264 
OPERATIONS FOR DECEMBER. 
in situations where a new compost is required to be introduced, make excavations, 
elevate spots that are too low, drain wet land, and shift earth in any way or to any 
situation that may be desired. By following out such rules, it will commonly be 
found that there will be something fit to give occupation to the workmen, whatever 
may be the state of the weather. 
Connected with the pruning of ornamental plants, we may observe that only 
those sorts demand the reduction of their shoots which, being great improvements 
on natural species or varieties, would grow too luxuriantly, and become infertile, if 
not so treated ; and also the kinds which it is wished to retain in certain forms, or 
within prescribed limits. The pruning of the shoots alone will be of no service to 
such specimens as are growing in an extremely exuberant manner ; and to give 
these a due check root-pruning must likewise be resorted to. The concurrent 
practising of the two modes will further only be beneficial when the extent to which 
the one is carried is regulated by that of the other, and when the roots are shortened 
as carefully and as systematically as the branches. 
At the same time that a shrub is pruned, all worthless suckers should be as 
sedulously removed from its base as they are in the case of fruit-bushes ; for nothing 
weakens a specimen, or destroys its symmetry and beauty to a greater extent, than 
a mass of vigorous suckers feeding upon and arising from its roots. There are like- 
wise shrubs which require no priming, from which the clearance of suckers is not 
less essential. After pruning, when the borders are dry, roses and other plants can 
be layered. Shoots of moderate strength should be chosen for this purpose, and 
they can be merely a little twisted, so as to crack them slightly in a longitudinal 
direction, or pierced with a small sharp knife, and then twisted at the point from 
whence, when placed in the ground, they will rise perpendicular. The weaker ones 
may be fastened down by laying a stone upon them, and the stronger by hooked 
wooden pegs. 
The protection of tender plants, both in structures devoted to that end and in the 
open ground, is now a principal object of the gardener’s skill. Although fires can 
never be altogether dispensed with, they wdll be rendered far less frequently 
necessary if straw or reed hurdles are placed on the roof of the house during cold 
winds or frosts ; and pits and frames that are not supplied with a heating apparatus 
can be entirely and effectually sheltered by that means. Air should be given to 
every structure, including the dry stove, in clear mild weather, even though 
artificial heat should happen to be applied at the same time. Watering should be 
attended to on the finest days, and always in the morning. 
