82 THE COMPLETE GARDEN 



ground covers among shrubbery is excellent, and they are especially 

 valuable toward the front of the border. When properly mulched and 

 cared for, shrubbery will seldom need watering after the first year or 

 two, but an occasional good soaking during the drought of summer will 

 not come amiss. It is quite essential, at intervals of every two or three 

 years, that the deciduous shrub borders should be carefully gone over 

 and that the ground around the individual shrubs should be thoroughly 

 loosened wherever it is possible to do so without disturbing the root 

 system. At such times considerable fertilizer consisting of well- 

 rotted manure or a heavy application of bone meal should be applied. 

 No quick-acting fertilizer such as sheep manure, dried blood, or nitrate 

 of soda is desirable. In the successful maintenance of the shrub border 

 the object of supplying fertilizer to that border is not one of forcing 

 growth but one of maintaining normal growth. 



In the proper maintenance of a shrub border the crowding and dead 

 wood should be removed each year. It often becomes necessary to 

 transplant to other locations and to rearrange some plants where they 

 are becoming too thick in the border plantation, in order to give the 

 remainder of the plants an opportunity to develop normally. We 

 often see shrub plantations which are "leggy." This can be overcome 

 by a proper pruning each year, consisting of the removal, to a height of 

 twelve or fifteen inches above the ground, of at least one-fourth of the 

 old wood (See Plate No. V). This will encourage new growth from 

 the base of the shrub and, where refined mass effects are desired, this 

 method of pruning will eliminate much of the broken and unkept ap- 

 pearance of many plantations. There are instances in which the ex- 

 tremely old and unkept effect is more to be desired, and this process 

 of pruning cannot be applied. 



Rhododendrons. Rhododendrons, other broad-leaved evergreens, 

 and conifers should be thoroughly watered during the late fall and 

 never be allowed to freeze for the winter in a dry condition. This is 

 more often the cause of winter-killing than is severe cold. The reason 

 why these plants are more susceptible to injury on this account is be- 

 cause they hold their leaves during the winter months and thus 

 transpiration continues to some degree, and if the plant is not well 

 filled with moisture, a drying-out process occurs and the plant is devit- 

 alized. Because of the mass of fine, hairlike roots which find their way 

 through the earth near the surface of the ground, rhododendrons can- 



