CHAPTER IX 

 PRUNING TREES AND SHRUBS. 



THE art of pruning as applied to ornamental trees and shrubs may be 

 said to serve one or more of the following purposes : To improve or 

 alter the shape and appearance of the plant ; to increase the quantity and 

 improve the quality of the blossom ; to bring about an improvement in 

 health. Of all the arts that go to make up horticulture, pruning is the 

 one most frequently misapplied. Its proper practice necessitates an 

 intimate acquaintance with the habit and nature of the subject operated 

 on. For instance, a collection of flowering shrubs, in so far as they need 

 pruning at all, cannot be pruned properly unless the workman knows the 

 time of flowering of each one. Again, the aim in pruning a large- 

 growing tree is to make it as perfect a specimen of its kind as possible: 

 contrary to the ideas of many, it is not intended to bring it to some 

 arbitrary, more or less formal, outline. Therefore a knowledge of its 

 size and habit is essential. Unless the operator possesses such knowledge 

 the plants are best left alone, for bad pruning or pruning without a 

 definite aim is worse than none. 



Pruning for Shape. Pruning for the purpose of regulating the 

 shape and size of a tree or shrub is usually practised in order to maintain 

 it in some conventional form, such as is seen in topiary work, clipped 

 hedges, rounded or pyramidal bushes, etc. This kind of pruning is of 

 the simplest, being, as a rule, a mere process of clipping. Such matters 

 as time of flowering and habit are of no moment. The chief question is, 

 when is the best time to prune ? 



Fully grown hedges or bushes of yew, holly, and box are usually 

 clipped in July or August. During these months work in the garden is 

 often less pressing than at other times, and they are as suitable as any 

 other. The plants, moreover, retain their neat appearance throughout the 

 autumn, winter, and spring months. With young hedges more careful 

 procedure is necessary. The clipping should be done earlier, say in June, 

 and a second shortening back of the stronger growths take place in 

 September. This more frequent pruning is necessary to give a thick base 



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