PRUNING. 



257 



of thinning out — that is, of removing the wood 

 that has flowered and become comparatively 

 useless, also thin rubbishy growths, and by this 

 means giving the young maiden wood more 

 light and air. The results of this treatment are 

 seen in longer, stouter, better-ripened growths, 

 followed in due season by a more abundant 



Fig. 332.— Forsythia, showing method of pruning in Spring after Flowers. 



crop of blossom. The flowers are not only more 

 plentiful, but often larger and more finely 

 coloured. The indiscriminate clipping back of 

 shrubs of this class is a common evil in public 

 parks, and in places where such work is dele- 

 gated to the garden labourer armed with a pair 

 of shears. Such mutilation destroys the health 

 as well as the beauty of many shrubs. No 

 person should be allowed, unguided, to prune 

 any plant in ignorance of its time of flowering 

 and mode of growth. 



There is one branch of pruning which, al- 

 though a matter of routine in the management 

 of greenhouse plants, is generally neglected in 

 the case of hardy shrubs. This is the develop- 

 ment of a dwarf stocky habit induced by an 

 occasional pinching out of the growths when 

 the plants are young. It is not, indeed, neces- 

 sary for the great bulk of hardy shrubs — which, 

 if given sufficient space, naturally develop a 

 rounded bushy habit. Still, there are some 

 shrubs which acquire a gaunt, "leggy" habit 

 if left to themselves. The commonest examples 

 occur in the leguminiferous family. Many of 

 the Brooms, like common Cytisus scoparius and 

 vol. i. 



its variety Andreanus, C. alba, C. pmcox, Spartium 

 junceum, &c, are apt to form a thick, heavy 

 top, with nothing but a few bare stems below. 

 Although, of course, perfectly natural, this 

 habit often renders them unsuited for well-kept 

 borders. It can, however, be overcome by con- 

 tinually "topping" the young plants from the 

 time they are a few inches high till large enough 

 to plant out. Cultivators of shrubs will recall 

 other similar instances. They occur even among 

 garden Rhododendrons — as a rule the most 

 bushy of hardy shrubs. The variety Sappho, 

 perhaps the most beautiful of the blotched 

 varieties, assumes a thin, straggling habit if the 

 growing shoots are not stopped every summer 

 whilst the plants are small. 



The methods of pruning for fruit-trees and 

 bushes, Vines, Roses, &c, are dealt with in the 

 chapters devoted specially to them. 



Boot -pruning. — This form of pruning is 

 employed by cultivators of hardy fruit-trees 

 to counteract a too luxuriant woody growth, 

 which has, as its usual concomitant, a deficient 

 supply of flowers and, in consequence, of fruit. 

 This condition is sometimes brought about by 

 too generous conditions at the root, but more 

 often is due to the hard pruning of the branches. 

 Such hard pruning is a necessity under many 

 of the modes of culture practised in gardens at 

 the present day. Fruit-trees on walls, cordons, 

 espaliers, dwarf Apples and Pears, are all in- 

 stances where the necessarily restricted limits 

 to which the trees are confined induce a succu- 

 lent, leafy, often unfertile growth. The remedy 

 in all these cases is to check the disproportionate 

 activity of the roots. This can be accomplished 

 by transplanting, or, where the trees are too 

 large for that, by shortening back the roots 

 during the resting season, preferably about the 

 time the leaves are falling. A trench (circular 

 in the case of standards, semicircular for wall- 

 trees) must be dug at a suitable distance from 

 the stem, and as deep as any roots go. All 

 the roots as they are found should be cleanly 

 pruned off" with a knife. When the lateral 

 roots have all been severed, it is necessary then 

 to undermine the mass of soil and cut off any 

 tap-roots that may have entered the sub-soil. 

 This undermining requires some care when the 

 mass of soil is 6 feet or more across. A portion 

 only should be done at a time, and after the 

 roots have been cut this should be firmly packed 

 with soil before a further portion is proceeded 

 with. In the case of very large trees the 

 operation may be spread over two or three 

 seasons. The effects of root-pruning are visible 



17 



