126 THE PARLOR GARDENER. 



with merely cutting off the bunches from which 

 the flowers have fallen ; we cut off the tops of 

 every branch of the plant, and, moreover, every 

 thing that is green upon it, the lilac thereby find- 

 ing itself stripped entirely no less perfectly 

 naked than at Christmas. But very soon the in- 

 herent energy with which the Persian lilac is 

 endued manifests itself in a most vigorous vege- 

 tation : young shoots, all of equal length, all 

 equally floriferous for the next year, replace the 

 pruned-off branches; and you have a plant the 

 very best of its kind. A necessary precaution, 

 with respect to lilacs and other shrubs cul- 

 tivated in separate boxes, is, to turn the box 

 partly round twice a week, so that each side of 

 the plant may receive by turns its just share of 

 air and of light. Otherwise the natural propen- 

 sity of* plants to grow most vigorously on the 

 best lighted side will cause them to shoot out 

 mostly on one side, whereby the symmetry of 

 their heads would be entirely spoiled, and in the 

 course of a single summer they would be alto- 

 gether deprived of grace. When the boxes are 

 turned often enough, the annual growth cannot 

 get a wrong set. 



