268 GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



others in early spring ; whilst those flowering on the pre- 

 vious year's wood must remain until the blossoming time has 

 passed. 



Four forms of pruning are desirable, i.e. shortening of 

 the branches, disbudding, the removal of seed heads, and 

 root pruning. The object is the same in all cases, namely, 

 to encourage shoots to give the best flowers. In some in- 

 stances, one, for example, where a few branches only are 

 made, the result is obtained by the first method ; in others, 

 where the shoots are many in number, it is needful to reduce 

 the number considerably to allow light and air free access to 

 the wood for the purpose of thorough ripening. In other 

 cases, such as the Rhododendron, superfluous buds and old 

 flower-heads must be removed, and where rank shoots are 

 made at the expense of flowers, prune the roots. 



When pruning use a very sharp knife. Leave no jagged 

 cuts, but cut all wounds perfectly clean, and no snags should 

 be left ; but cut the shoots to the base. After pruning, all 

 wounds of any importance must be dressed at once with coal- 

 tar to prevent evil results until they are quite healed over. 

 Among the many families of shrubs in our gardens, the follow- 

 ing have been selected to treat separately as representative of 

 the others. 



Ceanothus. Although very few species of Ceanothus are 

 grown, they need to be pruned at various times of the year. 

 In the case of C. azureus, C. americanus, and the many beautiful 

 garden varieties, they should be pruned in spring. This prun- 

 ing should consist in thinning out the shoots and shortening 

 those that are left. It is often desirable to spur them back to 

 two or three eyes. All the above-mentioned flower in summer 

 and autumn on young wood. On the other hand, C. divari- 

 catus, C. papillosus, C. rigzdus, and C. veitchianus flower in 

 spring on the previous year's wood, and require pruning after 

 the flowers are over. Generally the shoots do not require 

 spurring back ; it is only necessary to thin out and shorten 

 the growths. 



Cytisus and Genista. These families are so much alike 

 that they can be considered in the same paragraph. As in the 

 case of the Ceanothuses, there are two distinct sets, one that 

 flowers on the old wood, and the other upon young shoots. 

 To the former group belong C. albus, C. biflorus^ C. prcecox, 

 C. purgans, and C. Scoparius (the common Broom), and of the 

 last-mentioned group, G. nigricans, G. tinctoria and their 

 varieties are types. After the flowers are over, the first- 

 named group should be thinned and pruned into shape ; 



