SHRUBS 



would not advise the beginner in shrub-growing 

 to undertake their culture. 



Many an amateur gardener labors under the 

 impression that aU shrubs must be given an an- 

 nual pruning. He doesn't know just how he 

 got this impression, but — he has it. He looks his 

 shrubs over, and sees no actual necessity for the 

 use of the knife, but — ^pruning must be done, and 

 he cuts here, and there, and everywhere, without 

 any definite aim in view, simply because he feels 

 that something of the kind is demanded of him. 

 This is where a great mistake is made. So long 

 as a shrub is healthy and pleasing in shape let 

 it alone. It is not necessary that it should pre- 

 sent the same appearance from all points of 

 view. That would be to make it formal, prim — 

 anything but graceful. Go into the fields and 

 forests and take lessons from Nature, the one 

 gardener who makes no mistakes. Her shrubs 

 are seldom regular in outline, but they are beau- 

 tiful, all the same, and graceful, every one of 

 them, with a grace that is the result of infor- 

 mality and naturalness. Therefore never prune 

 a shrub unless it really needs it, and let the need 

 be determined by something more than mere lack 

 of uniformity in its development. Much of the 

 charm of Nature's workmanship is the result of 

 irregularity which never does violence to the 

 5 M 



