UTILITY OF PRUNING AND THINNING AWAY PLANTS. 15 



every hue; more especially the kind known as Provins roses, white, 

 pink, or crimson. In the eastern Pyrenees, grows the Rosa moschata, 

 a beautiful variety of which is known in our gardens as the Nutmeg 

 rose. The Rosa alba is found in the hedges and thickets of various 

 departments ; as well as the Rosa canina, or eglantine, the stock of 

 which, straight, elegant, and vigorous, is so valuable for grafting." 



ARTICLE VIII. 



ON THE UTILITY OF PRUNING AND THINNING AWAY 



PLANTS. 



BY MR. WOODMANSEY, HARPHAM, NEAR DRIFFIELD, YORKSHIRE. 



Mr. Editor, — On looking over some back numbers of your very 

 useful Cabinet, I met with two papers in vol. vi., pages 12 and 27, 

 headed " Observations on the Dahlia, by a Star in the East," in 

 which he is remarking upon the good and bad properties of several 

 seedlings, and new ones, which at that time were making no little 

 stir in the floricultural world. I remember, at the time of these 

 articles appearing, of purchasing several plants which the writer of 

 them strongly recommended ; and I am sorry to say that, with all 

 his recommendations, I found Berkshire Champion, Rival Scarlet, 

 and Nulli Secundus, to be utterly worthless. The second season of 

 growing the above kinds, I acted upon another of his recommenda- 

 tions laid down in the above papers, that of growing the plants (lie 

 recommended so to be) strong, and well thinning away the branches ; 

 but here again I completely failed, as I have not had one tolerable 

 bloom of any of the kinds this season : consequently, I am led to 

 suppose that the " Star in the East" is not altogether like that we 

 read of in Matt. ii. 2 — 10, but some eccentric and wandering fire, 

 more calculated to mislead the unwary than afford them true light. 



Since, however, reading the above, I accidentally turned to a 

 paper in vol. v. page 50, communicated by Joseph Hay ward, Esq., 

 to which I would beg leave to refer all your readers, as being a 

 rational, well written, and philosophical paper. He tells us, that 

 "The leaves form the excretory organs of a plant or tree; and 

 whether the supply of food be great or small, the plant or tree 

 cannot attain, or sustain itself in a perfect state of fructification, until 

 it is furnished with a surface of leaves duly proportioned to the sap 

 ■applied by the roots. To enable them to perform their functions, it 



