90 the fruit-tree and shrub pruner. 



The Ctstus. 



This family comprises many useful and handsome 

 plants. Nothing can be more beautiful or better suited 

 for furnishing rockeries and for dry banks than the 

 procumbent varieties of this tribe, varying, as they do, 

 in colour, and forming very pretty objects on stone- 

 work. Some of the erect-growing varieties are beau- 

 tiful low shrubs, most conspicuous when in flower — for 

 example, the Gum Cistus, which is well known on 

 account of its large white flowers, conspicuously marked 

 with rich patches of puce, giving it a remarkable and 

 striking appearance. 



The Cistus will bear pruning pretty severely, but I 

 advise that the erect species be annually shortened at 

 the leaders during its growth, which will have the 

 effect of producing a more compact and uniform 

 character than is generally seen. The procumbent 

 varieties may be cut back to induce symmetry of 

 character, and also to prevent barrenness in the foliage 

 and flowers in the body of the plants. This pruning or 

 cutting back severely should be done at one time, and 

 that should be in the month of April or the beginning 

 of May. 



The Daphne. 



There is no class of plants that can or does command 

 more interest than the Daphne, excepting the Violet. 



The Daphnes are durable as shrubs, and very orna- 

 mental and beautiful as flowers in the parterre, being 

 also effective as perfumes. A good plant of D. Mezereum 

 is sufficient to perfume a whole garden of a moderate 

 size, and one plant of D. Indica will do the same for a 

 whole conservatory. 



Many of them are handsome evergreens, and fit for 

 the select shrubbery. They are as a rule of slow 

 growth, therefore a small amount of pruning is neces- 

 sary. Some little cutting back will be needful with old 

 plants, and nipping out the points of some of the plants 

 when growing. The Mezereum and D. Laureola will 



