SHRUBS 



and can be made to take on bush form if desired, 

 or can be trained as a small tree. If the bush 

 form is preferred, cut off the top of the plant, 

 when small, and allow several branches to start 

 from its base. If you prefer a tree, keep the 

 plant to one straight stem until it reaches the 

 height where you want the head to form. Then 

 cut off its top. Branches will start below. 

 Leave only those near the top of the stem. These 

 will develop and form the head you want. I 

 consider the Lilac one of our very best shrubs, 

 because of its entire hardiness, its rapid develop- 

 ment, its early flowering habit, its beauty, its 

 fragrance, and the little attention needed by it. 

 Keep the soil about it rich, and mow off the 

 suckers that will spring up about the parent 

 plant in great numbers each season, and it will 

 ask no more of you. The chief objection urged 

 against it is its tendency to sucker so freely. If 

 let alone, it will soon become a nuisance, but 

 with a little attention this disagreeable habit can 

 be overcome. I keep the ground about my plants 

 free from suckers by the use of the lawn-mower. 

 They can be cut as easily as grass when young 

 and small. 



If there is a more beautiful shrub than the 

 white Lilac I do not know what it is. For cut- 



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