MAKY LEARNS PRUNING 97 



might like to have those dead branches taken 

 away." 



"That is right, that is right,'? said the old gardener, 

 delightedly, as he cut them out. "See, we cut close 

 to the stem, so we do not leave anything ugly. I cut 

 it with the shears. Then I take my knife and make 

 it smooth close to the stem. The forsythia would 

 hardly know now that it had ever had a branch here. 



"We have the dead stuff out ; now I show you 

 what we do next. You see these straight thick 

 shoots in the middle of the bush?" 



Mary bent and looked in. "I can see them, Mr. 

 Trommel, growing straight up from the roots." 



"Yes. When the shrub grows rightly, the branches 

 spread more and more, and new little shoots come out 

 on the older branches ; that is the place for them. 

 These things are upstarts : they come where it is not 

 their place to come ; they take the food from the 

 roots which does not belong to them ; they do not 

 pay for it either, for they blossom but little. They 

 are 'suckers,' and when you see a 'sucker' you 

 should cut it out." 



"Oh, I 've heard of 'suckers,' " broke in the assis- 

 tant. "I caught a fish by that name once." 



"And was it good?" demanded Herr Trommel. 



