ROSE TIME 



latter down to the soil. When roots have pushed freely, June 

 the stem can be cut through, and the young plant thus I0~30 

 severed from its parent. 



Azaleas, Camellias, Deiitzias, and Lilacs. — These plants, 

 grown for spring flowering, will now be out of bloom, 

 and it benefits them, as well as saves labour in watering, 

 to stand them out of doors with the pots plunged in 

 ashes. 



Privet Hedges. — Its capacity for establishing itself in 

 the poorest of soils, its rapid growth, and its reputed 

 evergreen nature (it is not a genuine evergreen) cause 

 the oval-leaved Privet to be largely used as a hedge 

 plant. It is benefited by being pruned twice a year, 

 the first time at the end of June, and the second about 

 the end of September. This is exclusive of the cutting- 

 back at planting time — a practice that ought never to 

 be neglected, as it conduces to making the plants thick 

 at the base. 



Pruning Flowering Shrubs. — The great majority of the 

 flowering shrubs bear their best flowers on shoots made 

 the previous year. This means that the proper time for 

 pruning them is after they have bloomed, because then 

 the wood which has borne flowers can be removed, and 

 the plant will have several months before it in which to 

 make fresh shoots for blooming the following season. 



Fruit 



Thinniftg Fruit. — It is not often that amateur fruit 

 growers practise thinning. They are too pleased to 

 have the fruit to part with any of it. This is all very 

 well in its way, but it is possible to have too much even 

 of a good thing. There are years in which fruit trees 

 escape all the obstacles to heavy cropping — frosts and 

 265 



