258 



whicli has always a very bad effect, 

 !Miich of the beauty of a flower- 

 garden depends on removing the 

 dead Eoses and other flowers as 

 soon as they fade, and also all the 

 dead or broken branches ; but this 

 is a point of culture which is very 



FIG. 44. — PRUNING SHEAES. 



rarely properly attended to. The 

 French instrument called a secateur 

 is only a somewhat larger and 

 stronger pair of pruning shears. 



Pru'nus. — Eosdcece. — The Plum. 

 Though the common plum-tree ranks 

 among fruit-trees, and as such is 

 not entitled to a place in the present 

 work, yet there are many species of 

 Prunus which may be considered as 

 some of our most ornamental shrubs, 

 Among these are P. cchidicans, 

 with woolly leaves and long clusters 

 of white flowers ; P. Cocomilla, a 

 native of Italy; P. rnarUima, with 

 white flowers and dark blue fruit ; 

 and P. divaricata, with white 

 flowers and yellow fruit. There 

 are many other ornamental shrubs 

 which are called Prunus in the 

 nurseries, but which botanists now 

 class in the genus Ce'rasus. Among 

 these are the ^Mahaleb or Perfumed 

 Cherry, formerly called Prunus 

 Mahaleh; and the Bird Cherry, 

 which Linnseus called Prunus 



Padus. All the kinds of Prunus 

 are quite hardy, and will grow in 

 any common soil. 



Psi'dium, — Myrtacece. — The 

 Guava. — Tropical shrubs, which 

 are generally grown in a stove in 

 England, but one kind of which, 

 Cattley's Guava, will ripen fruit in 

 a greenhouse. In the West Indies 

 the fruit is used for making the 

 well-known Guava jelly. All the 

 kinds should be gi'own in loam and 

 peat, and they are all propagated 

 by layers . 



Psora'lea. — Leguminbsce. — 

 Shrubby and herbaceous plants, of 

 easy culture, some of which require 

 a greenhouse in England. They 

 grow freely in loam and peat, and 

 are propagated by seeds or cuttings. 

 Most of the species are natives of 

 the Cape of Good Hope. 



Pte^lea. — Terehinthdcece. — 

 American sbrubs, quite hardy in 

 British gardens, and ornamental 

 for the fine yellow which their leaves 

 take in autumn. They will grow 

 in any garden soil, and they are 

 multiplied by cuttings and layers. 



Pte'ris. — Filices. — Brake. A 

 very ornamental kind of Fern. For 

 the culture, see Polypo'dium. 



Pulmona'ria. — Borayinece. — 

 Herbaceous plants with rather or- 

 namental flowers, natives of Europe 

 and America, which will grow in 

 almost any soil and situation. 



Pu'nica. — Granatdcece or Myr- 

 tacece. — The Pomegranate is a very 

 handsome deciduous shrub or lov/ 

 tree, which, in the climate of Lon- 

 don, thrives against a conservative 

 wall, and produces fruit which at- 

 tain their full size, though they but 

 seldom ripen. It also grows in 

 great luxuriance near Bath. The 

 fruit, which is of a globular shape, 

 and retains the calyx, has been ad- 

 mired for its form from the earliest 

 ages, and was one of the most con- 



