122 JOUEXAL OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
found each to contain in its centre a portion of another Holly, bearing 
marks of having been pruned close to the stem. At first it was puzzling 
to understand how the stem of a young Holly could have got inside that 
of another, which from its bulk and height was certainly of great age. 
The solution was found in a little book written in 1633 by the sixth Earl 
of Haddington as a letter to his grandson on the management of woods, 
in which it is stated that the Earl had lost all pleasure in clipped shrubs, 
and that his pyramid Hollies had been in consequence pruned to clean 
stems in order to make trees of them. The dead Holly just referred to 
was one of these. Many large Hollies are still standing (though in a 
condition of decrepit age) which no doubt contain, like the above, 
undoubted evidence of the possibility of transforming, by means of 
judicious pruning, closely clipped shrubs into large trees. 
Flowering shrubs, such as hardy Azaleas, by the simple method of 
cutting out weakly shoots, increase in size more quickly. Shoots of 
"Weigelas, Flowering Plums, Apples, Thorns, Spiraeas and others, are 
lengthened by the same process, no cutting back being required, but 
merely the removal of weakly and worn-out growths. This phase of 
pruning is practised in horticulture by all successful gardeners, and 
extends not only to the removal of shoots but likewise to foliage, to 
flower-stems, to flower-buds, and to fruits, the results in every instance 
being apparent in an extended growth, or an increase of size or of bulk. 
Pruning as a means tending to restriction of growth is most commonly 
practised in the case of hedges, clipped shrubs, and in fruit culture, though 
in the last the system of restricting growth is in some degree counter- 
balanced by increasing the extent of leaf surface and by allowing the 
most perfect shoots only to remain on the tree. Root-pruning, properly 
pursued, exerts a very pronounced influence for good wherever there is a 
restricted top-growth, and it may be applied with advantage, not only to 
fruit-bearing trees, but also to closely cut hedges. The effect of root 
pruning when performed on young trees lasts over a period as extended 
as in the case of branch pruning. 
The last reason for pruning that I shall name is the influence it 
exerts in restoring diseased plants to health, and worn-out ones to renewed 
vigour. In neither case, unfortunately, is pruning a universal remedy, and 
the extent to which it may be advantageously employed is limited. Nor is 
its operation or its effect so well understood as are some other aspects of 
pruning. It is possible sometimes, for instance, to stay the progress of 
canker in an Apple tree by cutting the portions attacked clean out, or by 
heading down, to induce a clean, healthy growth. But both of these 
methods occasionally fail in producing the good results expected. As a 
rule, nevertheless, the practice of excising all diseased growth, whether 
of foliage or of wood, is one to be commended. Pear trees, large 
Hollies, Grape vines, Rhododendrons, and Roses are a few examples of 
plants that are invigorated to a wonderful extent by close cutting when 
they are in an exhausted condition. 
Dead or dying wood should be cut clean out, back to the living portion. 
Its influence on living vegetation is invariably inimical, and its removal 
is always followed by an increase of vigour. 
Root-pruning is chiefly employed in gardemng as a means of 
