1872. ] 
ROSES AND ROSE-CULTURE.—CHAPTER XII. 
181 
ROSES AND ROSE-CULTURE. 
Chapter XII.— On Pruning. 
[F the three principal conditions of success in Rose-culture,—(1) a suitable 
soil, (2) an appropriate selection of sorts, and (3) pruning, I regard the 
latter as the most important. The two former secure a favourable 
growth ; hut on skilful pruning hangs the ultimate aim of our labour,—- 
an abundant crop of good flowers. To those who already understand the subject, 
a few simple rules may suffice ; but for those who are seeking information, it 
would seem necessary to discuss the question in detail. To both, I submit four 
simple rules of practice, and shall afterwards follow out the subject for the use 
of those who may wish for more particular information. 
1. Autumnal or perpetual-flowering Roses should be pruned more closely than 
the summer kinds ; and the more constantly or the more abundantly a Rose 
flowers, the closer it should be pruned. 
2. The summer-flowering kinds should be pruned strictly according to their 
rate of growth; the vigorous-growing Moss, Damask, Sempervirens, Hybrid 
China, and the like, should be pruned sparingly, or a too vigorous growth will be 
encouraged, which produces wood and leaves instead of flowers ; the weak 
growers alone should be pruned closely ; the moderate growers, in an inter¬ 
mediate way. 
3. Thin-out the heads of hardy Roses in November, but leave the shortening 
of the shoots that remain after thinning, till March. 
4. Do not thin-out or shorten the tendei' kinds (Tea-scented, &c.) till March, 
or the symmetry of the plants may be spoiled by the effects of the winter’s frost. 
To those who can grasp the difficulties of the situation by considering the 
above rules, I would say, u Read no further.” But there are beginners, and it 
would be hardly honest to pass over this important operation with so slender a 
guide. It is too much the fashion now-a-days to pooh-pooh everything that 
gives rise to careful thought or nice discrimination in practice, the results of 
which are constantly apparent to the close observer. In gardening, as elsewhere, 
everything is easy to those who know, and knowledge may often be more econo¬ 
mically acquired at the hands of others, than through our own experiments and 
failures. Pruning is an intricate art, the principles of which can scarcely be 
mastered without some little study. If there is any royal road to learning here, 
it has yet to be discovered. Let me, then, endeavour as briefly as possible to 
make the subject as plain and easy as I can. 
If a beginner in Rose-culture were to approach an old Rose tree, with the view 
of pruning it, he would probably be puzzled with the multiplicity of shoots, 
branching out and crossing each other in every direction. He might even relin¬ 
quish the task, from the difficulty of deciding where to begin. But I would not 
carry him thus suddenly into the heart of the difficulty. Let him begin with 
young plants, possessed of few shoots, such as are purchased from the nurseries. 
