early spring to late autumn the hoe should be kept
constantly at work between the plants; not merely to keep down weeds,
but to keep the surface of the ground open to the influences of rain,
sun, and the watering-pot.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See pruning, p. 17.

[2] But as these are apt to get moved, whether by human hands, or by
cats and dogs, who take a diabolic pleasure in pulling them out and
knocking them over, it is well to make an exact list of the position of
each rose on paper.

CHAPTER II

PRUNING AND PROPAGATING

OF all the many toils and anxieties that beset the path of the amateur
rosarian, I think we may safely say pruning is the chief. The rules to
be observed are few. The idiosyncrasies of each rose are many. And the
demands upon one's own judgment and initiative are constant.

Two things have to be considered before we begin the puzzling task. Are
we growing our roses for exhibition, or at all events for a very few
very perfect blooms? Or are we growing them for quantity, for mere
enjoyment, on the "cut and come again" principle, which enables one not
only to fill the house without robbing the garden, but to fill the hands
of every one who comes into the garden and looks at the masses of
blossom with longing eyes?

As I do not exhibit, the second plan is the one I have studied most
closely. For the other I must refer my readers to my friend the Rev. F.
Page-Roberts' valuable notes, on how to grow and show roses in Chapter
XI.

=When to prune.=--The old-fashioned plan of pruning all roses in the
autumn has now been, happily for their well-being, given up in England.
It was owing to this that many of the earlier varieties of Tea roses,
and even some of the Bourbons and Hybrid Perpetuals, were considered 50
years ago too "tender" to plant freely out of doors.

Pruning now begins in February, and goes on through March and April.

In February we begin to prune the _Rugosas_; _Boursaults_;
_Sempervirens_; and _Ayrshires_.

In February and early March, the _Provence_; _Moss_; _miniature
Provence_; many of the Species, such as _Alpina_, _Moschata_, and
_Bracteata_, and their hybrids.

In early March the _Gallica_; _Damask_; _Alba_; _Hybrid Chinas_; and
_Sweet Briars_. To be followed by _Hybrid Bourbons_; _Hybrid Noisettes_
and _Musks_; _Austrian_ and _Scotch Briars_; _Multifloras_; _Ramblers_;
_Wichuraianas_; _Chinas_; _Dijon Teas_; _dwarf Polyanthas_; and dwarf
and standard _Hybrid Perpetual