roses, require a proportionably closer pruning. The stems may be cut down to half their length, and the side-shoots shortened to two buds. All the weak-growing roses, of whatever class, may be pruned with advantage even more closely than this. Some of the weak-growing Hybrid Perpetuals grow and bloom best when shortened The strong

to within four or five buds of the earth.

growing kinds, on the contrary, if pruned thus severely, would grow with great vigor, but give very few flowers.

Sun

The objects of pruning are threefold: first, to invigorate the plant; secondly, to improve its flowers; and, thirdly, to give it shape and proportion. This last object should always be kept in view by the operator. No two stems should be allowed to crowd each other. A mass of matted foliage is both injurious and unsightly. and air should have access to every part of the plant. Six or seven stems are the utmost that should be allowed to remain, even on old established bushes; and these, as before mentioned, should be strong and well ripened, and should also be disposed in such a manner, that, when the buds have grown into shoots and leaves, the bush will have a symmetrical form. In young bushes, three, or even two, good stems are sufficient.

Pruning in summer, when the plant is in active

growth, has an effect contrary to that of pruning when it is in a dormant state. Far from increasing its vigor, it weakens it, by depriving it of a portion of its leaves, which are at once its stomach and its lungs. Only two kinds of summer pruning can be recommended. The first consists in the removal of small branches which crowd their neighbors, and interfere with them: the second is confined to the various classes of Perpetual roses, and consists merely in cutting off the faded flowers, together with the shoots on which they grow, to within three or four buds of the main stem. This greatly favors their tendency to bloom again later in the summer.

When old wood is cut away, it should be done cleanly, without leaving a protruding stump. A small saw will sometimes be required for this purpose; though in most cases a knife, or, what is more convenient, a pair of sharp pruning-shears, will be all that the operator requires.

CLIMBING AND PILLAR ROSES.

When roses are trained to cover walls, trellises, arches, or pillars, the main stems are encouraged to a strong growth. These form the permanent wood; while the sideshoots, more or less pruned back, furnish the flowers. For

arbors, walls, or very tall pillars, the strongest growers are most suitable, such as the Prairie, Boursault, and Ayrshire

roses. Enrich the soil strongly, and dig deep and widely. Choose a healthy young rose, and, in planting, cut off all the stems close to the earth. During the season, it will make a number of strong young shoots. In the following spring cut out half of them, leaving the strongest, which are to be secured against the wall, or over the arbor, diverging like a fan or otherwise, as fancy may suggest. The subsequent pruning is designed chiefly to regulate the growth of the rose, encouraging the progress of the long leading shoots until they have reached the required height, and removing side-shoots where they are too thick. Where a vacant space occurs, a strong neighboring shoot may be pruned back in spring to a single eye. This will stimulate it to a vigorous growth, producing a stem which will serve to fill the gap. Of the young shoots, which, more or less, will rise every season from the root, the greater part should be cut away, reserving two or three to take the place of the old original stems when these become weak by age. When these climbing roses are used for pillars, they may either be trained vertically, or wound in a spiral form around the supporting column.

Roses of more moderate growth are often trained to

poles or small pillars from six to twelve feet high. Some of the Hybrid China roses are, as before mentioned, well adapted to this use; and even some of the most vigorous Moss roses, such as Princess Adelaide, may be so trained. Where a pole is used, two stems are sufficient. These should be examined, and cut back to the first strong and plump bud, removing the weaker buds always found towards the extremity of a stem. Then let the stems so pruned lie flat on the earth till the buds break into leaf, after which they are to be tied to the pole. If they were tied up immediately, the sap, obeying its natural tendency, would flow upward, expanding the highest bud, and leaving many of those below dormant, so that a portion of the stem would be bare. (The same course of proceeding may be followed with equal advantage in the case of wall and trellis roses.) The highest bud now throws up a strong leading shoot, while the stem below becomes furnished with an abundance of small side-shoots. In the following spring, the leading shoot is to be pruned back to the first strong bud, and the treatment of the previous year repeated. By pursuing this process, the pillar may, in the course of two or three years, be enveloped from the ground to the summit with a mass of leaves and blossoms.

These and all other rose-pruning operations are, in the

Northern States, best effected in March, or the end of February; since roses pruned in autumn are apt to be severely injured and sometimes killed by the severity of our winters.

SUBSEQUENT GULTURE

Nothing is more beneficial to roses than a frequent digging and stirring of the soil around them. The surface should never be allowed to become hard, but should be kept light and porous by hoeing or forking several times in the course of the season. A yearly application of manure will be of great advantage. It may be applied in the autumn or in the spring, and forked in around the plants. Cultivators who wish to obtain the finest possible blooms sometimes apply liquid manure early in the summer, immediately after the flower-buds are formed. This penetrates at once to the roots, and takes immediate effect on the growing bud.

AN EXPERIMENT IN ROSE GROWDYGR

The amateur may perhaps draw some useful hints from an experiment made by the writer in cultivating roses, with a view to obtaining the best possible individual flow