l62 



IRISH GARDENING. 



I'hoto by] [II. il. Po/lock 



Fastigiate Scots Pine 

 Royal Eotauic Gardens, Glasnevin. 



l)L';iuty wlieu hard pniiirti each year. The best 

 time to prune and thin out crowded wood in 

 the bushes extends to all four seasons of the 

 year. By pruning is meant the cutting back or 

 shortening of a shoot little or much. Thinning 

 refers to the removal of the entire shoot down 

 to the ground or back to another branch. 



In a broad sense pruning may be divided 

 somewhat readily into tour groups, and is to 

 a considerable extent governed by the season 

 of flowering. The cultivator has also to con- 

 sider, and is guided by whether the flowers are 

 produced on the shoots of the previous season's 

 growth or on the new shoots of the year. 

 Though the theory of pruning can be fairly 

 clearly explained in a broad sense, it is the 

 skilled cultivator living among his favourite 

 shrubs from year to year who is familiar with 

 their diverse habits of growth and can adjust 

 the practice of pruning or thinning accordingly, 

 A\ho secures the best results. Tliis remark is 

 not meant to convey the idea that such opera- 

 lions are difiicult, and require years of profes- 

 sional practice to become skilled. The novice 

 can soon obtain an elementary knowledge of 

 the subject sufficient to cultivate successfully 

 many beautiful flowering shrubs as compared 

 with the average jobbing gardener who comes 

 along with his shears and prunes them all a 



sjDruce succeeded, and can now be seen in one 

 of the borders at Glasnevin. 



The tree at Kew known as Pinus sylvestris 

 var. fastigiata, obtained from Dixon and Turn- 

 bull in 1873, was about 15 feet high in March, 

 1914. It is pyramidal in shape, and is not ihe 

 true fastigiate form. It is probably Pinus 

 sylvestris, var. p3"ramidalis. 



Pruning Flowering Shrubs. 



To secure the best results and obtain the full 

 beauty of the many attractive hardy flowering 

 shrubs cultivated in our gardens and pleasure 

 grounds, pruning — little or much — is necessary. 

 One may very reasonably insist that it is as 

 essential as the pruning of fruit trees. Though 

 obviously such an im]jortant item in their 

 cultivation, the pruning and thinning of the 

 growths of hardy flowering shrubs does not 

 receive adequate attention in many gardens. 



The method and the amount of pnming 

 desirable is very variable. A few shrubs, mostly 

 evergreens, require no pruning, vmless they 

 outgrow their position, and perhaps crowd 

 neighbouring shrubs. Many bushes benefit by 

 a fair amount of pruning or thinning of the 

 snoots annually, while a few — all deciduous 

 .'^'^wering shrubs — are only seen in their full 



I'hoto hi)] [ir. Balfour GourUvj, Esq. 



Fastigiate Scots Pine 

 In Wood near Red Cross Well, Dryburgh Abbey. 



