rurxiNr. : aviiat vou. how, and when. 
121 
cation, and is perhaps less valued than its importance as an undoubted 
means of producing a strong young plant entitles it to be. Stunted 
young forest trees, suck as the Oak and the Ash, if cut hard back, at once 
respond by producing a vigorous shoot ; evergreen shrubs, as the Holly^ 
are equally responsive. The Rose is particularly good as an example of 
flowering shrubs. At the same time the method is not of universal appli- 
cation. I should, for example, hesitate to treat the Deech or the Yew in 
so drastic a manner, and many examples will occur of other trees and 
shrubs to which this practice cannot be safely extended. 
Having by means of pruning laid the foundation of a vigorous tree, I 
proceed to show that pruning is equally necessary as a means toward the 
production of an extended and fruitful growth. Extension and fruitful- 
ness no doubt follow without pruning. That is the method of Nature, 
and it is at once rapid and uncertain. Extension is rapid, but fruit 
production always uncertain. Growth is extended by pruning in two 
ways and by two methods. A strong, well-ripened shoot relieved of 
one-third of its length will, according to the nature of the season and the 
vigour of the tree, add at least as much to the length of the shoot cut 
as if it had been left to Nature, and it will also produce a greater or less 
number of side growths, which in a state of nature would not have 
appeared. At the same time there has also been a promotion of fruit 
buds. This method must be very closely followed wherever symmetrical 
training is aimed at, as, for example, in the case of wall-trees. Other 
good results that follow are seen in foliage of larger size and fruit 
improved in the same way. 
The other method of promoting growth extension is applicable to 
forestry, shrub culture, and some phases of gardening. It is based on the 
fact that all weakly growths, more particularly those which are in the 
centre of plants, and on that account debarred from light, are not only 
of no use to healthy plant life, but are really inimical to it. There 
are certain trees, of which the Poplar is a familiar instance, which naturally 
shoot up very rapidly ; but the form most generally assumed by all 
unpruned trees is one of close growth with suppressed extension of the 
stem and main branches. By the simple method of cutting clean away a 
certain number of shoots, determined always by the judgment of the 
operator, a more rapid extension of the stem at once ensues, and if the 
same system is adopted in the case of the main branches as well, the bulk 
of the tree will by that means be still further increased. The effect, both 
immediate and ultimate, is to alter the habit of growth of the subject 
operated on so that given attention during the earlier years of the tree's 
existence, during which it assumes a habit of growth that it afterwards 
maintains, scarcely any pruning will be required in the future. In the 
case of shrubs we secure exactly the same results. By pruning only the 
weakly shoots from the centre of the Portugal Laurel or Yew, and allowing a 
certain number of shoots to obtain the lead, the habit of growth thus induced 
continues. Examples of a most interesting nature exhibiting how the 
whole future of a shrub may be altered by pruning at an early stage of 
growth exist at Tyningliame. A few years ago the main stem of a dead 
Holly was cut down, which, after having been reduced to short lengths^ 
was split up for firewood. Blocks from the lower part of the tree were 
