CHAPTER IX
 

                    Pruning Trees and Shrubs.



The art  of  pruning as applied  to ornamental  trees and shrubs may be

said to serve one or more  of the following purposes:—To  improve or

alter the  shape and appearance of the plant;  to increase the quantity and

improve the quality of the blossom; to bring about an improvement in

health.   Of all the arts that go to make up horticulture, pruning is the

one most  frequently misapplied.    Its proper practice  necessitates  an

intimate  acquaintance with the habit  and nature of the  subject operated

on.  For instance, a collection of flowering shrubs, in so far as they need

pruning at all, cannot be  pruned properly unless the workman knows the

time  of  flowering  of each one.  Again,  the  aim  in  pruning a large-

growing tree is to make it as perfect a  specimen of its  kind  as possible:

contrary to the ideas of many, it  is  not  intended to  bring it to some

arbitrary, more  or less formal,  outline.  Therefore a knowledge of its

size and habit is essential.  Unless the operator possesses such knowledge

the plants  are best left alone,  for bad pruning and pruning without a

definite aim is worse than none.

    Pruning for Shape.—Pruning for the purpose  of regulating the

shape and size of a tree or shrub is  usually practised in  order to maintain

it in  some  conventional form,  such as is  seen in topiary work,  clipped

hedges, rounded or pyramidal  bushes,  etc.  This kind of pruning is  of

the simplest, being, as a rule, a  mere process of clipping.  Such matters

as  time  of  flowering and habit are of no moment.   The chief question is,

when is the best time to prune ?

    Fully grown  hedges or bushes  of yew, holly, and box are usually

clipped  in July  or August.   During these  months work in the garden is

often  less pressing than at other times, and they are as suitable as any

other.  The plants, moreover, retain  their neat appearance throughout the

autumn, winter,  and spring months.  With young  hedges more careful

procedure is necessary.  The clipping should be done earlier, say  in June,

and  a second shortening back of  the stronger  growths take place  in

 September.  This more frequent pruning is necessary to give  a thick base