August 4. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
335 
Rose which ought to be better known, how different 
the habit to such as “Billard!” In their growth, we 
have, perhaps, about a score or so of monstrous shoots 
to deal with, many of which look as likely to produce 
watery wood (if the culture has been high) as blossoms. 
Here we may reserve wood of a medium character. 
Another point may first be adverted to in Rose 
pruning; whenever the older wood assumes a sort of 
dirty yellow colour, with, here and there, livid-looking 
blotches, it may be taken as a symptom of “ notice to 
quit,” and be removed in due time. The fact is, the Rose 
is obviously made by our gracious Creator to adapt 
itself to the various desires of our species. Here, we 
may see a tree monster, thirty feet in height; there, a 
pigmy China, or Fairy Rose, decorating the very edge of 
| a mimic bed or border, or the window-sill of the humble 
i cottager, together with all the intermediate grades of 
shrub, climber, or the ordinary standard. Now, had 
the Rose been a decided timber-tree, it could not have 
possessed this amazing adaptability, neither if it had 
been merely a little bush. 
Now to my chief purpose in offering these remarks— 
the summer management. Many persons are absent 
from their homes from early spring until past Mid¬ 
summer ; that is, during what is called the “ London 
season,” for this regulates the movements of thousands 
of persons in tolerable easy circumstances, and the 
rising of Parliament is the usual signal for such 
retreating to their country homesteads for a while. 
With them, it becomes a desirable point so to retard 
their Roses as to ensure a full and strong bloom in 
July and August; as to the rest of the autumn, we are 
constrained to fall back on special classes or kinds to 
carry out the object well. 
To allow Roses to exhaust their strength, under such 
circumstances, is bad policy; and before proceeding to 
consider summer dressing, I may first state what practice 
1 consider it best to pursue. I hold it wrong to prune 
under such a case, as in ordinary practice, which is to 
cut back, at once, to the length considered most proper. 
Both the period' of pruning, and the mode, may differ 
much with advantage. I have been in the habit of thus 
retarding Roses for years, and have had a fair share of 
success. I will, therefore, simply detail my practice. 
At the end of autumn, say in the middle of November, 
1 I run the shears over them, merely dubbing off as much 
as will prevent the possibility of wind waving, and pro¬ 
mote a tidy appearance during winter. Now, according 
to a law which influences the development of buds, re¬ 
tarded Roses, as far as my observation carries me, show 
an increasing disposition to sprout later annually, even 
as we see in our fruit trees. 
Our retarded Roses, in the main, show but little 
disposition to grow until the early part of April, and 
about that period I give a first pruning, which consists 
in thinning out every twig not wanted. The remainder 
of the head is then shortened, merely cutting away 
those points which have begun to sprout. They now 
appear almost stationary for two or three weeks, and at 
the end of the month, or beginning of May, the final 
pruning is given. This consists in cutting back to where 
the young wood is required from, and in this act grow¬ 
ing points are again pruned away. By these proceed¬ 
ings, 1 consider a whole month is gained in point of re¬ 
tardation, and this is a most material affair, where such 
objects require to be carried out. It may bo urged 
that this must weaken the plant; it may be so, but tliis 
part of the argument is trivial, for on Moss Roses I 
have practised it for many years, and the bushes thus 
operated on are now in the greatest of beauty, and will 
be so until near September; and, indeed, of all the 
other classes the same may be said in the main. 
Thus, it is nearly the beginning of June before the 
trees are filled with young shoots, and now a little dis¬ 
budding becomes requisite. Many small shoots may 
bo found springing from the interior of some kinds, and 
which, if suffered to remain, only tend to confusion; 
where the tree is otherwise well supplied these are re¬ 
moved. And next, in some kinds, very gross shoots 
may be found which may prove only wood shoots; such, 
if they can be spared, are totally removed also, but if 
needed to sustain or complete the form of the tree, they 
are simply pinched to about three eyes. 
Immediately on the heels of this the trees are 
thoroughly cleaned by tobacco-water, applied in the 
customary way, two days in succession. 
Just before blooming commences, very coarse shoots 
may be seen in some kinds overtopping the rest, and 
mostly barren. I hold it a necessary procedure to cut 
or pinch these back to a few eyes, for they not only 
operate against a due equalisation of the sap, but they 
! give the trees a coarse appearance, and are averse to 
I symmetry of form, which, as far as outline is concerned, 
is, I think, of much importance. 
Liquid manure is of great assistance, if given judi¬ 
ciously ; but I would not advise its application long 
before blooming time, imless the plants are weakly, for 
it is apt to make robust kinds coarse, and, indeed, to 
force them to a size which they cannot well maintain 
afterwards. The strongest, however, will be benefited 
with it when once they begin to flower freely. I use a 
liquid mixture of soot and guano clarified with lime; 
and for the information of those who wish to try its 
effect, I may observe, that two ounces of best Peruvian 
guano will be sufficient for a gallon of water, adding 
about half-a-pint of soot. We mix large quantities at 
once, the soot-water in a vessel by itself, for it is best to 
skim it clear before mixing with the guano-water. 
In watering, care should be taken not to puddle or 
derange the surface of the soil; and large quantities 
should be given at once, enough to thoroughly ’ soak 
the soil; we generally give two large pots full to a tree, 
perhaps about six gallons. Without a liberal supply of 
moisture, indeed, good Roses cannot be grown; they 
will speedily cease blooming, and suffer from the spot 
in the leaf. 
One thing is most desirable in tree Roses, and that is 
a good stout stem, one almost capable of supporting its 
own head. This is not merely for the sake of giving 
consistency to the whole, neither for appearance alone, 
but the fate of the tree hangs in some degree, it would 
appear, on this point. Nobody can deny that a stem 
with capacious sap vessels is in a condition to supply 
the head with the necessary juices better than one of a 
lean, contracted, or stinted character. How, then, are 
these capacious sap vessels to be obtained ? Certainly, 
we may meet with Dog Rose stems so stout, naturally, 
as to leave little to be desired; but these are the ex¬ 
ceptions. I am of opinion, that the ordinary course of 
management as to pruning, whilst in the nursery, 
is wrong. I cannot say what may now be the practice 
with our nurserymen as to the rearing standard fruit- 
trees for the orchard, but in my younger days a very 
different practice from that applied to Roses prevailed. 
Having been originally trained to the nursery and 
seed business, in the neighbourhood of London, and 
having divided some seven years between the counter 
and the grounds, 1 am, of course, quite familiar with 
the practice of those times. For instance, in rearing 
standard Apple-trees, with stems of about six feet, the 
shoot from the graft was “headed” at that height. 
During the next summer, a great number of side-slioots 
were produced from the head, nearly unto the ground, 
and, of course, the prime object would now be to form 
a head as speedily as possible. 
Most persons unpossessed of a practical knowledge, 
would at once remove every side-shoot, except those 
really required to form the head ; but not so the knife- 
