32 TREES AND SHRUBS 



PIERIS. Remove seed-pods. 



POTENTILLA. Thin out after flowering, and shorten 

 any old wood back to strong young breaks. 



PRUNUS. When young, all the members of this 

 genus that are grafted or budded are improved by 

 being cut back each spring until they have attained 

 a fair size and shape. More especially is this the 

 case with the Almonds, double-flowered Peaches, and 

 the various flowering Cherries. When older, they 

 need only be thinned and the flowering Plums and 

 Cherries kept spurred in, but not too hard. Prunus 

 japom'ca, P. nana, and P. triloba should be cut down 

 to strong young breaks after flowering, the resulting 

 wood bearing better flowers than the old wood. If 

 any of these three latter are grown on a wall they 

 should be spurred back hard after blooming. 



PTELEA. When young, trim these to form small 

 trees, and do not allow them to develop into ungainly 

 bushes. When older, they require an occasional 

 thinning. P. trifoliata var. aurea, a golden form 

 which is not grown so much as it deserves to be, 

 should be cut back annually or biennially, the young 

 wood being better coloured and bearing larger leaves 

 than the old. 



PYRUS. The wild Pears should be spurred in the 

 same manner as adopted for fruiting Pears, though 

 not quite so hard. The wild Crab-apples, such as 

 P. baccatdy P. floribunda, P. spectabilis, &c., should be 

 cut back every spring until they have formed well- 

 balanced heads. Afterwards an annual thinning and 

 a shortening of the longest shoots after flowering is 



