158 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
stitute for the boxwood is the box barberry. For informal 
effects the honeysuckles, dogwoods, and weigelias are the 
most satisfactory, possessing desirable foliage and effective 
blooming qualities. 
Since the hedge plants must necessarily be planted closely 
together to secure compactness of form, proper preparation 
of the soil is quite essential. It should be mellow, well en- 
riched with manure and retentive of moisture. In planting, a 
straight trench should be dug in which to set the plants, 
placing them 2-3 inches deeper than they grew in the nur- 
sery. The distance apart in planting varies from 8 inches in 
the case of low-growing plants to 2 feet for the larger and 
more vigorous growers. Two-year-old plants are preferable, 
so as to make a rapid and satisfactory growth during the first 
year. Severe pruning should be practised at the time of 
planting to force low branching, the hedge usually being cut 
back half way or even lower. After planting, a thorough 
watering should be given and a mulch of leaves, manure, or 
other material applied to conserve moisture and induce rapid 
growth. Watering should be continued throughout the first 
season, and even with the best of care, gaps usually develop 
in the hedge. These should be filled without fail at the next 
pais season with larger plants than those originally 
planted. 
During the growing season formal hedges require fre- 
quent trimming to retain their compactness of form and exact- 
ness of outline. They should not be pruned later than Sep- 
tember, otherwise the new growth will not ripen before winter 
and will be subject to frost injury with a subsequent ragged 
appearance next season. Oval shaping is the best from the 
standpoint of plant growth, all parts of the hedge being al- 
lowed to grow upwards in a natural manner. However, the 
preferred style is the flattened top which does fairly well 
with plants that endure much abuse like the privets. The 
informal hedges should be given but little pruning, only the 
very scraggly branches and the old wood being cut out. In 
their case all pruning should be done after flowering in order 
not to destroy the beauty at the blooming periods. 
CHRISTMAS FLORAL DISPLAY 
Visitors to the Garden will weleome the renewal this year 
of the winter flower shows, which were discontinued during 
the war, due to the fuel administrator’s order to conserve 
coal. Although the closing of all the growing houses for the 
