CHAP. xviiT VILLA GARDENING 135 



other plant producing- several flower -spikes from one root — to 

 link each stem up separately in an easy-flowing manner, where the 

 motion of the air can be felt by the branches — than to tie them up 

 in a bundle either with or without a stick in the middle ; but other- 

 wise there is no question as to which plan is best, and these 

 bimdled up flowers soon wither and die, for, lacking air, the leaves 

 turn j'ellow and rot the stems if rain comes. In tying up anything 

 that is in the midst of growth, such as Dahlias for instance, room 

 must be left for the stem to swell ; much injury is done by the 

 inexperienced through forgetfulness of the rapid way in which 

 the stems of some plants grow in early summer. Another dis- 

 advantage of the bundle system is, that the strings are sure to 

 give way during a windy time, and the plant be blown down and 

 spoiled for the season. The best and cheapest material for tying 

 flowers is the foliage of a kind of Grass or leaf called RaflBa, 

 It is very strong when twisted, and will last one season very 

 well. 



Stopping Summer Growths. — Some people think the un- 

 stopped plant becomes stronger than the one that is pruned or 

 pinclaed. Acting on this principle, a neighbour who had made a 

 new lawn by sowing Grass seeds refused to allow his man to cut 

 the young Grasses till they had grown up into flower, and then 

 was surprised to find how bare and naked the ground was when at 

 last he had them mown. In planting a forest tree let the leader 

 grow unstopped; but with many plants, if beauty of outline is 

 required, more or less of pinching is necessary in order to get that 

 dense Ijushy habit which is required for covering the ground 

 ([uickly. Then, again, modern ideas of gardening, especially in 

 summer, require a great blaze of blossoms at some particular time 

 — when the femily returns from the metropolis or some foreign 

 excursion, and pinching enables us to time the thing so as to get 

 a grand display for the home-coming. We all know how first im- 

 pressions cling to and linger with us. All pinching or stopping 

 in simimer should be done when simply removing the terminal bud 

 will suflice ; then the plant feels little or no check, the pair of buds 

 just beneath break into growth, and we have just about double the 

 number of shoots striking upwards which the unstopped plant 

 possessed ; and by and by there will be, in all probability, just 

 double the number of flowering shoots which the plant would have 

 liorne if it had been left alone. But this pinching must be applied 

 judiciously : to apply the principle indiscriminately would, in many 

 cases, be unsatisfactory in its results. For instance, to pinch a 

 Dahlia, or a Phlox, or a Hollyhock, would lessen the plant's nobility 

 of aspect by decreasing the size of the flower-spike and altering its 



