210 
THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
vacant spaces during the summer, to give the beds a neat 
appearance. If more young shoots are made than are likely 
to be wanted to cover the surface of the bed at a distance 
of nine inches apart, cut away the weakest at once, but 
do not peg down the young shoots until obliged to do 
so. If done before the end of August, the lower buds 
will most probably start into growth. 
There must be a 
fresh supply of young 
wood every year, and 
the old wood cut away 
to make room for it. 
A greater quantity and 
finer blooms are obtained 
from young wood than 
from old. 
Early in December 
cut away the old wood, 
and take away the 
pegs from the young 
growth, which has been 
pegged down so as to 
allow it to rise up a 
little from the ground. 
If kept closely pegged 
to the surface, the shoots 
are in mild winters in¬ 
fluenced by the warmth 
of the earth, and start 
into growth early, and 
the risk is incurred of 
injury by spring frost. 
After the pruning is 
completed, cover the 
surface of the bed with 
two or three inches of fat manure, and let it remain. 
Early in March cut back all the shoots according to their 
strength, the strongest to two feet and the weakest to twelve 
or eighteen inches. This is quite long enough for plants that 
are not more than two feet apart each way. The manure 
which was put on in the winter, should then be forked in and 
the beds well trodden as advised above. 
