168 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



summer roses begins in earnest with the following month. 

 March will not be found too long for the cultivator who has 

 a large amount of H.Ps. under his care ; for there are generally 

 many days in that "month of many weathers " when nothing 

 but real enthusiasm will maintain the requisite amount of 

 patience in the rosarian's breast, kneeling on the chilly soil 

 over his dwarfs day by day, and exposed to the pitiless east 

 wind. It is best to leave Tea roses in the open undisturbed till 

 April ; a reckless pruner in the shape of Jack Frost has generally 

 been before us, and often we are grateful enough if he has 

 left us any life to prune back to. 



The Method. 



Now as to the actual modus operandi. It must first be 

 asked, Do we require handsome plants for general decoration 

 with fair blooms for cutting, or are we pruning for exhibition ? 



We will take the former case first as the most compli- 

 cated. The first care will be to cut out all dead wood, and 

 all wood, however thick and old, which, as shown by the 

 small growth made last season, is becoming weakly in com- 

 parison with other stronger shoots. Now we can study the 

 plant, and see what we have got left. Our object is to form 

 a well- shaped head or plant; and by " well- shaped " I mean 

 that the plant itself should be of the even globular form of a 

 rose. Kose-petals are evenly arranged, and none cross each 

 other in an inward direction ; such should be the shape of 

 the plant. Bearing in mind that the top bud left of each 

 shoot will grow first, and in the direction in which it points, 

 we should always cut back to a bud that looks outwards, and 

 take care that the centre will not be too crowded. If we 

 want to get rid of a misplaced shoot, it should be cut right 

 out at the bottom ; merely cutting it back will only make it 

 grow the more. It must be our endeavour, each year, to do 

 away with as much old wood as possible, especially in the 

 middle of the plant, and, in the case of strong growers, we 

 must harden our hearts and thin the number of shoots re- 

 morselessly. We should picture to ourselves what the plant 

 will look like in full growth, and remember that a lover of 

 roses is more likely to leave too many than too few shoots. 

 There is a saying in East Anglia, " No man should hoe his own 



