HOUSE AND GARDEN 
October, 1911 
229 
contemplate, 
when growth 
A typical example of an old lilac 
branches and top sapped by a 
suckers at the roots 
with 
large 
to take the place of that lost. Water sprouts are the shrub’s 
efforts to produce this wood in a hurry, to get back the equilibrium 
between roots and top of which it has been robbed. 
Half of the delight of an old place is in its huge old bushes; the 
sacrifice of these great tops is therefore the last thing in the 
world one wishes to 
yet 
has 
stopped in them and 
begun anew at the 
base of the shrub, 
it looks very much 
as if trying to save 
them were a hope¬ 
less task. Fortu- 
n a t ely, however, 
cutting back vig¬ 
orous growth will 
u s ually stimulate 
growth in less vig¬ 
orous parts, pro¬ 
vided that the new 
shoots which will 
surely make their 
appearance after 
such cutting back, 
are nipped in the 
bud as soon as that 
bud appears low on 
the old trunks or 
main branches. 
This does not 
mean th a t new 
leaves and the little 
shoots which start 
out along the branches in an orderly manner, are to be 
destroyed; these are the desirable responses to pruning. 
The sprouts which are not wanted are those which rise 
from the crown of the plant, or very low on its branches. 
A season or two of constant watchfulness against these 
is required—indeed, vigilance always is necessary, even 
with young shrubs, to keep this sort of growth from 
•sapping the vitality of the specimen. 
With an old shrub that is overcrowded, first take out 
•every water sprout—every branch or young shoot that 
rises at or near the base of any of the shrub’s old 
branches. Cut these off close up to the branch whence 
they rise, making the cut which severs them parallel 
with that branch and so close that it leaves absolutely no 
stub. After the young suckers are removed, take out 
any old branches that are crowding, or that are over 
•long, and thereby out of proportion to the rest of the 
shrub, or that seem particularly weak and unpromising. 
These should also be cut out at the point whence they 
rise; usually this will be at the ground. Those which 
■crowd the center of the bush especially should be sacri¬ 
ficed. Some can always be spared, and it will not be ap¬ 
parent that they are gone on an old bush, for the center 
must be opened up to the sun so that light may stimu¬ 
late an even growth throughout the entire crown. 
After this is done cut back a few inches the tips of 
•those branches which are left. Then wait, as far as 
pruning goes, until you see what a season brings forth. 
'Some shrubs respond differently than others; each is a problem 
m itself, and after all, their renovation is only a preparation for 
Nature, as far as we are concerned. We cannot do very much of 
nt ourselves, and what we do we must do without presumption 
and in moderation/waiting to see how she is affected by our help. 
Apply a fertilizer which will encourage the growth of branch 
and wood and flower, a fertilizer rich in phosphoric acid. Coarse 
ground bone furnishes the best and most directly available form; 
four pounds of this mixed with one pound of muriate of potash 
will give a quantity sufficient to use under four shrubs 
each having a spread of eight feet. Spade this into the 
soil over the entire root area; this is equal to the spread 
of the branches. Add a thick mulch of manure over the 
plant’s roots when frost has come, but not before. 
Spade this in when the spring comes. 
When the first spading is done, let it leave a saucer¬ 
shaped depression around the shrub. This will hold the 
water and encourage the leaching down of the fertilizer 
direct to the roots which are to be fed, instead of allow¬ 
ing any of it to go to waste. 
During the early summer following this first pruning 
and fertilizing—about the middle of the next June—go 
over the bush again with the pruning shears, if it needs 
it. It does need it if it shows a disposition to put forth 
new leaves and shoots only at the tips of its branches; 
otherwise it does not. Every branch that has not clothed 
itself fairly well with new shoots must be headed in to 
a point below the first leaf or first shoot that it does 
show, to induce branching still further down. For the 
tendency is always to grow at the extremities, and the 
only way to overcome the long-leggedness resulting 
from such a tendency is to reduce the extremities, to 
cut away the branch itself far enough down to force its 
growth out at the desired point. Fertilizing and culti¬ 
vating and general pruning may quicken a shrub to such 
its scraggly 
growth of 
a degree that very severe cutting back may not be nec¬ 
essary—that is what we hope and why we wait a season, 
but if a season’s 
growth does not 
show that they 
have done so, it is 
useless to wait any 
longer. Rub off all 
very low-growing 
sprouts perpetually 
and pro m p 11 y , 
watching out for 
them in the spring 
following the first 
work especially. 
It is a practically 
universal rule that 
weak plants are 
benefitted by se¬ 
vere pruning, while 
strong plants are 
better for less. The 
reason lies in the 
necessity for re¬ 
storing equilibrium 
between root and 
top which the plant 
is under. Normal¬ 
ly this equilibrium 
is perfect, and a 
shrub or tree has 
just enough roots 
to supply its top with the nourishment and the moisture which 
that top requires, and just enough top to make use of the nourish¬ 
ment and to transpire the moisture which its roots supply. When, 
(Continued on page 257) 
Trim off all lower growth which prevents nourishment 
from reaching the top; keep the soil free from growth 
about the roots 
