Its Garden 



this sort should be done, for early flowering shrubs such as lilac, 

 mock orange, bridal wreath, and golden bell, just after the flower- 

 ing season is over. These shrubs flower on wood which was de- 

 veloped the season before, and if they are cut back in the winter 

 or early spring, it follows that the flowering branches may be 

 lost; whereas if they are cut in the early summer, the shrub has 

 time to develop new wood and new flower buds before fall. 



Late flowering shrubs, on the other hand, such as rose of sharon, 

 hydrangea, and some of the spireas, may be pruned in the spring, 

 because their flowers are produced on wood of the same season's 

 growth. 



Roses, although they are early flowering, should be pruned in 

 the spring, as soon as the frost is out of the ground. W'\i\\ Hybrid 

 Perpetuals, all the old wood, that is the wood uhich flowered last 

 year, should be cut out and from three to six of the strongest 

 shoots produced last year left. These should be cut back to 

 within eight or twelve inches of the ground. Hybrid Teas, on 

 the other hand, should be pruned somewhat less severely; with 

 these the dead and weak shoots should be cut out, and the strongest 

 shoots shortened from four to six inches. The tall shoots ot Ram- 

 bler or Climbing roses may be cut back and the dead branches cut 

 out. If the plants are thin and straggly they may be greatly bene- 

 fited by shearing back to either three or four inches of the base. 



Almost all roses are grafted, and very frequently the bush sends 

 up "suckers" from below the graft, which absorb all the nourish- 

 ment of the plant. These shoots should be removed as soon as 

 they appear, and they may be identified by the fact that they have, 



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