MAY 65 



it laden with seed-pods, I concluded that it had 

 flowered too freely, and that if allowed to perfect 

 its seed it would die, so I hardened my heart and 

 cut it back very hard, and the bush very soon 

 recovered. I think it is not sufficiently known that 

 all flowering shrubs are much improved by being cut 

 back after flowering and before they go to seed. By 

 this means the strength of the plant is not wasted 

 by perfecting the seeds, but is spent in laying up 

 nourishment for next year's flowers. And this applies 

 to all flowers, and may be seen most clearly in bulbous 

 plants, which, after flowering, naturally produce seed- 

 pods, but not on all the flowering stems. Those stems 

 which do not produce seed-pods very soon fade away ; 

 those which are ripening seed will keep green and 

 flourishing till the seed is formed, but if the seed-pods 

 are cut away the flower-stem at once begins to die 

 down, and the vital strength which would have been 

 spent on the seeds remains stored up in the roots. 



There are many other species of the broom 

 family besides Genista Andreana which are beautiful 

 ornaments in any garden, but I am inclined to give 

 the palm to G. virgata, a shrub of very elegant growth, 

 with small leaves, and an abundance of pale yellow 

 flowers, and perfectly hardy, though its native home 

 is in Madeira. There are also many dwarf prostrate 



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