ae MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
Sunday in December was unusually mild; the sun was bright 
and people paraded without overcoats as on the finest spring 
day. However, six days later the thermometer had dropped 
from over 70 degrees in the sun to 11 degrees below zero, a 
fall in temperature of 81 degrees in a few days. To make 
matters worse, the earth was not protected by a blanket of 
snow and the cold was ushered in with a high wind. It is 
the combination of severe cold, high wind, no protection, and 
a bright sun that does so much damage. Naturally, only the 
very hardy plants can survive such extremes. As the Cali- 
fornia privet cannot be classed as absolutely hardy it must 
suffer occasionally, but for this particular plant the freezing, 
in some eases, is beneficial. 
By constant shearing privet hedges are frequently kept at 
the same height every year. Very few new shoots can come 
up from the base due to the lack of light caused by the exist- 
ing growth, and weak and stubby plants are the result. Some 
hedges should be severely cut back occasionally to encourage 
new growth, but this treatment is seldom practised. As 
most of the privet has been frozen this year it is necessary 
that it be cut down to the ground as shown in plate 4. If no 
large pruning shears are available the plants can be sawed off, 
but hand shears should not be used as the thick wood will 
seriously damage the blades. In some protected places hedges 
might have survived the cold or, as occasionally happens, some 
plants in a hedge will have been frozen and others not. In the 
latter case one is tempted to allow the hedge to stand in the 
hope that all the plants will come back to life, but such a 
practice results in an uneven hedge and it is better to cut all 
the plants entirely back. Fortunately for the California 
privet the roots are seldom frozen and even though the hedge 
is cut to the ground it is a rapidly growing plant and a uni- 
form stand always results. 
How to know when a plant is frozen is a question fre- 
quently asked. Frozen branches turn brown and black and 
are shriveled. These conditions are not so evident on thin 
wood, but if the stem is alive the wood is green beneath the 
surface, while frozen or dead wood is brown through and 
through. 
There are other privets useful for hedges that are more 
