840 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



[Jan. 



shrubs, we need scarcely caution the most inexperienced 

 novice against the barbarous use of the hedge-shears. The 

 instruments necessary for this purpose, are pruning-knives, 

 saws, and a neat pruning-hook ; and the object to be attained 

 is the removal of all ill-placed branches, either where they 

 cross each other to disfigure the tree, or where they obtrude 

 upon other specimens, or come too close to the walks or 

 flower-plats. In their removal, let it be done as by stealth, 

 so that the amputation will not be discovered. It is often 

 necessary also to thin out the heads of trees and shrubs, for 

 the free admission of air into them, as well as to keep them 

 within their prescribed bounds. Some shrubs require an an- 

 nual pruning, such as roses, which if cut well in, will break 

 much stronger, and flower better ; besides, by this mode of 

 regulating them, they will be kept within reasonable bounds, 

 and always have a healthy and young appearance. 



Rambling plants, such as Loriicera, Clematis, and others, 

 require also a regulation of their branches, by removing all 

 the dead wood, and such of the old as can be spared, as well 

 as shortening some of the young shoots well in, to ensure a 

 succession of young vigorous wood to fill up the spaces they 

 may be intended to cover ; without which they would become 

 thin, and unsightly at their bottoms. 



GRASS-LAWNS, GRASS AND GRAVLL-WALKS. 



Grass-lawns and walks should be regularly attended to in 

 open weather, and frequently rolled, polled, and swept ; and 

 where worm-casts are troublesome, let the whole be watered 

 with lime-water, applied by the watering-pot, and repeated till 

 all appearance of them is over. Where leaves or other litter 

 may have been blown upon any part of the grass in the plea- 

 sure-ground, it should be removed as extremely injurious to 

 it, and if left long upon it, would destroy it entirely. The 

 grass verges of walks should also be swept, and the roller 

 either drawn over them, or else beaten down, with the turf 

 beater. 



If the weather be open and mild, those places which may 

 have been injured, or where the turf is bad, or decaying, 



