236 



GARDENING FOK PLEASURE. 



left to itself, make a long cane six or eight feet high, and 

 with a very few branches near the top. If, when this 

 shoot has reached four, or at most five feet, its end be 

 pinched off, it will then throw our numerous branches ; 

 and if the upper branches, when they reach the length of 

 eighteen inches, be " stopped" (as it is called), in a sim- 

 ilar manner, by pinching, the growth will be directed to 

 the lower ones, and by the end of the season, instead of a 

 long, unmanageable wand, there will be a well-branched 

 bush, which will bear its fruit all within reach. The 

 grower of plants in pots is usually afraid to remove even 

 a single inch of the stem, and the result is usually a 

 lot of "leggy" specimens not 

 worth the care that is oth- 

 erwise bestowed upon them. 

 Plants may be prevented from 

 ever reaching this condition, 

 if their growth be properly 

 controlled by pinching; but 

 if they have once reached it, 

 they should be cut back se- 

 verely, and a compact, bushy 

 form obtained from the new 

 shoots which will soon start. 

 I may state here, however, 

 that if it becomes necessary to 

 cut back a plant in full leaf, care must be taken to with- 

 hold water until it again throws out shoots below, for the 

 reason that, bein^ robbed of the foliage and shoots that 

 elaborated the top, an excess of moisture given to the 

 roots, which have now no work to do, will gorge and de- 

 stroy them. 



The mechanical part of pruning is very simple. A 

 sharp knife is the best implement, as it makes a clean 

 cut without bruising the bark, and the wound quickly 

 heals. Shears are much easier to handle, and the work 



Fig. 63. Fig. 67. Fig. 68. 



WHEKB TO CUT IN PRUNING. 



