114 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



wise break them all down. The worst part of the whole year 

 for a border is when the last remnant of flowering plants is 

 cut down ; then there is nothing left us but to clear the 

 ground of all decaying vegetation, and hving weeds, and to 

 fly for help to our potted shrubs, or be content with what is 

 already there, until the spring agaia brings forth the early 

 flowers to brighten up the landscaj^e. But the period from 

 I^^Tovember till February is not very long, and if the place be 

 studded with a Christmas rose here and there, the laurustinus 

 will bear it company, and flower during the most dreary 

 months ; and the almond will soon take up the subject, and 

 commence a brilliant season among the trees and flowering 

 shrubs. The crocus and snowdrop in respectable patches, and 

 not often disturbed, will soon commence their show, and early 

 tulips, which are more hardy than the late ones, will assert 

 their privilege of exhibiting their brilliant coats soon after. 



One of the principal duties is to gently fork over the border 

 between the plants as soon as they have all come through the 

 ground ; if done before, there would be great danger of injury 

 to some of the bulbs and roots. Another is, to use the knife 

 pretty freely to the shrubs, to keep them within bounds, to 

 cut away any too luxuriant shoots, and to keep their roots 

 clear of other subjects, by removing anything that seems to 

 encroach too much. All the suckers should be removed from 

 roses and other shrubs, and be either planted in nursery-beds 

 or taken elsewhere, to become in their turns principal j)lants. 

 All shrubs that are worked on common stocks should be 

 especially looked after; such as variegated hoUies, which, 

 if the stock was allowed to grow, or to throw up suckers, 

 would, in a year or two, totally destroy the worked or varie- 

 gated portion, and become a rank-growing wild bush. The 

 magnolias of a choice kind may have been worked on common 

 stocks ; and if so, the stronger sort would prevail. In short, 

 the stock on which a finer sort is grafted or worked, will, if 

 permitted to grow, soon deprive the worked portion of all 

 nourishment, to its ultimate destruction. The various cyti- 

 suses are worked on the common laburnum, which in a single 

 season would, if let grow its own way, overpower the worked 

 part, and become a simple laburnum again. Azaleas of a 

 scarce kind are frequently worked on the A. ponticum. Eho- 

 dodendrons of fine sorts are frequently worked on common 

 stocks, and roses of the more valuable varieties always. These 



