18 PDiTACEiE. 



forming hedges, grotesque forms, and plant statues ; we must be guided 

 by art maxims, and trim, clip, or prune oiir subjects ; so here, again, 

 " prune not " if not untruthful, is at least untenable. Moreover, when 

 in a young state, many of the pine tribe require, if not pruning, at 

 least pinching, to regulate their early growth : — " training them up in 

 the way they should grow;" and this is especially necessary in the 

 case of m.any species of the Cedar, the Common Fir, the Common Pine, 

 the Giant Fir, the Larch, and the Wax Pine ; the natural habit of all 

 which is to produce continuous straight stems or trunks, unarticulate 

 branches, and pyramidal or conical forms ; and frequently such kinds 

 require to have some judicious pinching of their branchlets to regulate 

 their growth, and correct any defects in their symmetrical construction. 

 The like is the case with all plants of these kinds, which have been 

 artificially propagated by grafting, layering, or by cuttings ; which 

 generally, in a young state, at least, retain in a more or less marked 

 degree, the flat tortuous, bent, and irregular form of a branch ; rarely 

 ever at first starting with a straight continuous stem and regularly 

 disposed branches ; being, in this respect, quite unlike the straight 

 stemmed, regularly branched, symmetrically formed plant propa- 

 gated from seed. It frequently happens that artificially propagated 

 plants, of these kinds, will, for years, persist in marching upwards by 

 echelon and quarter-circles, setting at defiance all our artful modes of 

 staking, trimming and pruning; and at times, particularly if bent 

 over, and also when left alone, they will throw up a new leader from 

 •^heir base, when all the then extraneous leaders, laterals, spray, and 

 foliage — the produce of their former years' growths, — may be entirely 

 cut off as no longer necessary. 



Even seedling plants at times require pinching and pruning, parti- 

 cularly such species as have a natural tendency to make early 

 spring or late autumn growths, thereby liable to be injured by late 

 spring or early winter frost : Such species, also, as have a disposition 

 to form more than one leader while in a young state, of which kinds 

 there are many. 



In so far, then, as pruning is concerned, and when considered in 

 relation to the firs and pines, it will be observed that my dictum is : — ' 

 "When sound, good, and thoroughly matured timber is desiderated, 

 "prune not" the tree when old, although you pinch its boughs when 

 young ; and that, when we cultivate them for their beauty, as 

 ornamental trees or shrubs, or for purely art purposes, then " prune ; " 

 but, whenever we do so, let us not only know hoAV to do it, but like- 



