Chap. VII. MODE OF DWARFING. 113 
parts of the stem where they were most desired. 
The pots in which they were planted were narrow 
and shallow, so that they held but a small quantity 
of soil compared with the wants of the plants, and 
no more water was given than was actually neces- 
sary to keep them alive. When new branches 
were in the act of formation they were tied down 
and twisted in various ways ; the points of the 
leaders and strong-growing ones were generally 
nipped out, and every means were taken to dis- 
courage the production of young shoots possessing 
any degree of vigour. Nature generally struggles 
against this treatment for a while, until her powers 
seem to be in a great measure exhausted, when she 
quietly yields to the power of Art. The artist, 
however, must be ever on the watch ; for should 
the roots of his plants get through the pots into 
the ground, or happen to receive a liberal supply 
of moisture, or should the young shoots be allowed 
to grow in their natural position for a time, the 
vigour of the plant, which has so long been lost, 
will be restored, and the fairest specimens of Ori- 
ental dwarfing destroyed. It is a curious fact that 
when plants, from any cause, become stunted ot 
unhealthy, they almost invariably produce flowers 
and fruit, and thus endeavour to propagate and 
perpetuate their kind. This principle is of great 
value in dwarfing trees. Flowering trees — such, 
for example, as peaches and plums — produce their 
blossoms most profusely under the treatment I 
have described ; and as they expend their energies 
