Shrubs and Shrubbery 77 



need only thinning, and if they show a tendency to overluxuriance and 

 sparsity of blossoms, cut in their roots in a deep circle three feet away from 

 their stem. The Japanese snowballs need no pruning, but the common 

 one gives much bigger blossoms from stout, vigorous young shoots than 

 from twiggy old wood ; therefore, keep cutting out considerable of the old 

 wood and encouraging young. 



MagnoHas need no pruning aside from the timely shortening of a too 

 far-reaching branch ; but if they are likely to get bare at the bottom, tie 

 down some of the lower branches close to the ground to fill up the space. 

 Kerria and rhodotypus may get too thick ; thin them a little, and from the 

 bottom. Sweet-shrub needs only regulating, and, in the case of old plants, 

 merely a shortening of the heavier branches. 



Forsythias should be pruned just after their flowers are past. Cut 

 them in rather hard. 



Shrubs of doubtful hardiness, as some of the privets, Japanese red- 

 bud, and styrax, should not be pruned until early spring; then all injury 

 from winter can be cut out. Evergreen azaleas (amoena), leucothoe, 

 kalmias and rhododendrons need no general pruning ; but in the case of the 

 rhododendrons that have been hurt by the winter, their injured branches 

 should be cut hard back into sound wood, when a fresh growth may start 

 from adventitious buds. 



Roses may be pruned with comparative safety at any time in winter; 

 but I never like to touch them until the winter is about over, because in 

 some seasons, from tenderness of variety or injury to tmripe wood, some 

 kinds are likely to get hurt down to the snow-line. The H. P. or June roses 

 we cut pretty low down ; this gives us strong shoots and big flowers. Such 

 as Madame Plantier we let grow into big bushes. The Crimson Rambler 

 is let alone, and it repays us with immense wreaths of vivid blossoms. 

 The prairie and all other running roses are simply thinned out, and not 

 shortened back. 



In the case of some of the finer Japanese shrubs, or small trees — 

 for instance, the dwarf, vari-coloured maples, magnolias of the 

 Watsoni and parviflora type, and pterostyrax — as they advance in 

 years and get large, a branch, a big limb, or maybe half the plant, 

 may die off in summer with a good deal of the appearance of fire-blight 

 in pear trees. As soon as this is noticed, cut out these diseased limbs 

 well below the affected parts. 



