8o 



Garden and Forest. 



[Apkii. II, iiS88, 



which is here figured. This, with otiiers, \\-as referred to 

 Dr. Torrey for determination, but unfortunately it became 

 mi.xed witli specimens of Penlstenion Jamesri and so was 

 overlooked, and eventually found its way to the herbarium 

 at Kew. Here, twenty-five years later, it was detected by 

 Mr. Bentham while he was preparing the Scrophulariacei.e 

 for DeCandolle's Prodromus, its peculiarities were recog- 

 nized, and it was described as a new genus. Fifteen years 

 later still, in 1861, Dr. C. C. Parry ascended the cluster of 

 now well-known peaks which were named by him Torrey, 

 Gray and Engelmann, and upon the summit of Gray's Peak 

 he rediscovered James's plant. Since fhat time it has been 

 found in the same region by several collectors, but it yet 

 remains the sole representative of the genus. 



As shown by the figure, the leaves are mostly in a basal 

 cluster, with one or two pairs of linear ones upon the low 

 scape-like stems. The cream-colored flowers are in one-sided 

 bracted spikes, the two-lipped corollas bearded in the throat 

 and not greatly exceeding the caly.x. Thegenus is closely 

 related io Penlstenion, from which it is distinguished chiefly 

 by the tubular and short-toothed calyx and by the spicate 

 arrangement of the flowers. This inhabitant of our highest 

 snow-clad peaks cannot be said to be remarkable for its 

 beaut)^ but as a rarit)' and as the only one of its kind it 

 deserves a place in everv collection of Alpine plants. 



S. W. 



Cultural Department. 



Pruning Shi'ubs. 



TO the repeated inquiry as to the best time and method 

 of pruning deciduous shrubs, it may be answered 

 that no single rule can be laid down that will apply to all 

 cases. Shrubs, like trees, are pruned for different purposes, 

 and what is good practice in one case may be ruinous in 

 another. A tree for the lawn requires different treatment 

 from a street tree, and the rule for pruning an apple tree to 

 induce an abundant yield of the best fruit would not apply 

 to another tree where timber or fuel was desired. In 

 the same way the pruning of a shrub may be good or bad 

 according to the object chiefly desired. What is the best 

 practice when the production of flowers is the main con- 

 sideration may be far from good practice when the sym- 

 metry or grace of the shrub itself is the leading purpose. 



There is little doubt as to what is the worst method of 

 pruning, and that is, shearing off the shrubs of a border, 

 at a uniform height, as squarely as a hedge is trimmed, and 

 cutting back single specimens with absolute evenness all 

 around till the plant assumes the shape of an o.'g'g or a per- 

 fect sphere. The only parallel to atrocities of this kind is 

 seen in the work of professional tree-butchers whf) go 

 about the streets of towns and cities amputating all the 

 branches of the street trees and leaving nothing but forked 

 posts. And yet in many cemeteries and private grounds m 

 city suburbs shrubs are mutilated in exactly this fashion by 

 men pretending to be professional gardeners. Of course 

 all the beauty and grace of the plants are destroyed. 



And how about the flowers .'' A large percentage of 

 flowering shrubs bloom in the spring, and most of these 

 form their blossom-buds on the small branches that were 

 made the year before. In each bud is a flower safely pro- 

 tected from the winter weather and ready to open with 

 the warmth of the coming year. These are the branches 

 lopped off by the shears in autumn or early spring, and 

 with them are sacrificed the buds and promised flowers. 

 If the pruning is delayed after the shrubs have bloomed 

 they will make an effort to repair the loss by throwing out 

 new shoots, which will ripen and bear abundant flowers 

 the next year. In the case of shrubs like the Althtea, the 

 Great Panicled Hydrangea, and some species of the Tam- 

 arisk, which bloom in the fall on wood grown the same 

 year, a hard cutting back between late autumn and early 

 spring will destroy no flower buds, but will encourage a 

 strong growth of flowering v^'ood for the next autumn. 



Fig. 15. — Cliii'iiophila Jamesii. 



But shrubs, as a rule, are in flower but a short time com- 

 paralivel}', and it is rarely advisable to adopt a treatment 

 which has in view this brief season only. Even in winter 

 a mass of shrubbery has a beauty of its own. Ever}- thicket 

 is enveloped with a nimbus of delicate tints, violet, rose, 

 soft gray and faint olive, which comes from, the combined 

 colors of the twigs. This is true not only of those shrubs 

 which have bright colored bark like the crimson of some 

 Dogwoods and the yellow of the Willows. Many others 

 whose single shoots show no striking color on close inspec- 

 tion are surrounded by this halo when they are massed so 

 that the faint tints of each twig are all gathered and fused 

 together. At all events, amass of this kind is more beauti- 

 ful than a row of Althaeas cut back to bare poles. And in 

 the season of foliage a severely pruned shrub is deprived 

 of that flowing grace of outline which is one of its principal 

 charms. 



For general purposes, therefore, shrubs should never be 

 cut back so far as to impair their vigor ; nor should they 

 be pruned so as to destro)^ their natural outlines. They 

 •should rather have the weak shoots thinned out and be cut 

 back cautiously so as to develop their best form. 



Shrubs like Thunberg's Spiraea, which bloom early on 

 wood of the previous year, should not be pruned in autumn 

 or early spring where it is desired to secure abundant flow- 

 ers, but immediately after the blooming season. 



Shrubs that bloom late on wood of the current year 

 should be pruned after the leaves fall in autumn or in early 

 spring before they start. ^. A. 



