150 
MISCELLANEOUS 
[Part II. 
whole of winter, the new growth is solidifying 
and becoming woody. 
I consider it a proof both of the existence and 
of the necessity of this winter circulation and 
elaboration of the sap, that shrubs which are 
headed at the beginning of winter are very liable 
to break out; they then suffer much from the 
frost. Besides this, the hoarded elaborated sap, 
which would be of infinite value for the spring 
outbreak, is wasted on this false start, not to 
mention the annihilation of any winter-buds 
which may have been on the plants below where 
they were cut. When I have cut down syca¬ 
mores in August, of about twenty years’ growth, 
I have known them make this unnatural effort 
to relieve their roots from suffocation; and I 
have observed the leaves on the shoots which 
they have then thrown out green to the middle 
of the succeeding January. Plants which do 
not ripen their wood, and which are annually 
killed in parts by frost, such as fuchsias, ver¬ 
benas, &c., should not be cut till the frost does 
come; they should then be cut immediately . 
This not only gives the last chance for the 
ripening of the roots, but if the plants are cut 
earlier they are very liable to break out, and 
then suffer from frost. 
