THERE is, perhaps, no subject in horticulture so little understood by amateurs as pruning. The gardener, when he prunes trees and shrubs, does it for the purpose of regulating the crop of fruit or flowers. Besides forming the shape of the subject he operates upon, he has learned to form a limb or branch where they are wanted ; also to check the growth so that it will conform to whatever space it may be convenient to confine it. This the amateur may easily learn, if he will but try. Of course he will have to make himself perfectly familiar with the different varieties of shrubs, and their seasons of flowering and habits of growth. All shrubs do not grow alike, as, for instance, the Azaleas, Daphnes, Rhododendron and Poeony, Moutan or Shrubby Poeony; these are slow growing shrubs, and seldom require any pruning, just sufficient to keep them in shape. If a person, ignorant of the characteristics of these plants, should undertake to prune them the same as we prune Altheas, why the natural consequence would be total loss of bloom. There are different opinions as to the proper time for pruning. It has been settled as a fixed fact that early in February or March is the best time; but facts are not always correct, although they are said to be stubborn things.

Some varieties do not flower until late in the season, such as the Rose of Sharon and some of the Spireas. These may be pruned any time early in spring, as they produce their flowers on wood of the same season's growth, while the Spirea Prunifolia produces its beautiful wreaths of delicate white flowers on slender shoots of the last season's growth. If these shoots are pruned at the usual season, when all other pruning is done, the crop of flowers is diminished in proportion to the amount of wood taken away. This applies to most of the shrubs which bloom early, and particularly to the Syringa Persica, or Persian Lilacs; these produce their flowers on the extreme ends of the wood of the last year's growth. If these are cut off, the flowers are lost for that season. Our practice has been, of late years, to let all the early blooming shrubs flower, and immediately after to prune them ; by adopting this course we have a full crop of flowers, and there is plenty of time to make flowering wood the balance of the season. Some varieties of shrubs are very straggling in their habits of growth, as the Forsythia, Gydonia, Japonioa and Philadelphus Inodorus - these require very close pruning to keep them in proper shape.

The double flowering Almond is another of the shrubs that ought never to be pruned until it is done blooming. Pruning for modifying the form of the shrub embraces the management of the plant from the first year of its growth. If it is attended to at this period, it is a very simple matter to have beautifully shaped plants. For small grounds, shrubs are more suitable than trees, on account of the beauty of their different colored flowers and the ease with which they may be kept within bounds. As an article for hedges, to divide different portions of the garden, we would recommend the Cydonia Japonica, Wigelia and Spirea Reevesii. Deutzia Scabra grows quite high, and makes a capital hedge. They are easily kept in shape by the judicious use of the pruning shears. THomas CavanaGh.