THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
395 
September 23. 
roots and branches, science tells us to cut away tlic 
i latter in proportion as the roots are injured, so that 
next season the fewer buds that remain may break as 
| strongly and healthily as they would have done had the 
tree not been removed at all. Then, if you cut one-half of 
a quick hedge at the end of September, and put off cut¬ 
ting the remainder of the hedge to next March, although 
every plant in the hedge may now be of equal strength, 
you will find, next June, that the young shoots of one- 
half of this hedge are nearly twice as strong as those on 
. the other half; the parts cut in September throwing up 
tho strongest growth. Mr. Errington tells us, that vines 
pruned as soon as the leaves fade in the autumn show 
the same result if compared with others not pruned till 
March. Indeed, all this is so well known and appre¬ 
ciated by our best gardeners, that when they want to 
reduce the pride or strength of a healthy young tree, or 
bush, they defer the pruning of it until it is almost in 
leaf in the spring ; and on the other hand, to strengthen 
the growth of a woody plant, they prune it the moment 
the leaves have done digesting in the autumn; there¬ 
fore, if it is found necessary to prune a plant early in the 
autumn, in order to increase its vigour next season, when 
loft without being disturbed, how much more so if it is 
to he crippled through the operation of planting; hence 
arises the necessity of pruning such plants as arc to be 
soon removed, before others of the same kind that are to 
be left as they arc. The reason why plants, thus early 
pruned in the autumn, resist tho accidents which may 
happen in the operation of transplanting, is thus ex¬ 
plained and easily accounted for. The earth being so 
much warmer in the autumn than the air, the roots 
collect nourishing food for some time after the fading 
and fall of the leaf, and when one-half or two-thirds, and 
sometimes much more of the shoots are cut off in 
pruning, the remaining portion receive a double or 
triple portion of this nourishment, tho buds swell up 
and get prominent before tho winter sets in, and at the 
next opening, or growth, they spring forth with redoubled 
vigour. 
Now, to say that the first fortnight in November is 
the very best time in the year to transplant roses, and 
most other deciduous things, would not be far from the 
truth ; but to assert that the same time is the best for 
filling up buds in order to get them strong enough after 
transplanting a rose, or to say that a fortnight, at that 
late season, is sufficient for making the best of the buds 
for the next start, is to fly in the face of “ the present 
state of gardening science ; ” no matter who propounds 
it. It is only through sheer necessity that science or 
practice would allow of a rose tree, that was only budded 
last July, to be transplanted next November ; but neces¬ 
sity has no laws, and such roses are removed every year, 
and our correspondent's plan of “ cutting away close to 
the stem all unbudded shoots, and shortening those on 
which the bud has taken to about half their length,” or, 
rather to within six inches of the inserted bud, 
is eminently in accordance with the present state of 
gardening science. If he would take advice, and do 
this pruning one month sooner than a certain book 
tells him to do, his success will be more complete. It is 
not safe to cut roses before the end of September, because 
the lower buds might grow out afterwards with a 
mild October, and if they did, the whole experiment 
would be deranged; but there are a great number oi 
plants that would feel the benefit of being pruned as 
| early as the 1st of September,—the Camellia, for in- 
j stance. Suppose we have a Camellia that has been 
languishing these three or four years past, and is now 
crowned with flower-buds on the top of every little 
| shoot; the ancient state of gardening science would 
j advise the thinning of these buds to relieve the plant— 
: so far, so good ; but the modern state of this science goes 
a step farther, being made bold by the example of prac¬ 
tice, and advises the removal, by pruning, of two-thirds 1 
of tho length of one-half of the shoots of such a Camellia; j 
that half should be the weakest shoots; before next April 
or May, when the stronger shoots would be pruned after ; 
flowering, the buds on the September-cut shoots would | 
be so much swollen and stronger than they otherwise i 
would be, that the autumn-pruning not only would give 
a general impulse to tho health and strength of the plant, I 
but the growth from the weak shoots would bo as strong, I 
if not stronger, than that from the more healthy ones 
that were not cut until tho buds were on the point of 
opening. It is thesamo thing with pot Rhododendrons, 
under similar circumstances, and with Azaleas of all 
grades. 
Speaking of Rhododendrons, reminds me of the second 
way I said that they could be made standards of. Tho 
first way, epitomised, is this :—cut down a bush late in 
April, or early in May, and select the strongest shoot 
from the stool for your standard, and follow it up to tho 
height you want. The second way is, perhaps, the best 
in the loug run, but takes a long time to turn out a fail- 
saleable plant. It begins in the seed-bed, or rather in 
the first bed where the seedlings are transplanted; or, 
let us say, that a fine batch of some favourite seedlings, 
either from crossed or no-crossed flowers, are ready, and 
are transplanted from the seed-pans, in some sheltered 
corner, at the end of April. On their first grow-th that 
summer, it is easily seen that some of them are of 
stronger constitution than tho rest, and now is the time 
to fix on the strongest of them for the future standards, 
unless they are very thickly planted. Seedling Rhodo¬ 
dendrons, at this stage, throw up a leading central shoot, 
and a tier of side-shoots to the bargain, and the first 
move is to go over the beds, and to rub off the side- 
shoots as fast as they appear; this encourages the 
leader to grow still stronger. All that season, and for tho 
next three or four years, tho same process must be 
repeated, or until the one centre shoot is up standard 
high, when the central bud on it must bo rubbed oft, 
and the next tier or tw r o of buds will be allowed to 
branch out to form the ground work of the head. When 
I first heard of standard Rhododendrons, I went to work 
on a bed of seedlings exactly as here described, and I 
found the plan to answer perfectly. But there is 
another, and an easier plan, which I suppose must be 
the one more generally adopted in large nurseries, but 
it is not quite so good; it is to let those stronger seed¬ 
lings have their own way all through each summer, and 
in tho winter to look over them, and cut away all side- 
shoots. Thus men’s time is saved from watching their 
progress through the growing season; but then time 
must be lost, at least one season out of the three or 
four necessary to complete the full standard of many ot 
the shoots, as the allowing side-shoots must binder the 
progress of the leader more or less every season. 
Besides, a side-shoot cannot well be cut off at the winter- 
pruning, without either leaving a portion of it next the 
main stem, or displacing a leaf or two, if it is cut quite 
close, and either of these we call unworkman like. . The 
little stumps must be cut some time or other, leaving a 
scar or wound to heal over at the expense of the leader ; 
or, if leaves are removed at anv time, until they are 
ripe; for if left to fall off of themselves the same effect 
is visible on the slower progress of the standard. 
Besides these, there is a third, but a rough-ready modo 
of getting a standard now and then with much less trouble. 
A bed of Rhododendrons is planted thickly, and, as too 
often happens, the plants are allowed to crowd on each 
other until the whole mass is a confused heap of ever¬ 
greens, which can only flower on the top; the side- 
branches, which give the grace and charms of a fine 
Rhododendron-bush, are so smothered, that they get 
quite bare of leaves at last; at this stage, it will be 
seen, that those plauts with a stronger constitution than 
