JUNE 117 



that they are more easy to find when mislaid, or lost in 

 the warm and bushy heart of some plant. 



June 4:th. Now, and even a little earlier, is the great 

 pruning-time of the year for all spring-flowering shrubs. 

 No doubt this cutting-out may be especially important in 

 a light soil such as ours, where things flower themselves to 

 death, like pot-bound plants. It is rather tiresome work ; 

 it requires one person to cut out the old wood and 

 slightly cut back the topmost branches with a long- 

 handled nipper, and another to stand at a little distance 

 and give directions. Without this precaution, the tree or 

 shrub would often become lop-sided and unsightly. It is 

 impossible for the man who is cutting to see what should 

 be taken out. Choisya ternata must be gone over and 

 cut back severely, in spite of all one may have gathered 

 from it while in flower. Also with Lilacs, Laburnums, 

 Weigelias, Crab-apples, Double Cherries, Viburnum, and 

 Pyrus japonica, this pruning at any rate, in light soils 

 must never be neglected or forgotten. Very often only a 

 little cutting-out is required. If it is done too late, it does 

 more harm than good, and injures next year's bloom. 

 Clematis montana succeeds much better if the young 

 growth is cut off every year, which prevents it from 

 getting tangled and matted, and all going to leaf instead 

 of blossom. It is the same with Honeysuckles and 

 Brooms. We sow the Brooms white, yellow, and red 

 and yellow every year. They can always be transplanted 

 when quite young to where they are to flower, and a good 

 supply of young plants is so useful. 



The bird-boxes this spring have been well used by my 

 little couples. Fly-catchers and Wrens never fail; but 

 this year we have had rather an uncommon bird, a Bed- 

 start, and in the nest are seven eggs, though Bewick asserts 

 that they only lay four or five. The eggs are pretty 

 in colour, like the Hedge-sparrow's. The Bed-start's 



