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If blooms should fade on the plants, remove them in the same way as fresh flowers but with slightly shorter stems. Never allow seed-pods to form, for they take a tremendous amount of food and vigour from the plants, and greatly delay the subsequent crop of blooms. There is no more certain way of stopping the growth of a rose plant than by allowing the pods to form and remain on the plant. In very young plants, or poor growing varieties, or in the few weeks preceding summer trimming, it is advisable to do no more than break off the dead flower just below the calyx. In the last of these instances, the object is to allow any new growth that may form to come in a way that will not interfere with the condition of that branch at the summer-trimming time. This new growth will come from the uppermost growth-bud, and so will leave several lower and better buds for one to choose from later. At summer-trimming time one should cut about a quarter of an inch above one of these buds, selecting one that points outwards.

Many jobs in a rose garden are best done in the mornings, especially watering and spraying. The breaking off of faded flowers is an exception, for, in doing this, one usually grasps the flower in the hand, and before noon it is not uncommon to encounter a bee in amongst the stamens; bees seldom visit flowers after noon. Thus one needs to be watchful for bees, or wait until the latter part of the day.

At all times when pruning or removing faded blooms it will be found helpful to have a large piece of hessian to spread on the adjacent ground. All trimmings can be thrown on to it and easily carried away. It is not always possible to take a wheelbarrow into the midst of the rose plants, and picking up the pieces one by one is very tedious.

Many attempts have been made to intensify the colour of roses, especially reds, by altering the plant sap. We know that when red or pink colouring matter is extracted from petals it can be rendered more brilliant by increasing its acidity, or less brilliant, or even blue, by decreasing its acidity. Attempts to bring about these same changes in living plants have been made by treating the soil and spraying the leaves with various acids. They must fail, for plant sap is so buffered against such changes in its chemical reaction that no change is possible without creating conditions that would kill the plants. There is only one solution of the problem-the breeding of varieties with more vividly coloured blooms.