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But we, who grow for garden display, are not so easily contented; we need all the roses our bushes can be induced to yield, though, if we are wise, we shall endeavor to get them of some quality as well. The quality of the blooms is very largely governed by the method of pruning adopted. The harder the pruning the finer and, usually, the fewer will be the blooms, and vice versa. But there is, I think, little satisfaction in having a garden full of roses if all the blooms are poor, and devoid of that exquisite grace of form that is one of the chief charms of the queen of flowers. For this reason is desirable always to prune rather severely ; not only does this enable one to obtain finer blooms, but it forces the plants to make vigorous growth, thus keeping them youthful and healthy. A growth is cut back at a point immediately above a bud—preferably one that points away from the centre of the plant. The slanting cut ought to begin about on a level with the bud, but on the opposite side of the stem; the knife will then be brought out just above the bud itself. It is an extremely bad practice to cut the stem at any point regardless of the position of the buds, for the piece of bare stem above the uppermost bud looks untidy, indicates slovenly gardening, and will, moreover, die back to the bud.
The question of how much of each stem to cut away is one that has to be decided very largely by the person pruning, but one might give general directions, as follows: Shoots that are not so thick as an ordinary lead pencil ought to be cut back to within two buds of the base; on those as thick as a lead pencil, four buds may be left; and on those of the average thickness of one's little finger, five or six. Stems that are still more vigorous may be " pegged down" if an abundance of bloom is desired, or they may be shortened to within eight or ten inches of the base. It is far better to prune too severely than too lightly; one of the objects of pruning is to force dormant buds into growth. So many amateurs seem afraid to cut below the green growths that develop early on the upper parts of the stems, whereas one of the objects of pruning is to do so. The buds at the base of the stems are so much more valuable, and cutting down the latter forces them to grow. The difficulty of giving precise directions is increased by the fact that in some varieties the buds are twice as far apart on the stems as in others; thus the lead pencil test applied to two roses, one having buds close together, the other wide apart, would give stems of varying height, even though the number of buds on each was similar. If, however, the beginner prunes hard whenever he is in doubt, In- will probably have little cause for complaint.
That the initial pruning of roses should be severe is conceded by everyone who grows them. Roses planted November, or during the winter and spring, whether climbing or bush, need to be cut hard back in the following March; each shoot of the bush roses ought to be cut to within two or three buds of the base, and the stems of the climbing roses to within five or six inches of the ground. It is true that if climbing roses are planted in late October or early November, they may start into vigorous growth without such hard pruning, but they may not, and it is far safer to cut them back. Spring planted roses especially need severe pruning, and they are not put in until March, the stems may be cut back at planting time.
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