GARDENING TERMS EXPLAINED 515 



they have loam, build stacks of spits, with 3 inches of fresh horse or 

 cow droppings alternately, and leave the whole to get incorporated 

 several months before mixing and using it. 



Propagation. This is a term applied in garden phraseology to 

 the increase of plants of all descriptions, and in many ways. Gardeners 

 propagate or increase plants by seed, by tubers and bulbs, by cuttings, 

 by layers, by division, by budding, grafting, and in-arching. All 

 depends on the nature of the plants to be increased. 



Pruning. To prune is to reduce, and in pruning a tree or shrub 

 or ordinary plant the object is to reduce it for some special reason. If 

 large-growing forest trees are pruned it is chiefly done when young, to 

 give proper shape and freedom to the branches. When fruit trees are 

 pruned the object is similar, with the addition of promoting fruitfulness. 

 If tree heads were allowed to grow untouched they would become dense 

 thickets of wood or shapeless masses, and produce only small fruit, or 

 none at all. Generally, pruning is done in the winter when the leaves 

 have fallen, and in the case of fruit trees in summer, when the annual 

 shoots being produced, these are either pinched back to one-third 

 their length or cut back to cause fruit buds to form on the portion left. 

 Pruning may be done with saw or knife, but properly with the latter, 

 because the term really implies the removal of useless or barren wood 

 from trees, and enabling fertile or cropping wood to take its place. 



Pseudo Bulb. The term bulb has been described, but the Pseudo 

 bulb is something in plants totally different. Pseudo in this case means 

 an imitation bulb, and is invariably found in growth above the soil, or 

 rather in the air. These pseudo bulbs are almost exclusively found in 

 Orchids, which, it may be explained, are generally from warm countries, 

 and grow on tree stems, or branches, or on rocks, or in other ways 

 practically in the air, with roots subsisting on atmosphere and moisture. 

 Under cultivation many of these Orchids are grown in peaty and leafy 

 soil, and in moss, but very few in soil in the way of ordinary plants. 

 The growths they send up are invariably stout, or thick and very 

 fleshy, and these are termed pseudo bulbs, because like terrestrial bulbs, 

 by which we mean those which grow in the earth, they contain a store 

 of food, on which leaves and flowers subsist, and even help to mature 

 other growths on the plants until the bulbs die. 



Pyramid. This word is commonly used in relation to Pear trees, 

 because the pyramidal is their natural form. In the same way we see 

 Apples, Plums, Cherries, and some other fruits, if allowed to grow 

 naturally, taking a broader, dwarfer, and more bushy form, and these 

 are called bush trees. A proper pyramid has a main or central stem 

 from which the stems or branches radiate, the lower one being the 

 longest, thus making the tree broadest there and narrower towards the 

 top. Fuchsias usually assume the pyramid form and make remarkably 

 handsome plants. Many others that are not naturally of that form are 

 trained to assume it by tying and pinching. Even with Pears pruning 

 and pinching are needful to keep the form perfect. 



Retentive. Soils generally have either one or other of two 



