ground. Merely cutting back plants which have been 

 allowed to grow tall will not give the desired results, 

 as the bottom will still remain straggly, while the plant 

 endeavors to form a vigorous new top. The pruning 

 should be begun early in the plant's life, and very low 

 down, so that the desired thick growth is maintained 

 from the bottom up. Thirdly, whatever tends to hinder 

 the flow of sap from the roots to the upper parts of the 

 plant will stimulate growth on the lower portions. For 

 this reason, roses and other things which would be bare 

 and unsightly at the bottom, if allowed to take their 

 natural course, are often bent over to the ground to a 

 horizontal position, and then given another bend to the 

 upright nearer the end of the stem. 



One of the apparent contradictions in pruning comes 

 in at this pioint. In pruning the different parts 0/ the 

 same plant for the purpose of trimming, training, or get- 

 ting a symmetrical specimen : 



Tie more vigorous parts oj the plant should be pruned MORE 

 severely than the weaker growths. 



By doing this, it is possible to divert the constructive 

 energies of the plant to these weaker parts, and greatly 

 stimulate their growth. 



3. Pruning to Increase Quantity or Improve 

 Quality of Product. — ^Usually it is the quality and not 

 the quantity which the gardener seeks in bettering 

 nature. We want bigger apples, bigger peaches, bigger 

 roses, and bigger dahlias, rather than more of them. 

 Nevertheless we also resort to a form of pruning when 

 we attempt to cheat nature into giving us more sweet 

 peas, more summer roses, or a longer continued crop of 

 certain perennials and annuals, than she would do if 

 left alone. The theory of pruning to get bigger flowers 

 and fruits is almost the same as that mentioned above — 

 we divert part of the plant's energies, or vitality, from 

 where it would naturally go, to where we want it to go. 

 Only in this case, it is the strongest and most promising 

 buds and growth which we seek to stimulate by sacri- 

 ficing the weaker. Here, however, again we find a line 

 beyond which we cannot go with safety, because if we 

 prune too severely, nature revolts, and instead of giving 

 us still bigger fruits or more gigantic blooms, will begin 



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