LAYING TURF. 41 



In general, the best plan is to cut off all the 

 straggling shoots, and to shorten them to about 

 half the length you wish the plant to grow ; as, 

 whenever a tree has been cut, it will shoot out 

 with greater vigour, provided it be in health; 

 indeed, cutting a shrub entirely down is often 

 resorted to, with success, when it appears to 

 be dying, after all other means have failed to 

 restore it to health. 



Besides shortening the branches, you should 

 observe if there be any cross branches, that 

 rub against each other ; in which case, one of 

 them ought to be sacrificed ; but, on these 

 points, little can be learned except from expe- 

 rience. I shall, in a future letter, give a short 

 account of the formation of the bloom and leaf 



Turf is generally laid about the first of April, 

 but, from the size of your garden, I do not 

 D 



