126 JOUENAL OF TIIE EOYAL HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 
bounds. If for the former reason, the greatest extent of growth will 
follow when the operation is completed during that period of the year 
when growth is at a standstill — that is, in winter. Familiar examples 
occm' in all kinds of deciduous trees and evergreens, which grow most 
rapidly if cut back or their stems or shoots shortened during the winter. 
But if we prune to repress excessive growth, then the best season 
is that which finds the portions to be pruned near to but not arrived 
at the hardening process. The season when this occurs is in most 
cases confined to the last week m July and the first week in August ; 
and therefore it is that shrubs pruned at this season (or ever- 
green hedges trimmed) make less growth during the next twelve 
months than those pruned six or seven months later. But like all 
general principles in which Nature is concerned, the result cannot be 
absolutely foreshadowed within any hard-and-fast lines such as those 
above enunciated might lead one to suppose. The rule, however, is worth 
consideration because it leads one to expect an early pruned vine to break 
more strongly than one left till nearly the last moment ; and in the 
opposite direction it points to late pruning as preferable for those trees 
which bear best on medium growths. Forsyth, for example, refrained till 
unhealthy Plums, Apples, and Pears were in full leaf before he cut them 
down, and this in order to secure a medium growth. It also helps us to 
determine the best time for pruning the summer growths of hardy 
fruit-trees, which is just before the sappy growths harden into wood. 
It serves also as a warning that Roses may be left too late in the season 
unpruned, so that in trying to escape the evil of early frosts we may 
quite as effectually arrive at the same result by weakening the young 
growths through pruning too late. It indicates the season fittest to lop 
trees as that shortly after the foliage has fallen, while branches it is 
intended to remove altogether are best cut off just after growth has 
commenced. 
A few additional remarks of a more particular nature may be made. 
Variegated shrubs which are subjected to trimming assume a brighter 
foliage if clipped in spring rather than in August. Many shrubs must 
be pruned at the time of year that suits their flowering. Thus Lonicera 
Standishi must be left till April. Forsythias are best thinned in May, 
Spiraea Bella treated in like manner in July. Climbing Roses of the 
Ayrshire group can be kept in first-class condition only by removing the 
flowered-out growths in July or August, and filling in with shoots of the 
current year. Most Roses indeed are grateful for pruning after the 
bloom is over, when exhausted or misplaced growths are removed. In 
the same way hardy fruit trees appreciate the judicious excision of useless 
shoots, spurs, or branches when the season is past. 
Then with regard to root-pruning one finds in practice that it may be 
performed at any season. The ideal time would, however, appear to be 
previous to the fall of the leaf in the case of deciduous plants, when 
wounds heal quickly, and a mysterious process of change is going on 
in the internal economy of plant-life, and, therefore, the time when the 
fruit has just been gathered is the best for root-pruning. In the case of 
ornamental shrubs I have performed the operation at all seasons, it being 
in their case largely a question of circumstance and opportunity. 
