74 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



WHEN TO PRUNE SHRUBBERY. 



Much may be added to the beauty and attractiveness 

 if the shrubs about the lawns and gardens are kept in 

 a thriving condition. This may be done, or at least their 

 beauty may be greatly enhanced, by judicious and timely 

 pruning. It requires but little time, if the work is done 

 every year, to keep the bushes growing and developing 

 in a uniform manner; while if allowed to grow without 

 attention for a few years, it may take a number of years 

 of careful pruning to bring them into shape again. 



When a shrub is set is the time to shape it, to a cer- 

 tain extent. If it is properly pruned at that time, sub- 

 sequent cutting and shaping will be reduced to a min- 

 imum. The grace and beauty of most shrubs lie in their 

 drooping habit. Nature, in the main, will attend to this. 

 Sometimes, however, certain shapes or designs may be 

 desired. While this is something for a skillful gardener 

 to attend to, yet certain work along this line can be done 

 by the careful amateur. The correct methods to be pur- 

 sued with a general collection will have to be learned 

 largely by observation. 



It is, of course, true that work like the removal of 

 dead limbs, branches that chafe or are badly crossed and 

 superfluous interior shoots, may be done at almost any 

 time of the year. The general pruning should, however, 

 be determined by the time of flowering. In this respect 

 our common shrubs are divided into two classes. The 

 spring-bloomers, such as lilac, most of the spireas, snow- 

 ball and weigela form their buds in the late summer or 

 early fall of the previous year, upon wood of that year's 

 growth. It is evident that winter or spring pruning, 

 therefore, would sacrifice some of the best branches and 

 would also induce the growth of new shoots at a time 

 when the energy of the shrub is needed to develop the 

 flowers. 



This class, as can readily be understood, should be 

 pruned in summer after the blooming period is over. 

 New wood will then be induced to start and make a vig- 

 orous growth for buds the next year. The blossoms 

 are borne at the ends of terminal or lateral shoots, hence 

 the pruning induces more laterals to sprout, resulting in 

 a larger number of flowers. The amount to be cut varies 

 with different sorts. At least take as much as would be 

 taken if all flowers were cut with long stems. 



Some of the summer bloomers are rose, althea, hibis- 

 cus, hydrangea and tamarix. With these the flowers 

 form on wood of the current year's growth. Pruning 

 should be done at anv time after the leaves fall and be- 

 fore the sap starts in the spring. None but the most 

 hardy kinds should be severely cut back in the fall. With 

 the tenderer sorts, such as some of the roses, pruning 

 should be done in the spring after danger of severe cold 

 is well past. As a rule the late bloomers may be pruned 

 more than the early bloomers, as flowers are usually the 

 object sought rather than abundant foliage. A vigorous 

 growth in the early spring must be obtained and nothing 

 but pruning will bring this about. 



Roses should be pruned in the spring. Ordinarily a 

 severe cutting is best, yet with certain strong-growing 

 kinds too much pruning will induce the bush to "run to 

 growth" rather than to the production of flowers. Note 

 the condition of the canes and cut each one off a half 

 inch above a strong bud pointing in the desired direction. 

 It is usually best to save buds that point outward, as the 

 shoot will continue in the direction the bud points. 



On the average about two-thirds of the previous sea- 

 son's growth should be cut away. Weak growing va- 

 rieties may be cut even more. The hybrids and teas will 

 need more severe priming than the hardy sort, ^^'itll 

 these, after the winter protection has been removed, cut 



out all the dead and "winter-killed" canes, even if it be 

 necessary to cut to the ground. It is a fact that the se- 

 vere cutting back of roses will not result in so many 

 flower's, but they will be larger and better. If still larger 

 blooms are desired, cut oft' some of the buds as they begin 

 to develop, leaving only the terminal buds to form flow- 

 ers. If the hardy roses are desired to produce a profu- 

 sion of bloom, milder treatment than that recommended 

 above is necessary. When cut flowers are desired, the 

 more severe pruning is best. 



The climbing roses may be pruned down to the last 

 season's growth each spring and the new shoots trained 

 as desired. If there is plenty of room, however, very 

 little pruning will be necessary. Simply cut out the dead 

 wood and occasionally some of the older branches, and 

 the ramblers will keep in good condition. — Exchange. 



THE SOIL AND DISEASE. 



That many diseases arise from soil conditions was 

 formerly a widespread belief, and is still asserted by 

 many authorities. .\ writer in The Medical Council 

 i Philadelphia. June) asserts that this theory is outworn, 

 and that the soil, except where abnormally infected, is a 

 conserver of health, not a harborer of disease. The theo- 

 ries that malaria is due to soil conditions, he says, have 

 utterly collapsed, and of the diseases once thought to 

 originate in the soil, including "military fever," typhoid, 

 yellow fever, and more recently pellagra, erysipelas, beri- 

 beri, dysentery, tuberculosis, tetanus, anthrax, ameboid 

 dysentery, cholera infantum, and epidemic meningitis, it 

 is now fairly certain that none is there present normally. 

 The organisms of some may infest both soil and water, 

 but these are only "carriers" in such cases, not genera- 

 tors. To quote : 



".•\s medical science advances it is more than probable 

 that the soil as a generator of disease will be dismissed 

 from consideration. It is r|uite true that buried accumu- 

 lations of filth may proliferate various organisms, but 

 that normal soil does so except as is taught in agricul- 

 tural books is not probable. The normal bacteria of the 

 soil are not pathogenic to man. 



".•\fter going through much authoritative literature, 

 we are unable to find many authenticated instances of 

 pathogenic bacteria normallv occurring in the soil. ^lore 

 and more is it being thought that tetanus bacilli largely 

 come from the intestinal tracts of the domestic animals 

 and do not proliferate in the soil, although the spores 

 may long remain viable. . . . Practically the only 

 bacillus of w'hich distinct claims of pathogenic activity 

 have been asserted, and which may proliferate in tropical 

 soil, is the B. cloacoe. But recent study shows it to be 

 merely a colon bacillus of cattle which resists the lethal 

 action of sunlight, and thus is very slowly killed. . . . 



".•\s a matter of fact, normal soil is a natural and bene- 

 ficent bacteriological laboratory, various nitrifying bac- 

 teria promoting growth and others decomposing humus 

 and organic matter, thus rendering it available as plant 

 food. But when natural conditions are disturbed, the 

 bacterial balance is also disturbed ; and fungi, molds, 

 algse, and other organisms proliferate, to the detriment 

 of man and animals. Note, it is not so much bacteria 

 but other organisms which proliferate. Disturbed soil 

 needs to be cultivated, and cultivated well. .\nd yet the 

 processes of artificial cultivation are often productive of 

 vegetable forms of diminished resistance, as note the 

 phylloxera disease of cultivated grapes, the various 

 blights and the root growths so destructive of highly 

 developed plant life. . . 



"The soil is a great conservator of health, not a men- 

 ace : its life and death processes are among the most won- 



