THE GARDEN PRIMER 



Viburnum. On old wood prune after flowering. 



Weigela. On old wood prune after flowering. 



Clematis. On season's shoots cut down in winter 

 or early spring. 



Evergreen hedges. Prune in June, trimming just 

 enough to keep the chosen form. 



The final word in pruning however must always be 

 "restraint. " Dead and weak wood should be cut from 

 shrubs, superfluous branches which crowd a tree should 

 be taken away but only a little should ever need doing 

 at one time or season. And only a little will need to 

 be done at one time, if that little is attended to as each 

 year brings it. Great branches of trees cannot be 

 removed with impunity. Pruning should be practiced 

 annually, from the period of young growth; the 

 resulting wounds will then be small, and knot holes 

 will not open themselves to the ravages of fungous 

 plant diseases and of decay. 



As to the manner and fashion of severing a branch 

 or a shoot there is not a great deal to say. Not but that 

 many wrong ways are in evidence but the right way 

 is simply explained. Large limbs should always be 

 cut as close to the main trunk from which they spring 

 as it is possible to lay a saw and the cut should always 

 be parallel with the main trunk and not at right angles 

 to the branch taken away. No way but this is right, 

 no matter who practices it. In the case of very large 

 and heavy limbs which ought never to be cut down 

 unless there is a reason absolutely imperative it is 



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