182 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



first joint, and thus obtaining from each, two more lateral 

 shoots, to be stopped in turn for the same number again, and 

 so continuing until there is a perfect bush ; but the plant 

 cannot be neglected many days. This constant stopping until 

 we have branches enough AviU j)roduce an excellent plant ; 

 it is then by taking off all that are in the way, and leaving 

 only such as will help to make a handsome plant, we may 

 allow the growth to go on till they bloom ; but after bloom 

 the plant requires pruning as regularly as a wall-fruit tree, 

 and the new shoots must be watched and regulated, and the 

 same pro"\T.sion made for the beauty and symmetry of the 

 shrub as was made in the first instance. Were the flower 

 left to itseK and planted in rich soil, it could be made to grow 

 six or eight feet in a single season, and be altogether un- 

 manageable in a season or two, because the bloom only comes 

 at the ends of branches, and the long under portions are 

 always leafless as well as flowerless. 



Heaths require great care, as well as some study of their 

 habit. Some, like epacris, run away to great length of 

 branches ; therefore, before we allow them to shoot their full 

 length, we must, by stopping, secure plenty of them. Others 

 are naturally of a bushy habit, and require thinning out 

 rather than stopping ; but in all plants we have to look well 

 to the growing state when they are manageable, for a very 

 brief neglect, only for a single season, will give us bare stems, 

 naked undergrowth, iU shapes, and often unhealthy constitu- 

 tions, and the best thing we can do then is to strike the tops 

 of the plant for young stock, and to cut down the stems to 

 A^dthin a few inches of the pot, for the mere chance of their 

 breaking and making fresh growth. 



There is, however, one method by which we may occasionally 

 convert an ugly gawky plant with naked long stems into a 

 handsome standard, but it is only a few plants that will look 

 well under such a change. The Azalea iadica is one of these. 

 If there be one straight stem among them, cut all the others 

 close down, and cut the branches of the single stem off up to 

 the part where the head is to begin ; cut it do^^Ti a little at 

 top to make side growth, and the head will soon form well, 

 but until the head is large enough for the height of the stem, 

 it will look very poor. Fuchsias of some kinds, particularly 

 corymbiSora and its varieties, naturally carry krge bunches 

 of blossoms, tassel-like, at the ends of the branches. The 



