December 19.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
175 
pot. Whilst practitioners are driven to capricious fer¬ 
menting materials as a source of bottom heat, an excess 
of heat will sometimes become necessary inside the bed, J 
in order to provide somewhat against sudden declines. 
Let, then, the operator secure the bottom heat as per 
table at the bottom of the pot, and all will be right. 
If the heat rises above the desired point, let water be 
instantly employed as a cooler between the pots ; and if 
this does not immediately check it sufficiently, let the 
pots forthwith be rocked to and fro in the bed, until a 
fair cavity is obtained between the tan and the pot side; 
and when the heat has declined to the desired pitch the 
cavity may be filled up again. 
And now, all things being in working order, let atmo¬ 
spheric moisture be liberally employed, especially from 
three o’clock in the afternoon until eight or nine the 
next morning. A slight syringing may be applied on 
every afternoon about closing time, taking care that at 
this time of the year it is dispersed on the following 
morning by a liberal heat and a free ventilation. Air 
must be given daily, if only for an hour; during all 
moderate weather a little may he given at 8 a.m. ; 
increased, if necessary, about 11 a.m.; and taken en¬ 
tirely away about 3 p.m. 
March. —We have been rather prolix in our February 
advice, inasmuch as our new beginner would want, like 
a new workman, a stock of tools to commence with. 
This, however, will save repetition; for the same prin¬ 
ciples will have to be put in requisition through the 
whole culture—receiving merely an increased or dimi¬ 
nished application, according to the amount .of light 
which, as before observed, rules the whole of the pro¬ 
ceedings at all seasons. 
The sun will now be gaining much power, and 
the amount of perspiration from the foliage will be 
much increased; let, therefore, a corresponding increase 
take place in the amount of atmospheric moisture. 
Shading may be employed for a couple of hours or so 
in the middle of very sunny days with some benefit; for 
we would not have the perspiratory powers of the plants 
taxed too heavily until they have a pot full of roots, 
which they vvill not possess until May. Syringing the 
surface of the tan is an excellent thing; but this and 
some other practices we will treat of when summing up 
in the sequel. If the wind is very cutting, be very 
cautious in the admission of air; the front sashes may 
be kept closed, and, if sunny, the shade applied, merely 
letting a little of the surplus heat escape at back. 
R. Ekrington. 
(To be continued.) 
THE FLO WE R-G AUDEN. 
Pruning. —Out of the many proofs—revealed to us 
through our correspondents—of the interest we have 
created about gardening, the anxious inquiries about 
the proper way to prune the different hardy trees, 
shrubs, and climbers are the most remarkable. Almost 
every post brings under our notice questions in relation 
to this part of practical gardening; and as winter pruning 
should now be done out of hand, if only to get places a 
little tidy, and swept up after all the leaves are down, 
I have postponed, for this time, my intention of furnish¬ 
ing, weekly, a few selected names of trees and bushes 
that would show the different methods of pruning, as 
well as be of interest to new beginners who want to 
plant, but hardly know what sorts to look out for in the 
nurseries; and I shall lump together a good many of 
the more established sorts to-day, and say how they 
ought to be pruned to make the best of them. Many 
kinds may not occur to me as I go along, and, in such 
case, I wish to invite all young beginners to send for advice 
about such as they do not rightly understand the prun¬ 
ing of, just as if I had not written this letter. Our 
weekly instructions—in every department—I dare say, 
often come within arm's length of the very tiling many 
of our readers want to know, and yet not be up to the 
full mark; but when we really know or understand 
what is most needed, we have no difficulty of coming to ! 
the point at once—as far as the subject is known in our 
day. Fortunately for me, nothing in the way of garden¬ 
ing is better understood by all of us than pruning, and 
yet few things in our line are more often mismanaged 
by the thoughtless. Tell a second-rate gardener how a 
new plant lias flowered or produced its seeds, and it does 
not matter a straw whether he had ever seen the plant 
or not, he can give a very near guess how it ought to be 
pruned, either in winter or in summer; but summer 
pruning with all those who understand the principle of 
pruning, is by far the best; and when performed with 
judgment, it leaves very little to do in winter for two- 
thirds of all flower-garden plants. 
Almost every body knows that a grape vine flowers on 
young wood made the same season, or, as gardeners say, 
on the current year’s wood, so that every young shoot on 
a vine, the growth of this season, might now be all cut 
out, except one eye or bud at the bottom, and yet the 
vine be as full of wood and flowers next June as it was 
this season. Of course, I only mean this to explain wliat 
follows. Now, if a vine was only half way up the wall it 1 
had to cover, it would be a very foolish thing indeed to ; 
cut back all the young shoots to one eye. The top ! 
shoots ought to be left to a certain length every pruning 
time, until the wall was covered. And here comes the 
first puzzle—“ a certain length.” What is “ a certain ! 
length”—a foot, a yard, or what? This is just such 
another case as planting a flower-bed on paper. Some 
would do the thing with a few strokes of the pen, and 
others could tell you the very bud at which you ought to 
cut—that is on paper; but if truth must come out, which, 
though the best, is not always the most palatable thing 
in the world, there is not a man living, nor a woman 
either, who coidd tell the length of “ a certain length ” in 
pruning. The very best gardener in this country, after 
pruning one half of a large vine, could not tell to a foot, 
perhaps, at what lengths he ought to prune the other 
half—if one was to take him gently by the botton-hole 
and turn his face from the tree, and then ask him the 
question as to the lengths. A scientific pinner at his 
work may be likened to a good grammarian reading a 
book : he can give you the school rule for every sentence, 
and he can see, too, how easy it is to violate all the rules 
of the grammarians in one page, and yet be understood, 
and pleased, as well as instructed, with the subject. 
Just so with the said pruner ;—he, too, can give his rules 
for every cut he makes, and also see the rules of pruning 
set at defiance by another, who may still obtain the i 
crop he wants; but here the comparison drops: he of j 
the book may write bad grammar to the end of the 
chapter; the bad pruner can only escape a season or 
two. 
We have established a law amongst ourselves, which 
holds good in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, 
namely:—Suppose a vine, or a Qlycine sinensis, or a 
honeysuckle, or a Clematis, or a passion-flower, or a jas¬ 
mine —for all of them flower on the current growth—has 
made a top or side shoot eighteen feet long, and that the j 
space intended for it to cover is not filled, cut away two- 
thirds of the growth, that is, dividing eighteen feet into 
three parts, each part would be six feet; then twelve out 
of the eighteen feet is to be cut away, and one-third is to 
be left. This rule is the same, whatever the length 
may be: eighteen inches, cut off a foot; a foot, cut 
away eight inches. All this cutting refers only to the 
end shoots; the little side shoots from the older branches 
must be cut very differently; and in those plants I named, 
and all others which bloom on the current year’s wood, 
