GENERAL HINTS. 
71 
As to blooming, it should not be allowed until the growth is vigor¬ 
ous, for it comes miserably poor, if at all. The second year, it is more 
reconciled to its place, and the third may be considered a fair trial. 
Take the very best Rose we have, and grow it badly, the result will 
be bad flowers; but, if this be the case with well-known varieties, 
how cautious ought we to be of condemning a candidate for our favors 
when we have no evidence of its real character. Rose growers say 
it is impossible to tell, after a removal, what a Rose ought to be by 
what it is; that it ought to be tried three seasons before condemna¬ 
tion, and not be discarded under an idea that it is useless, merely 
because it flowers badly, which is not always the case. A Rose will 
sometimes be for several years only middling, when, if it like<J the 
ground, it would be excellent. 
When you have a Rose, first you should cut away all bruised parts 
of the root, and see that all the broken ends of the shoots in the 
ground, or root shoots, are smooth; then, plant it the first year in 
good strong fresh loam, from a pasture. If rotten dung be* at the 
bottom, so much the better, but do not let the dung touch the roots. 
Cut nothing back of the head or bud shoot, or if it be an established 
head, cut nothing back until you see the buds swelling, so as to enable 
you to calculate what portion is alive, and what has died back. As 
soon as this is indicated by the growing of the buds, cut away clean 
to the tree all the branches which may have perished. When these 
are removed, you see what head you have to depend on, and how 
much you may cut back without losing an opportunity of forming or 
improving a head for the next season. For instance, all the branches 
but one will often die back, and be forced to be removed by the knife. 
Had the pruning at first been close, and each branch cut back to two 
eyes, there would be but two, of course, left on the only living one, 
and but two shoots could be had from them; having, however, dis¬ 
covered that but one branch is left, this has to be preserved somewhat 
longer, and therefore should be pruned to four or five, instead of two 
eyes. These nay be managed to form branches all round the tree, or 
rather at such distance as prudence dictates, due regard being had to 
the strength of the plant. If the tree takes off vigorously, and the 
wood grows very strong, the bloom is pretty sure to be inferior, as 
indeed is the case when almost any plant runs to wood; so that it is 
