav^e the dormant bud, then, 

 when that begins to grow the more 

 forward bud; after that young leaves 

 appear, and ultimately a young shoot. 



♦ 



The Foxglove. 



It would be difficult to name a more 

 suitable subject for what may be call- 

 ed, for want of a better word, the 

 natural or wild garden, in our hills 

 and cooler districts than this beautiful 

 old English favourite. It is a wood- 

 land beauty, and never seems quite at 

 home in the formal garden, though it 

 does well in a cool and moisture hold- 

 ing spot. When grown as a garden 

 flower it should- never be planted in a 

 dry, breezy, starving situation. To be 

 elevated is quite to its liking, but 

 often an elevated site is too arid for 

 this moisture loving plant. A cool 

 and shaded spot will promote a fine 

 growth, and, at the same time, set of? 

 the peculiar beauties of the plant. It 

 is never more happily placed for ef 

 feet than in the wild garden, where its 

 spires of purple, rose, crimso«, and 

 pure white flowers rise high above 

 the surrounding greenery. In com- 

 mon with Lilies, Foxgloves associate 

 well with Rhododendrons, but they 

 appear to be well placed, no matter 

 where they are. Therefore, when self- 

 sown plants occur where they seem 

 intrusive, it is well to leave them un- 

 disturbed if possible, for the chances 

 are all in favour of a surprising suc- 

 cess in the end. In any case, a good 

 clump is better than a few single 

 plants, and it matters not how the 

 sorts are mixed. To raise a stock of 

 plants the seed should be sown in 

 pans or boxes, and the young plants 

 should have a little nursing for they 

 are slow growers at>first, and be put 

 out when large enough where they 

 are to remain for flowering. A sow- 

 ing of seed should be made every 

 year, for although many of the plants 

 will flower the second, and even the 



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