DWABF AND SLOW-GEOWING CONIFEES 5 



(a) Trees artificially dwarfed. 



(b) Natural dwarf -sports or seedlings of arborescent 

 trees. 



The artificial dwarfs may be dismissed in a few words. 

 It is useless either to describe or enumerate them, as their 

 number and variety depend almost solely upon the whim 

 of the gardener who takes them in hand. Practically any 

 tree can be " dwarfed " by adequate treatment. The 

 subject is selected young, potted up, and then annually 

 pruned, pinched, and disbudded at the inclination of the 

 operator. The Japanese gardeners are the experts at this 

 branch of arboriculture, and in some cases generations of 

 gardeners have reverently tended some ancient specimen. 

 There is one in the Yokohama Nursery — a dwarfed 

 Cupressus ohtusa — said to be over 400 years old, which 

 is practically priceless; but even the smallest artificial 

 specimen is expensive to buy, although, judgmg from 

 the amount of care and attention even such must have 

 received, the price seems hardly commensurate with the 

 labour expended upon it. 



But these artificial dwarfs are garden plants only so long 

 as they remain in their pots, their pot-bound condition 

 helping them to maintain their dwarf habit. Turned out 

 of pots and left to their own devices, they soon attempt to 

 regain their natural arborescent habit. 



No further reference to them will, therefore, be found in 

 the pages of this book. It was, however, necessary to 

 mention them here, as, to many uninformed members of 

 the gardening public, a *' dwarf conifer " is understood 

 to be one of those artificial Japanese dwarfs and nothing 

 else. 



On the other hand, the natural dwarf conifers, for the 

 introduction of a great number of which the Japanese have 

 also been responsible, are true garden plants, and, as such, 

 have been grown in Continental and British gardens for 

 many years. 



Natural dwarfs may occur in many ways : 



