MARY LEARNS PRUNING 103 



stay in bed all the time, and have massage, and she 

 did n't have dinners or lunches, but all the time what 

 the nurse called ' nourishment.' " 



"Yes, yes ; that is what I do to him." 



"Oh, are you cutting it all down?" said Mary, in 

 alarm. 



"Down to the ground," replied Herr Trommel, 

 resolutely. "That is the way I put him to bed. He 

 will do little now for a year ; the roots now have 

 nothing to do but eat and rest there are now no 

 children to take care of. Then I give it good 

 manure ; that is the nourishment, and it should have 

 plenty,. And I stir the ground that shall be for the 

 massage. The roots will just take in, take in and 

 rest and grow fat and strong, and next year there 

 will be fine new shoots and flowers, and he will feel 

 quite well again." 



"I 'm glad of that, Mr. Trommel ; but it looks 

 now as if it felt worse than the forsythias over the 

 fence." 



"Perhaps he does," admitted Mr. Trommel, "but 

 I had to do it. That is his one chance of regain- 

 ing his health." 



"Why don't you ever prune him?" asked Mary, 

 as they came to a fat, comfortable-looking yew. 



