12 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



June 22, 1911. 



is nice stoclc in 3-ineh or 4-iiU'li pots 

 and runs just to late varieties. Many 

 tjrovvers are takiuj^- tlu'ir liuils at that 

 tiiMc. ou (>vi'rvtlniif> except sucli kinds 

 as M'l'.ite and Vcdiow ('had wick, Na- 

 yox a and BonuaHoii jdanted to conio 

 in Itetweeii 'I lianksj^i \iuff au<l Christ- 

 mas. It is iinpossihle to phtiit (dirysan- 

 tlieiiHuns September 1 and <iit llowers 

 in Octolier or \(iveml)er. ( . II. T. 



PILCHER'S PLACE. 



Kirkwood is well known as one of 



the growing centers for the St. Louis 

 eut flower market. There has been a 

 large increase in the glass at Kirk- 

 wood this season, several new estab- 

 lishments having been built. One of 

 .these was put up by W. .7. Pilcher and 

 is shown in the accompanying illustra- 

 tion. It consists of three houses 26x 

 loo, erected with material supi)lie(i by 

 the Foley Mfg. Co., Chicago. This is 

 the home of the new violet, Mazzura, 

 for which those in the trade in St. 

 Louis think a wide distribution is in 

 prospect. 



I 



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PRUNING THE 



SHRUBBERY 



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I 



WHEN, WHY AND HOW. 



Amateur Performances in Pruning. 



1 dare say that some of you outdoor 

 men, you i)rivate gardeners and florists 

 who have shrubs and trees to care for, 

 do not give as much thought to the 

 proper methods of pruning as you 

 should. You know, or you should know, 

 that pruning is one of the most impor- 

 tant essentials in the care of plants. Do 

 you know how to make the cuts, how 

 to care for the wounds, how to prune, 

 when to prune, and why pruning is prac- 

 ticed? Those of you who know these 

 things are to be congratulated, and those 

 of you who do not know had better 

 study and learn. 



1 am not speaking now of the indis- 

 criminate butchering of plauts, but of 

 the things that go to make up tiie intel- 

 ligent man's method.s. Any one can 

 chop down a tree, or "trim" a bush, 

 but few can handle a knife, shears or 

 saw with proper intelligeuce. 



I do not mean that Tom, John or 

 Harry can not do tiieso tilings as they 

 should be done. I refer to the great 

 body of men who (daim to be garden- 

 ers. There is a good old gentleman liv- 

 ing in my town who is, I beliexe, a 

 fair representative of the sort of "gar- 

 dener" one finds in such towns, lie 

 does all kinds of work, spades the gar- 

 den in the spring, sows the seed, cares 

 for the plants during their season of 

 growth, harvests the crop, and — last but 

 by no means least — he "prunes the 

 bushes." Shall I tell you liow lie does 

 some of the pruning? He cut all the 



canes from the raspberry bushes last 

 fall. Last year he "pruned" — so he 

 said — ^the Van Houttei spira?as when 

 dormant. Early in the fall of 1908 he 

 "pruned" a l)loek of Rosa multiflora 

 by shearing all the plants straight across 

 the tops. 1 mention tliese instances to 

 illustrate the fact tliat the florist and 

 the gardener would do well to educate 

 the man who does all kinds of garden- 

 ing operations. 



Why We Prune. 



1 wonder whether any of you would 

 be interested in short notes on pruning. 

 Here are a few for tliose who have the 

 time and inclination to read. 



As I said before, do you know Avhy 

 we prune? The principal reason is, to 

 reduce the number of leaves and 

 branches. It follows, then, that the 

 pruner should be well informed regard- 

 ing the' general habits of plants. The 

 (piestion naturally arises. "Why should 

 leaves and liranches be removed?" 

 There are several reasons, such as in- 

 suring strong growths, increasing fruit- 

 fulness, securing symmetry of form, ad- 

 mitting light and air to the center of 

 the plant, invigorating unhealthy plants, 

 securing a high or a low head. These 

 are the jnincijial reasons. From tliese 

 yon can readily understand how neces- 

 sary it is to know the plants. 



When to Prune. 



Do you all know .just when to jirune.' 

 Probably the best time for general 

 pruning operations is in the fall, after 

 the wood is thoroughly ripened or the 

 leaves have fallen. Some individual 



plants, however, must receive special 

 study and attention, because the time 

 of pruning varies with their habit or 

 mode of flowering. Let us divide the 

 discussion into two sections, with refer- 

 ence, first, to plants flowering on tin- 

 old wood or previous year's growth, and, 

 secondly, to plants flowering on the cur- 

 rent year's growth. I cannot too 

 strongly emphasize the fact that one 

 must have knowledge of the habits of 

 the plants. He must know whether the 

 flowers appear on the old or dormant 

 wood, or whether they appear on the 

 new growths made during the current 

 or present season. He should know also 

 whether the buds are borne on the end 

 (terminal) or side (lateral) shoots. 



Let us illustrate the eft'ect of prun- 

 ing a plant in late winter or early 

 spring that flowers ou old wood. A 

 good subject is Spirita Van Houttei. 

 Suppose we cut it back twelve inches at 

 the time mentioned; as a result we 

 would not g(!t a flower. Why? ('Because 

 we have cut off all the flower buds. The 

 proper time for pruning the Van Hout- 

 tei spirwa is after the plant has flow- 

 ered. Take another example. Suppose 

 we prune Hydrangea paniculata grandi- 

 flora in winter and see what the result 

 would be. No flower buds are destroyed. 

 Why? Because those buds are pro- 

 duced on the new wood, or the wood 

 that is formed the current year. There 

 are many plants in which this dis 

 tinction must be made in order to prune 

 intelligently. Plants which flower dur- 

 ing the fall or late summer are ])runed 

 during the fall, winter or early spring, 

 because the flower buds are formed on 

 the new growths. Therefore it is desir- 

 able to secure as many new shoots as 

 possible. Many roses are pruned during 

 the fall and winter — such, for instance, 

 as Rosa rugosa. 



Importance of Pruning. 



Now, I do not intend to give you an 

 extensi\(> treatise on the art of prun- 

 ing. I have simply mentioned the fore- 

 going facts to give you an inkling of the 

 importance or the practice. Lindley 

 says, in his "Theory of Horticulture": 

 "If well directed, pruning is one of 

 the most useful, and, if ill directed, it 

 is among the most mischie\"ous opera- 

 tions that can take place upon a plant." 

 Thomas Meehan, formerly one of our 

 most jirominent American scientific' 

 gardeners, in an early work says that 

 one must use as much care when prun- 

 ing the larger limbs of trees and shrubs 

 as a surgeon would when operating on a 

 patient. Bailey says, in "The Pruning 

 Pook": "Of all the operations con- 

 iitN-teil with the growing of trees and 

 shrubs, pruning and training bring the 

 person into closest contact and sym- 



New Establishment of W. J. Pilcher, at Kirkwood, Mo. 



