78 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



themselves to circumstances, and yet examples are not wanting in 

 the parks, and even in the squares of London. The gardener to 

 whom allusion has been made was adding to the ugliness of the 

 trees by the mutilation he was practising. Happily nature does 

 much in a few short months to conceal the deformity, and 

 although the original beauty and individuality of form may be 

 destroyed beyond power of recovery, yet after a time the de- 

 formity becomes concealed and the degree of ugliness abated. 

 If trees of the right kind and dimensions, trees of form appro- 

 priate to the surroundings, be made use of and properly planted, 

 and if their subsequent welfare be attended to, this rude 

 surgery will be found, for the most part, unnecessary. The 

 kind of surgery employed should be that known to the faculty 

 as " preventive " and " conservative," and should comprise the 

 occasional suppression of buds or the removal of misplaced, 

 diseased, or over-luxuriant shoots, as recommended by one 

 William Shakespeare in the following terms : — 



Cut off the heads of too fast-growing sprays, 

 .... superfluous branches lop away. 



These measures, if carefully carried out in accordance with 

 the natural shape and mode of growth of the tree, will eventually 

 secure a well-grown specimen, and will obviate the necessity for 

 those barbarous practices which in most of our suburbs do really 

 render trees in the winter season objects of aversion rather than 

 •of gratification. 



Of course, pruning and training of trees into unnatural 

 shapes are necessitated for special purposes. Those who have 

 sought refuge from the autumn sun and dust under the avenues 

 and pergolas of an Italian or Swiss town will be disposed 

 to thank the pruner for the welcome roof of foliage he has 

 provided, rather than blame him for the contortions and 

 deformities of the branches he has been the means of deve- 

 loping. These, moreover, do not obtrude themselves till the 

 winter season, when the traveller is no longer there to see 

 them. 



But even in such cases the desired effect could be secured 

 without mutilation and distortion, by the simple means of 

 employing broad-leaved creepers like the Vine, 'Aristolochia Sipho, 

 and other plants of like habit. 



In too many cases the selection of subjects for town gardens 



