284 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Fibeuaey 12, 1861. 
well as to tlie young of Eoses, and, in a more practica' 
sense, it also applies to the old and to the infirm of al 
trees and bushes whatever. The more old they are, and 
the more stunted they look, the more they stand in need 
of man’s assistance by pruning them in the autumn 
before the natural time of their casting their leaves, 
to enable Nature to accumulate the stores of sap de¬ 
stined for the next growth in a fewer number of buds, 
so as to render these buds more strong than they 
could become if the sap of the latter par£ of the sea¬ 
son was expended among the whole number, and after 
being so expended to be afterwards cut off by the spring 
pruning. 
There are few things in gardening in which the prac¬ 
tised eye is more necessary than in determining from 
appearances which Roses or other plants ought, o 
ought not, to be pruned in the autumn. When a Rose i< 
in full vigour, to add more to its strength by this autumn 
pruning is not good practice, as the new race of Perpetua 
Roses is more free of growth than old kinds; the leasr 
addition to their strength is more likely than not to 
render them less productive of flowers, and more abun¬ 
dantly to put forth long shoots which are inimical to free 
flowering. And autumn pruning is more against strong 
Roses on their own roots than against such when they 
are budded on any kind of stock; but I have a case in 
hand where that rule should not apply. 
I planted a few Roses of the strongest Hybrid Per- 
petuals for a friend five years back to make pillar Roses 
of them, and I recommended the kinds to be on their 
own roots, as giving him less trouble in after years; for 
although his soil is just the right sort for Roses, being 
sufficiently strong for Broad Beans and dry at the 
bottom, it his pillar Roses were worked on stocks very 
low the suckers from the stocks would bother him; 
whereas every sucker from a Rose on its own roots would 
be a help to him to keep the bottom of his Rose pillar 
well clothed, and up to the best shape for such pillars— 
that is, full and wide at the bottom and topper upwards. 
Well, the Roses when they came to him were miserably 
small, and to his eyes would not be pillar Roses till we 
were dead and gone. Well, we must make the best of a 
new move, said I, the world runs after worked Roses, 
and the nurseries must follow suit; but I run away from 
worked Roses on principle, and if you will allow these 
kinds to be pruned very close at the end of September 
for the first four years, I shall do it for you, and warrant 
they will be higher by that time than you want them to 
be, and when they are up to your liking you will please 
to recollect to prune them yourself, not very close, at the 
end of February, or if they seem to be getting higher 
than you wish them, you ought to delay the pruning to 
the middle of April, and then cut off very little indeed, 
rather thin them well than cut them close, and that is 
how they must be done this very spring. But I must tell 
of the battle I had to sustain the second year, in 1846. 
I just forget how they stood at the end of the first 
season’s growth, but I had them cut very early in 
October, and down to quite close to the ground—much 
against his grain ; but I argued thus : What signifies the 
difference between us? You want something to look at, 
and if I leave them as long as that you shall have it, and 
lose one season on the height of the pillar in six years, 
and you shall have no more flowers than I should get 
from the closer cut, nor such large ones. If I do not 
cut lower than you say, the shoots will not be over a yard 
long next season; but if I cut these shoots now to the 
ground you will see some five-feet lengths next season. 
And so there were, but then my troubles began : he would 
as Boon cut my acquaintance, and my assistance, as have 
one of these long shoots shortened, for now he had some¬ 
thing to look at. A man like me who lias been under 
authority, will never do a thing that he is once told not 
to do—at least, he should never do so. When I saw the 
necessity of doing a thing, and had my doubts about 
getting leave to do it—say the cutting down of a fine 
tree which interfered w r ith something, down with it I 
would, at my own time, and on my own responsibility, 
and if aught was said against me for so doing, I would 
say I was sorry, and that if I had known all, that the 
thing should not have been done on any account. It 
is not always that all gardeners can go so far as that, or 
presume so much; but no one under authority should 
ever do one mortal thing that he is once told must not 
be done, nor fret for being refused. This, the ruling 
passion, is just as strong with me now as when I was in 
the ranks, and I could no more cut down those Rose 
shoots than I could fly, after he said he would not have 
them cut on any account. But another old way of 
bending the English Oak makes an impression on all 
minds which think for themselves, and this was one of 
them. I said the thing should be done, it stood to 
} nature, and to the teaching of practice; but I quite 
( agree with you that no owner of a thing should ever let 
the reins out of his own hands at the bidding of another, 
conlrary to his wish. If you wish so and such in your 
own garden, and pay for it, you ought to be the sole 
authority, and by the same rule you will relieve me from 
my responsibility in the matter ; and then by turning the 
subject of the conversation you leave that seed to chance, 
and the chances are that the next time you meet him, 
the said owner, the first thing he will do will be to tell 
you that he had been thinking of what you said about 
the thing, and, perhaps, the best thing after all would be 
to do it as you said. If this rule fails depend upon it 
there is something wrong somewhere, and arguing is out 
of the question among friends ; but gardeners should not 
argue such matters at all with their employers—merely to 
state the case or the impression and leave the rest, like 
putting good seed into good garden ground to take the 
proper time to bring forth fruit. 
The owner of the new pillar Roses was at my door, as 
I expected, before the end of that week ; the Roses w ere 
pruned down to the very ground all but one shoot—the 
strongest and longest on each. This was the end of 
the second season. The third time of pruning two-thirds 
of the length of three of the strongest shoots on each 
plant were left standing, and the rest of the shoots were 
cut to different lengths according to their strength; and 
the one-year-old shoot, or the one that was left long at 
the end of the second season, was cut off clean from the 
bottom. Thus the first permanent shoots which were 
left, too, for the pillars were the growth of the third sea¬ 
son after planting, and after the centre shoot of the 
second season had sent up shoots to the height of 7 feet, 
which were then cut down to the very bottom. There 
are not finer pillar Roses than these in the county—at 
least, not finer of their age, yet all that are in their 
favour are the soil and the plants being on their own 
roots. The close pruning for the first three seasons is 
the grand secret for having pillar Roses in perfection 
almost anywhere. 
The new races of the Rose are not one quarter so 
given to strong rich land as the old summer Roses were, 
and when they are on their own roots very few of them 
fail to do well enough in any garden soil if they get their 
share of the strong water even,"without any rotten dung. 
My garden never gets one ounce of dung the year round ; 
but Roses in general get too rank for me and for their 
own fame in three or four years. Some of my Rose 
cuttings got among loose cocoa-nut refuse the year be¬ 
fore last, and in June suckers from all the eyes of the 
unrooted cuttings were up on the surface, and tufts of 
roots were at the bottom of each sucker. 
With a very mild hotbed, and the means of keeping up 
the heat from February to the middle of May, I am much 
deceived if the prunings of this season of February of a 
whole rosery might not be turned into Roses by the million 
and for the million, and without ever going to the trouble 
of making a cutting at all. All that is wanted is a uniform 
