PRUNING.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19057, 9 July 1924, Page 3

PRUNING.

THE PRUNING OF ROSES. When a rose is received from a nurseryman it is generally cut back to to leave about twelve inches or more of growth. When planting it should be cut down to three or four inches. Plant deep so that only the ends are visible above the ground. The second year they should be cut back about 4 inches above the first year’s growth. This should be repeated every year (about the end of July). Weak-growing varieties such as Independence Day,” “Madam Herriot,” and “Madam Ba vary” should be cut even further back still. Strong growers like “Fran Carl Druschki” and “Hugh Dickson” should have a little more wood left on them y Some few roses such as 11 Madam Lambard,” “Marie Van Houtte,” “Peace,” “General Gallian” and Contesse de Frigneuse” require very little pruning at all. If the straggly wood is kept off these roses they will bloom practically all the year round. A few like “George Dickson” and “ Sachrengruss ” can be left long ana the weak ends pinched off. MJ these are pegged down to the ground; the branches will flower all the way along. As many as fifty flowers have bd'iu counted at once in a bush treated in this manner. The growth that bran dies out from these long stems should be cut back to three or four inches each year.

PRUNING OF FRUIT TREES.

Pears should be treated as apples for five or six years, after which they can be let go until they stop cropping. Then they should be gradually brought under control again. Care should to taken not to prune too hard or they will stop cropping altogether. Quinces, after two or three years’ pruning as recommended for apples, c*n safely be left to themselves. They will crop in good time if left alone. The most profitable and useful fru’.t tree grown is thp lemon. It should bo in every garden, however small. It is an evergreen, and, as consequence, does not transplant as readily as it might. If planted in a warm spot and kept watered and protected from .he frost for the first or so, it will soon get established. Once it is estab-. lished draw a circle round it, far enough away so it will just touch the ends of the roots. Next dig a trench a spit wide and two spits deep, fill it with manure and ram down hard and then eqver with soil. Repeat this for three years, each time making the trench just outside the last one. If treated like this the tree will soon start to fruit. The first few flowers generally drop without setting, but after chat it should crop regularly. It is very im- > portant that the tree should be well established before it is given any manure. ( ; J