264 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
December 28, 1889. 
THE PRUNING OP ROSES. 
Bt the Bev. A. Foster-Melliar. 
In treating of the subject of pruning Roses, one is met 
at the outset by the question : Why is pruning 
necessary at all ? Why should not our Rose trees grow 
as fine and large as they will ? The answer is to he 
found in the natural growth of the Rose. By watching 
an un pruned Rose tree, either wild or cultivated, it 
will be found that the first strong shoot flowers well 
the following season, but gets weaker at the extremity 
in a year or two, and another strong shoot starts 
considerably lower down, or even from the very base of 
the plant, and this soon absorbs the majority of the 
sap, and will eventually starve the original shoot, and 
be itself thus starved in succession by another. A 
Rose in a natural state has thus every year some 
branches which are becoming weakened by the fresh 
young shoots growing out below them. And this is 
one of the first reasons why pruning is necessary. A 
Rose is not a tree to grow onwards and upwards, and 
as standards seem to be going out of fashion, and so 
many varieties are dwarf in their growth, it seems 
better to speak of Rose plants than of Rose trees. 
Objects in View. 
The objects of pruning are: To maintain the life and 
strength of the plants, to mould and preserve their 
shape, and to give more vigour, colour and substance 
to the flowers. Owing to the natural habit of growth 
before mentioned, a considerable amount of wood must 
be taken away annually to prevent the shoots robbing 
each other, and when nature is thus interfered with, 
art must step in to make and to keep a plant of well- 
balanced shape. Further, even for ordinary garden 
purposes, a considerable amount of strength and sap 
must be reserved for each bloom, or in the case of the 
dark H.P.’s, they will not show their true colours 
at all. 
Why the Art has Declined. 
The principal art of pruning—that of forming and 
maintaining a shapely plant of well-placed shoots—has 
very much declined of late years, owing to (1) the 
decadence of really strong-growing varieties ; (2) the 
waning popularity of standards, where a well-balanced 
head is more noticeable and necessary than in a dwarf 
or bush plant; and (3) the fact that most enthusiastic 
rosarians are also exhibitors, and therefore care more 
for fine perfect blooms than for well-shaped plants. 
When I first learnt to prune, upwards of thirty years 
ago, H.P.’s were something new, and there were still 
a great many large standards of summer Roses, each of 
which was a study in itself for the pruner’s art. 
Instruments. 
First, then, as to the instruments. A pruner of the old 
school would condemn the use of scissors, be horrified 
to see a shoot cut off square, and would consider the 
neat, smooth, sloping cut of a sharp knife to be the 
only legitimate appearance. He would also, perhaps, 
scorn the use of gloves, and think he could do the 
work better without them. This last point must be a 
matter of taste, but it is useless to deny that Roses 
have thorns, which are especially hard and sharp at 
pruning time ; and it is well to remember that in 
using a knife, especially with budded Roses of one 
year’s growth, the plant must be firmly held with the 
left hand, or a serious breakage is very apt to occur. 
Two good knives, an oilstone, a regular pair of 
pruning scissors, and a kneeling mat for dwarfs, will 
probably prove a sufficient equipment. One of the 
knives should have a strong blade, the other a narrower 
and smaller one. The hone should be carried about, 
and not left behind, or the tearing off of a valuable 
branch will soon be the result of a blunted blade. The 
scissors will be useful for very small shoots, and some¬ 
times for very large ones, and especially handy for bits 
of dead wood in awkward positions ; in the two last 
cases the cuts should afterwards be trimmed and 
smoothed with a knife. For kneeling on the cold wet 
soil I have found a piece of waterproof about 18 ins. 
square more satisfactory and less tiring than kneecaps ; 
and remember that the weight of the body will bring 
moisture through any alleged waterproof that has not 
an actual skin of indiarubber. 
The Season of the Year. 
Next as to the time of year. Some recommend a 
certain amount of thinning in early autumn, to ensure 
the ripening of the remaining shoots ; but this may 
sometimes have the effect of causing low dormant buds 
to push, which is undesirable ; it certainly lessens the 
number of our autumn blooms, probably checks the 
root power, and the benefit gained does not seem to be 
large. 
"We may commence with Roses trained on south 
walls about the middle of February, and the pruning of 
H.P.’s and summer Roses begins in earnest with the 
following month. March will not be found too long 
for the cultivator who has a large amount of H.P.’s 
under his care ; for there are generally many days 
in that “ month of many weathers’’ when nothing but 
real enthusiasm will maintain the requisite amount of 
patience in the rosarian’s breast, kneeling on the chilly 
soil over his dwarfs day by day, and exposed to the 
pitiless east wind. It is best to leave Tea Roses in the 
open undisturbed till April ; a reckless pruner in the 
shape of Jack Frost has generally been before us, and 
often we are grateful enough if he has left us any life 
to prune back to. 
The Method. 
Now as to the actual modus operandi. It must first be 
asked, Do we require handsome plants for general 
decoration, with fair blooma for cutting, or are we 
pruning for exhibition ? 
We will take the former case first as the most com¬ 
plicated. The first care will be to cut out all dead 
wood, and all wood, however thick and old, which, as 
shown by the small growth made last season, is 
becoming weakly in comparison with other stronger 
shoots. Now we can study the plant, and see what 
we have got left. Our object is to form a well-shaped 
head or plant; and by “well-shaped ” I mean that the 
plant itself should be of the even globular form of a 
Rose. Rose petals are evenly arranged, and none cross 
each other in an inward direction ; such should be the 
shape of the plant. Bearing in mind that the top bud 
left of each shoot will grow first, and in the direction 
in which it points, we should always cut back to a bud 
that looks outwards, and take care that the centre will 
not be too crowded. If we want to get rid of a mis¬ 
placed shoot, it should be cut right out at the bottom ; 
merely cutting it back will only make it grow the more. 
It must be our endeavour, each year, to do away with 
as much old wood as possible, especially in the middle 
of the plant, and, in the case of strong growers, we 
must harden our hearts and thin the number of shoots 
remorselessly. "We should picture to ourselves what 
the plant will look like in full growth, and remember 
that a lover of Roses is more likely to leave too many 
than too few shoots. There is a saying in East Anglia, 
“No man should hoe his own Turnips,” meaning that 
he is not likely to thin them sufficiently ; but those 
who are used to thinning Grapes and other garden 
produce will probably have got over this difficulty. 
The Golden Rule. 
The next question is, how many buds are to be kept on 
each shoot retained ; and the answer is to be found in 
the golden rule of pruning, that more buds are to be 
left on each shoot in proportion as the plant, both as a 
variety and an individual, is strong, and less in pro¬ 
portion as it is weak. 
To a novice in Rose-growing it appears strange at first 
that we should cut away almost all there is left of a 
weakly-growing and precious variety, which would 
seem to be almost exterminated by such severity, and 
yet leave longer shoots on a strong sort, which seems 
better able to stand the rough treatment; but the rule 
is, nevertheless, in strict accordance with the law of 
Nature—Darwin’s survival of the fittest ; and the law 
of God—“Whosoever hath, to him shall be given.” 
It is of widespread application. In education, for 
instance, it is beginning to be found out that it is 
wiser to add to the knowledge a child possesses, and to 
concentrate all teaching on the one branch for which an 
aptitude is displayed, than to introduce fresh subjects. 
But I must stick to Roses ; we shall find the same 
rule apply in other branches of cultivation besides 
pruning. If we were to give directions to an ordinary 
labourer to apply liquid manure to the plants, we 
should very likely find him choosing the weakly ones 
as recipients of stimulant and nourishment, and omitting 
the strong, on the plea that they did not want it. 
That would be a mistake ; it is the healthy and strong 
who want it, because they can use it. The weak 
cannot ; the nourishment they have is more than they 
can manage. Again, every rosarian finds that some 
varieties of Roses do with him, and some do badly. 
The first idea is to grow less of the sorts of which we 
have plenty of good ones, and more of those which 
have not been so successful. And an exhibitor must 
do this to a certain extent, but it is a pity ; it is doing 
that which we should always endeavour to avoid—viz., 
fighting against Nature, instead of directing, and even 
diverting, and yet siding with her. To get the greatest 
number of most beautiful Roses we should grow those 
sorts only which we find do well. 
The rule as to the number of buds to be left on each 
shoot therefore is : In proportion as a plant is stron» 
in growth, either from the natural habit of the variety, 
or, in a less degree, from the actual condition of the 
individual, leave more buds on each shoot; and, if a 
due number be not allowed, the shoots will either not 
flower at all, or produce coarse or ill-shaped blooms. 
And in proportion as a plant is weakly in growth, fewer 
buds should be left; because the weak grower has only 
sufficient strength to supply sap to one or two buds on 
each shoot; and if more are left, the power will not be 
sufficiently concentrated to form good blooms. The 
general habit of the variety should therefore be well 
borne in mind in determining how many buds to leave 
on each shoot ; remembering always, with a view to the 
summer outline of the plant, to prune to an out-looking 
bud ; and that, as a general rule, the more a shoot is 
cut back, the longer will be the growth from the bud 
left at the top. 
Method continued. 
After a warm summer most of the young wood on a 
well-pruned and healthy plant will be moderately ripe ; 
but we occasionally find an extra well-ripened shoot, 
almost as firm and brown as the old wood, with large 
buds ready to start at the first chance. This is very 
valuable, and plenty of space should be allowed for its 
development, less ripe shoots being removed to make 
room for it. On the other hand, we often find gross, 
strong, but late, unripened shoots, much thicker, but 
greener, with a much larger proportion of pith. These are 
comparatively useless, and should generally be cleanly 
and carefully removed. If any shoot, by its unusual 
size, evidently absorbs a large proportion of the sap of 
the plant, it should be, according to its ripeness and 
the condition of the rest of the plant, either removed 
altogether, or left a good length, other shoots being cut 
out to make way for it. 
A good deal may be done to remedy faults and 
defects by a careful examination of each plant in early 
May, when a further thinning of the young shoots may 
be practised if necessary. Of those growing too close 
together, or filling up the centre, one or two may be 
rubbed off. But we must not be rash ; if undecided, 
it may be prudent to postpone the examination for a 
week or so, when we can still rub the shoot off, but 
cannot put it back. 
If a plant is carefully pruned from the beginning, it 
seldom presents many difficulties so long as it con¬ 
tinues in health ; but those which have been neglected 
for only one year, often require to be cut back 
sufficiently to form an entirely new framework during 
the following season. 
For bedding purposes, the pegging-down system is 
fairly successful with really strong-growing varieties, 
of not too stiff habit. All must be cut away save two 
or three (not too many) of the strongest shoots, which 
are bent down and pegged over the bed. They will 
break and bloom all over, and in late summer other 
shoots will probably spring from the base, which will 
take the places of the old ones, if necessary, in the 
following spring. 
Standards of the Gloire de Dijon race may be trained 
to form umbrella-shaped or weeping Roses, on a 
similar system. 
Pruning for Exhibition. 
Pruning for exhibition is a different matter alto¬ 
gether ; our object in this case is to get the finest 
possible blooms, and the exhibitor will not generally 
care a fig about the shape of his plants, so long as he 
has better Roses to cut than his rivals. If number is 
required, the plants must be multiplied, as but few 
blooms must be expected from each. 
Pruning in this case loses most of its art: almost all, 
and in some cases where there is not sufficient ripeness, 
all the new -wood will be simply cut away, and the 
resulting shoots thinned as soon as separable, accord¬ 
ing to the habit of the variety. Exception must be 
made in the case of some of the strongest-growing 
H.P.’s., which will bloom but sparsely and too late, if 
they are cut back too far ; and of certain varieties 
which are apt to bear coarse flowers, but this can some¬ 
times be remedied by a discretion in thinning the 
flower buds. 
Tea Roses. 
"We now come to the pruning of Tea Roses in the 
open. Roses of this class, if well fed, and spared by 
the frost (of which latter contingency I have but 
little knowledge), might be pruned but little ; and, in 
a rich soil, in a district of mild winters, or where pro¬ 
tected by glass, I imagine a mere removal of dead and 
