s_ and _Hybrid Teas_.

Climbing varieties of _Noisettes_, _Teas_, _Hybrid Teas_, and _Hybrid
Perpetuals_, may be thinned out, if necessary, after flowering in
summer. But they must be pruned in March.

In April the _Teas_ and _Noisettes_, both dwarf and standard, and the
_Banksian roses_ are pruned.

=How to prune.=--This is a much-disputed subject among rose growers, and
as authorities differ widely with regard to it, some advocating hard
pruning, and others just as strongly swearing by light pruning, so do
they differ as to the instrument to be used. The pruning knife is most
generally recommended; while the secateur, so universally in use on the
Continent, is advised merely for the cutting of dead wood. But the knife
has its disadvantages, especially in the hands of a woman. For not only
may one get an ugly cut with it: but even in a man's hands I have seen
the plant pulled about more than I like, in cutting a tough branch. I am
therefore delighted to find that so great an authority as the Rev. J. H.
Pemberton advocates the use of the secateur for _all_ pruning, as for
many years I have used nothing else. The amount of time and strength it
saves one is infinite, to say nothing of the comfort of so handy a
weapon.

There are, however, secateurs and secateurs--and a poor one is worse
than useless. Its blades must be as sharp as a razor, and so accurately
set that they make a perfectly clean cut right through, without pinching
the branch or tearing the bark. In choosing one, it is well to try it on
a sheet of tissue paper. If it cuts the paper like a sharp pair of
scissors, it is all right. But if it curls the paper round the blade,
instead of making a clean cut, it is to be avoided. After trying many
different makes, I have found that the _Secateur Montreuil_, which I
have now procured for several years from MM. Vilmorin, Andrieux et Cie.,
4, Quai de la Megisserie, Paris, is far the best I can get. It costs 8
francs, and is made in three sizes.

As to hard-and-fast rules in pruning, there are but two.

[Illustration: FIG. 2_a._--Rosebush requiring light pruning--unpruned.]

[Illustration: FIG. 2_b._--Rosebush requiring light pruning--pruned.]

[Illustration: 1.--ROSE REQUIRING MODERATE PRUNING. UNPRUNED.]

[Illustration: 1.--ROSE REQUIRING MODERATE PRUNING. PRUNED.]

1. Prune weak-growing roses much harder than strong-growing roses. As
the object of pruning is to throw the sap into the young shoots which
wil