Timbers. 



350 



[APRIL, 1909. 



larse areas, say 50,000 to 100,000 acres. It 

 would take this amount of timber to 

 justify timber companies going to the 

 expense of building railways, steam- 

 logging appliances, and large modern 

 hand-saw mills. A plant of say 10,000 

 cubic feet daily capacity would be re- 

 quired to be assured of a ten or fifteen 

 years' supply to justify the expense ; 

 and, as far as I can learn, the forest 

 laws of Uganda would have to be re- 

 arranged to meet those requirements, 

 and before people could be induced to 

 risk their money in the business. The 

 Government should send some practical 

 timbermen and foresters out to report 



on this field and to draw up common- 

 sense laws for the exploitation and 

 conservation of the forests. Here with- 

 in the Empire you have timber enough 

 to supply all your needs until you can 

 grow your own at home. 



My advice to you at home is to plant 

 every available inch of ground. Don't 

 say you haven't any. I know of several 

 millions of acres in Englaud, Wales, 

 Ireland, and Scotland that can produce 

 a profitable crop of timber, and which 

 in the interest of coming generations 

 should be planted. Assuredly this tim- 

 ber famiue will be upon you in less 

 than thirty years.— The Pioneer. 



HORTICULTURE. 



THE QUEEN OF FLOWERS. 



Pruning for Blossom— Insect Pests. 



You may break, you may shatter the vase, 

 if you will, 



But the scent of the roses will hang round 

 it still. 



The rose, undoubtedly, has ceased to 

 be merely looked on as a cut flower for 

 the decoration of rooms and houses. It 

 is now cheerfully given its rightful 

 place as one of the choicest decorative 

 garden plants taking precedence over 

 others for the purity of its tints, unique 

 fragrance and persistent bloom. The 

 production of a constant, persistent 

 bloom, however, depends on proper care 

 and attention bestowed on the plant — 

 manuring and watering, reference to 

 which was made in a previous article, 

 seasonal pruning and prevention of 

 insect attack, to which I shall now refer. 



Pruning 



is one of the most important operations 

 in rose culture, and it is to be considered 

 what object the cultivator has in view, 

 for it is quite easy to prune some kinds 

 of roses out of, as into, bloom. The 

 period of floweriug is much regulated 

 by pruning, and it is therefore well to 

 have a knowledge of the modes of prun- 

 ing required for different kinds of 

 roses. Some require severe cutting 

 down, while others should be shortened 

 and trimmed only. As a rule the local 

 garden cooly knows nothing whatever 

 of the art of pruning beyond an indis- 

 criminate and general amputation to 

 produce a uniform level, with fatal 

 results as far as bloom is concerned. 

 Still some rose bushes flower after such 

 vandalistic treatment— after a manner, 



with which some people are contented, 

 and others cannot understand how their 

 roses do not give satisfaction. " He who 

 would have beautiful roses in his garden 

 must have beautiful roses in his heart " 

 wrote the He v. Reynolds Hole ; and no 

 gardener will produce them from the 

 garden unless he has them in his heart. 

 They are the production of labour with 

 a mind for that labour. As a general rule 



THE PROPER TIME FOR PRUNING 



is in the month of May with the fall of 

 South-west monsoon showers in one 

 part of the island and during the North- 

 east monsoon rains in the other. The 

 plants yield best to the operation at the 

 beginning of the monsoons. They should 

 never be pruned in the hot dry months 

 of the year when growth is in a more 

 or less inactive state. At such a time 

 the plants will greatly benefit by mulch- 

 ing — covering the earth about the 

 roots with dead leaves, sweepings from 

 the garden, etc., to prevent excessive 

 evaporation of moisture and the pene- 

 tration of heat rays to the roots. As 

 regards pruning it must, first of all, be 

 borne in mind that roses are divided 

 into the following main classes :— (1) 

 Hybrid Perpetual roses, (2) Bourbon 

 roses, (3) Moss roses, (4) China roses, (5) 

 Tea scented roses, and (6) Noisette roses. 

 The different classes require different 

 modes of pruning. 



1. The Hybird perpetuals bear the 

 free use of the shears and should be cut 

 back to about four to six eyes according 

 to the habit of the plant. " The finest 

 flowers are. as a rule on the tops of the 

 shoots which are strongest, and if 

 quality be more desired than quantity 

 all the buds except two or three so 

 situated should be removed (this relates 

 to flowers)." Some Hardy Perpetuals 



