382 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 18. 
beginning of March, when there is no frost, proceed to 
give them the annual regular pruning. Examine the 
heads of each, and, in proportion to the strength of the 
shoots, cut them in. The best instrument for this work 
is a strong, sharp knife. Some use pruning scissors, but 
even the best of these, instead of a clean cut, only bruise 
or crush the shoots, and thus injure the bud next to the 
cut, besides leaving an ugly snag, that scarcely ever 
becomes healed over. Place the knife just under and 
beyond a bud, and draw it through the shoot upwards 
in a slanting direction. Cut so that wet cannot get into 
the severed vessels or cells of the wood. As the greater 
part of this class are moderate growers, they should 
be pruned moderately close ; strong shoots, to within 
four or five buds of the last year’s shoots; very weak 
shoots should be cut away entirely, and the head left 
so open as to allow room for the summer shoots to have 
room enough to grow and expand their bloom. 
Class 2. — Rosa centifolia. —Provence Rose; and 
Class 3. — Rosa centifolia, variety muscosa, the Moss 
Rose.—The pruning of these two classes is the same. 
To produce fine flowers, they must, with some ex¬ 
ceptions, be pruned-in close, that is, the preceding 
shoots should be cut to within two or three buds of 
their starting point. The season for pruning these is, 
the same as the last, in spring. Cut away the very 
small spray, and if the rest are very much crowded, thin 
them out also, leaving the head open. The vigorous 
growers, such, for instance, as Moss Du Luxembourg 
and Moss Princess Adelaide, should be pruned very little; 
that is, some of the branches should bo cut clean out, 
and the remaining ones just the weak ends cut off; 
then tie the shoots downwards ; the buds will break all 
the length, and produce abundance of bloom. 
Class 4.— Rosa alba. —The season for pruning this 
class is the spring. There are some very vigorous 
growers amongst them. All of this habit should be 
pruned moderately ; that is, not cut in close to the old 
wood, but left six) or eight, or even twelve inches long. 
The weak growers should bo cut in close, only leaving 
one or two buds. 
Class 5. — Rosa damascena, the Damask Rose.—Many 
of this class produce shoots very numerously, and, con¬ 
sequently, the lower part of the shoots is very imper¬ 
fectly ripened. To remedy this, the branches should be 
thinned-out about Midsummer, cutting away all that are 
weak, or not flowering, and all that are so strong as to 
overpower the rest. This mode will enable the plants 
to produce moderate-sized shoots, well-ripened through¬ 
out. The regular spring-pruning should be done about 
March, and the shoots cut in to within four or five buds. 
Class 0.— Hybrid Provence. —This class is of such 
moderate growth that no summer pruning is requisite. 
In the spring they should be pruned-in closely. 
Class T. — Hybrids of Chinese, Bourbon, and Noisette 
Ptoses—This is a large class of Roses of various habits, 
some growing very vigorously, and others moderately 
so. The vigorous grower should be well thinned-out, 
and the shoots left for flowering be cut in very little: 
I such shoots should be tied downwards, to cause them to 
break freely, and then every shoot will be covered with 
flowers. Many of these may be used as pillar Roses, or 
to plant against walls. The moderate growers may be 
pruned-in more closely. 1 should recommend the 
; pruning of this class to be done rather later than the 
| preceding classes, because they are more tender, and 
I late spring frosts will injure the early shoots. 
Class 8. — Rosa spinosissima (The Scotch Rose).—The 
only pruning these require is to thin out the shoots, 
and shorten in any that may overgrow the rest. 
Ci, asses 9, 10, 11.—The Austrian, Sulphurea, and 
Sweet Briar Roses.—These all require care in pruning, 
especially that great favourite, the best of yellow Roses, 
the Persian. If this is shortened-in much, a fine head 
will be formed, at the expense of loss of flowers. Let | 
the branches be thinned-out, and the shoots that are | 
left suffered to remain long. Generally each bud on I 
these long shoots will produce flowers, whereas, if they 
were shortened-in much, there would be no bloom. 
Class 12. — Climbing Roses. —All the Climbing Roses, ; 
except the Banhsign, should be pruned in March. Then 
cut away all old, weak shoots, and tie or nail the young, 
strong ones to the pillars or walls against which they 
grow, shortening them very little. The side-shoots 
from these strong branches are what produce the large 
bunches of flowers, for which this class is so remark¬ 
able. The Banhsian Climbing Rose.—Where this Rose i 
grows freely, the only pruning it requires is to cut out 
the late strong shoots abdut the end of July. The 
flowers are produced on the short shoots made the pre¬ 
vious year—hence these must be carefully preserved, 
or there will be no flowers. 
Classes 13 and 14.— The Macartney Rose. —The 
branches of these Roses are produced pretty equal 
in strength—hence very little pruning is necessary. 
Should they be too thickly placed on the tree, so as to 
prevent them being trained without crowding, then they 
should be thinned enough so as to have sufficient to 
cover the wall, and allow space for each leaf to have 
its due share of light. T. Appleby. 
(To he continued.) 
REMARKS ON THE SEASON. 
(Continued from page 307.) 
Having, in my last, promised to report of such crops, 
the success or failure justly attributed to the season, 
and beginning with that most important class the Fruits, 
it is proper to observe, that of the small fruits Black 
Currants have been least plentiful. A partial blight 
took them in May, whereby each bunch or cluster was 
reduced to half its usual proportion. This unusual 
visitation of a fruit which is considered the most hardy 
one we have, created no little surprise and loss in a 
neighbourhood where considerable quantities are grown 
for market; but the evil did not extend any farther 
than to the loss of the fruit, the plants remaining 
healthy, and the proportion gathered at last exceeded 
what was once expected. The Red and White Currants, 
as well as Raspberries and Gooseberries, have been most 
abundant, and in no way affected by the cause, what¬ 
ever it may have been, which diminished the Black 
Currant crop. Raspberries have been everywhere very 
fine and plentiful; not the same, however, with Straw¬ 
berries, which, at first, promised to be very abundant; 
but after the first gatherings were over, the successional 
fruit did not swell out to anything like the extent that 
was expected, while, in many cases, it was all but a 
complete failure. This seemed the more inexplicable, 
because the natural agent, rain, which is expected to 
command a crop, was certainly not wanting in the present 
season; perhaps its too great abundance might be as¬ 
signed as the cause of failure; certain it is, that the after- 
crop of Strawberries was anything but plentiful; while 
the absence of sunshine told on the flavour of all. 1 may 
likewise here observe, that the British Queen, which had 
never been in a healthy condition with me, died off 
entirely, or nearly so, the last winter; and one or two 
other kinds of a somewhat kindred habit suffered a 
similar late—the most useful ones being Keens and 
Hooper's Seedling, Bank of England, Princess Alice 
Maude, and one or two others, all partaking more or 
less of the characters of the first-named. Even the 
Elton was not so useful as it was wont to be, and the 
other kinds were all similarly disposed to cease bearing 
after the first fruit ’yas gathered. This state of things 
