PRO 



C 749 ] 



PRU 



3. White. 



P. nntcronifo'Ha (pointed-leaved' 

 September. 1803. 



na'na (dwarf). 2. Pink. May. 178". 



neriifo'lia (Oleander - leaved). 6. White. 



March. 1806. 



ohtu'sa (blunt-/eaued). 10. Red. March. 1786. 



milche'lla (neat). 3. Red. June. 1795. 

 cilia'ta (hair - fringed). 3. Red. 



June. 1/95. 

 gla'bra (smooth). 3. Red. June. 



specio'sa (showy). 3. Red. June. 



1795. 



i-ewo/w'to (curled-back-/eamf). 14. Purple. 



May. 1824. 



specio'sa (showy). 2. Purple. April. 1/86. 



turbiniflo'ra (top-shaped-flowered). 4. Pink. 



April. 1803. 



rilU'fera (hair-bearing). 7- Purple. August. 



1800. 



PROTECTION. See Screens. 



PRUNE'LLA. Self -Heal. (Altered 

 from the German Die breaune, a disease 

 of the jaws ; supposed medicinal quali- 

 ties. Nat. ord., Labiates, or Lipworts 

 [Lamiacese]. Linn., l-Didynamia 1- 

 Gymnospermia.) 



All hardy herbaceous perennials, except ovata, 

 which is annual. Seeds, and divisions of the 

 plant, in spring; ornamental for rockworks, 

 and the front of flower-borders. 

 P. grandiflo'ra (large-flowered). 4. Blue. Au- 

 gust. Austria. 1596. 



Marry a 1 Has (Mrs. Marryatt's). 14. Purple. 



July. 



ova'ta (egg-/eared). 4- Purple, July. 



America. 



vulga'ris (common). 4- Pink. July. Britain. 

 elonga'ta (lengthened). Violet. | 



July. North Amenca. 

 flo're-ple'no (double-flowered). 4. 



Pink. July. Britain. 

 his'pida (bristly). Pale purple. 



July. Europe. 

 "pinnati'fida (deep - cut - leaved}. 



Purple. July. South Europe. 

 ru'bra (red). 4- Red. July. Britain. 



Webbia'na (Webb's). 1. Lilac. August. 

 PRUNING, as practised in the garden, 



has for its object the regulation of the 

 hranches to secure the due production 

 of blossom and maturity of fruit. If 

 carried to too great an extent that 

 object is not attained, for every tree 

 requires a certain amount of leaf-sur- 

 face for the elaboration of its sap ; and, 

 therefore, if this be reduced too much, 

 blossom-buds are produced less abun- 

 dantly, for leaves are more necessary 

 for the health of the plant, and by a 

 wise provision the parts less requisite 

 for individual vigour are superseded by 

 the parts more needed. On the other 

 hand, if the branches are left too thick, 



they overshadow those boneath them, 

 and so exclude the light, as to prevent 

 that elaboration of the sap, without 

 which no blossom-buds are formed, but 

 an excessive production of leaves, in 

 the vain effort to attain, by an enlarged 

 surface, that elaboration which a smaller 

 surface would effect in a more intense 

 light. The appropriate pruning is given 

 Avhen considering each species of fruit 

 trees, and here we must confine our- 

 selves to a few general remarks. The 

 season for pruning must be regulated 

 in some degree by the strength of the 

 tree ; for although, as a general rule, 

 the operation should not take place 

 until the fall of the leaf indicates that 

 vegetation has ceased, yet if the tree 

 be weak, it may be often performed 

 with advantage a little earlier ; but still 

 so late in the autumn as to prevent the 

 protrusion of fresh shoots. This re- 

 duction of the branches before the tree 

 has finished vegetating, directs a greater 

 supply of sap to those remaining, and 

 stores up in them the supply for in- 

 creased growth next season. If the 

 production of spurs be the object of 

 pruning a branch, it should be pruned 

 so as to leave a stump ; because as the 

 sap supplied to the branch will be con- 

 centrated upon those buds remaining 

 at its extremity, these will be pro- 

 ductive of shoots, though otherwise 

 they would have remained dormant, it 

 being the general habit of plants first to 

 develope and mature those parts that are 

 farthest from the roots. It is thus that 

 the filbert is induced to put forth an 

 abundance of young bearing wood, fcr 

 its fruit is borne on the annual shoots, 

 and similar treatment to a less severe 

 extent is practised upon wall-fruit. 



The chief guide in pruning consists 

 in being well acquainted with the mode 

 of the bearing of the different sorts of 

 trees, and forming an early judgment 

 i of the future events of shoots and 

 branches, and many other circum- 

 stances, for which some principal rules 

 may be given ; but there are particular 

 instances which cannot be judged of 

 but upon the spot, and depend chiefly 

 upon practice and observation. Peaches, 

 nectarines, and apricots, all produce 

 their fruit principally upon the young 



