THE FLORIST. 
5 
planted in December, they should be pruned in the February fol¬ 
lowing, i.e. on being transplanted they must always be pruned. 
This pruning should be tolerably severe, each shoot shortened to 
within six or eight buds; the tree will then, the first season, form 
the foundation of a well-proportioned head: no more pruning will 
be required. I have just stepped out to look at my standards, and 
find that some dead shoots in the centre of some of my trees, hidden 
by the leaves in summer, may now be removed : and that is all. 
How pleasant it is to have Standard Roses requiring no pruning; for 
it really goes home to the heart of a Rose-lover to have to shear off, 
for the future welfare of the tree, all the finest and most luxuriant 
branches, which, as they fall to the ground under the knife of the 
operator, seem to lament their hard fate in being thus “ cut off’' 1 
only because they are too full of health and vigour. 
Those who can procure their own stocks should select them 
perfectly straight, and none of them of less size than a gun-barrel, 
as much stouter as possible ; their height may be from four to six 
feet,—if the situation they are to be planted in is exposed to winds, 
the former height is preferable; the first summer after planting 
they may be budded; three shoots, if possible, should be left for this 
purpose; the following spring they will “ break” with much vigour. 
As soon as the shoot from each bud is six inches long, pinch off its 
top, laterals will be soon produced; these, if your three buds are 
successful, will not require further pinching; but if you have saved 
only one or two buds, you must pinch till you have enough laterals 
to form a well-furnished head. Then all is finished, and you have 
nothing but enjoyment to look forward to; no pruning cares to dis= 
turb your equanimity and prick your fingers in winter, or pinching 
and disbudding with the same risk in summer. 
Scarcely any suckers, those “ disturbers of the peace” of the 
Rosarium, ever make their appearance; the parent, i.e. the stock, is 
generous, and the child is grateful; for the abundance of sap fur¬ 
nished by the stock is all absorbed by these vigorous-growing Roses. 
This conveys a useful lesson to Rose-growers; and tells us, that we 
ought not to hoist on to the vigorous Dog-rose slender and delicate- 
growing varieties that are quite incapable of taking up the sap fur¬ 
nished by the stock : the parent becomes fretful and impatient, innu¬ 
merable suckers are the consequence, and the child soon dies of a 
surfeit; we might with as much congruity make a lamb the foster- 
child of an elephant. 
If your Standard Climbers grow as mine do, and, as I assume they 
will do in almost any soil (the more clay you have the better), they 
will require a little support; and this will be best given by a cast- 
iron stake,* about 4feet long, 18 inches of which must be in the 
ground; this will then be about half the height of the tree, and will 
yield quite enough. In default of iron, oak or larch will do; for 
both stake and stem are soon hidden by the pendent branches. 
Nurseries , Sairbridge worth , Herts. 
* Cottam and Hallen, of Winsley Street, Oxford Street, used formerly tq 
sell these stakes. 
