MY GARDEN 



really it is not safe to leave the knife within their reach, 

 for once launched upon a pruning orgy they are seem- 

 ingly insane and cut and slash with horrid joy just one 

 more bud-laden twig, just one more branch of promise 

 until where is the gracious, long-limbed shrub of a 

 moment ago? Quite gone, and in its place a stubby, 

 shame-faced, denuded thing, already suffering pangs of 

 mortification over the barrenness she knows must be 

 hers in the coming season of bloom and fruitfulness. 



It is better not to prune at all until one knows one's 

 shrubs pretty thoroughly: when they bloom, and if they 

 are vigorous or delicate. 



Mr. E. T. Cook says : " Many shrubs which have been 

 in one place for some years, and have become stunted or 

 poorly flowered, are often given a new lease of life by a 

 hard pruning in winter, cutting away all the old wood 

 entirely and shortening the remainder. With a good 

 feeding at the same time, they will throw up strong 

 young shoots, full of vigour, which will bear fine and well- 

 coloured flowers." Mr. Cook also says that when a cut 

 is made it should be accomplished with a sharp instru- 

 ment, clean and slanting toward a bud. 



Most flowering shrubs need little or no pruning, save 

 the removal of old and useless wood, but if pruning is 

 considered desirable it is essential to know whether the 

 flowers are borne upon the old or upon the new wood, so 

 that we shall not cause ourselves, as well as the poor 

 shrub, the sorrow of a flowerless season. 



