44 
THE GARDEN ALBUM AND REVIEW . 
ROSE PRUNING SIMPLIFIED. 
Although there are hundreds of thousands 
of Roses raised and sold every year, it is 
astonishing how little seems to be known in 
regard to their pruning. The novice has of 
course an idea that it is good for a rose to be 
pruned, but he is completely at sea the moment 
he attempts the task. He is told, perhaps, 
that one variety has to be “cut hard back,” 
2. First of all cut out dead wood if present. 
3. Then cut clean away all weak and ob¬ 
viously useless twigs. This will enable one to 
see better the stronger and cleaner shoots that 
are left. 
4. Next, old stems, if without strong young 
growths, should be cut almost right down to 
the ground or to the head of the stock, thus 
letting more air and light into the plant. 
Fig. 4. 
UNPRUNED STANDARD ROSE. 
Fig. 5. 
(From “Beautiful Roses.”) 
PRUNED STANDARD ROSE. 
while another should be only “lightly pruned.” 
But the difficulty seems to be where to begin. 
So that anyone may be able to prune a rose 
with a fair amount of success the following 
directions may be found useful. 
1. Examine the plant carefully and decide 
whether it is strong , medium , or weak , in growth. 
The length and thickness of the shoots will 
usually indicate one or other of these conditions. 
5. In the case of very strong growers , the 
shoots may have about one-half cut away ; in 
the case of medium growers, about two-thirds ; 
and in the case of weak plants, quite tliree-fourtlis , 
and in very weak cases only a couple of buds 
should be left to each of the best shoots. 
7. In all cases, the cut should be made so 
that the topmost bud shall point outwards away 
from the centre of the plant. 
