SHRUB PRUNING. 261 



of the present year, which, when the flowering is over, 

 remain of very irregular lengths, require to be annu- 

 ally cut back to the second or third bud at their base, 

 which buds yield the flowers of the next year. 



Tree roses are a lately introduced ornament of our 

 shrubberies and lawns. The high estimation in which 

 the rose is held, is always an excuse for the natural 

 deformity of the tree ; and the new form imposed, viz., 

 a tuft of flowers and foliage on a tall, slender stem, 

 supported by a stake, is any thing but graceful, unless 

 they stand among evergreen shrubs. In this situation 

 they are very striking, and when worked with different 

 sorts, which flower at different seasons, very orna- 

 mental. Such should be always closely pruned in, 

 not only to keep the head more compact, but to in- 

 crease the number of the blossoms. 



The flowering season of roses may be retarded or 

 prolonged, either by late transplanting in the spring, 

 or by double pruning, that is, when the shoots, 

 after the first pruning, are about an inch long, to 

 prune them off down to the next undeveloped bud 

 below* Gard. Mag. 



The florist extends his pruning even to his her- 

 baceous plants. The principal flowers of pinks, car- 

 nations, georginas, chrysanthemums, &c., are much 

 enlarged by being divested of supernumerary stems, 

 or of the secondary flower buds on the same stem. 



This leads to remark here, that thinning flowers 

 or fruit, operating so as to cause increased bulk of 

 those that are left, shows that the current of nutri- 



