THE AMERICAN ARBOR VITiE. 



23 



THE AMERICAN ARBOR VITiE FOR SCREENS AND HEDGES. 



BY THE FOREMAN AT THE HIGHLAND GARDENS. 



Every one having the care of grounds in 

 the country, is aware of the want of some 

 good, rapid growing, evergreen plant, for 

 screens and for hedges — something to hide 

 unsightly objects, and to serve as a kind of 

 thicket between one part of a place and 

 another. Unfortunately, in this climate, 

 the Hollies, Portugal Laurels, and other 

 beautiful evergreens of Europe, will not 

 succeed. But there is one native ever- 

 green, which stands admirably in their 

 place, making the most perfect screen, and 

 with the least possible care and trouble. 

 The undersigned, therefore, proposes to offer 

 a few remarks on its merits to the readers 

 of the Horticulturist. 



In the first place, he would remark, the 

 ease and success with which it may be 

 transplanted. When grown in loose nur- 

 sery ground, where it can be taken up with- 

 out injuring the roots badly, not one in one 

 hundred, ever fails ; and even in its native 

 localities, when taken up with ordinary 

 care and kept damp, and covered from the 

 sun and drying winds until again planted, 

 the failures are in general very few. 



In the next place, the little care required 

 in its after management, or in other words, 

 the no care at all required — unlike the 

 evergreens of Europe above spoken of, 

 which require such frequent pruning and 

 trimming, to keep them in shape. One of 

 the finest screens the writer ever had the 

 pleasure of seeing, is one of this kind grow- 

 ing here. The plants have never had a 

 shears or knife applied to them for the pur- 

 pose of pruning or trimming, since they 



were first set out: this is now 12 or 15 

 years. The screen is now 16 or 18 feet 

 high, and almost as symmetrical and regu- 

 lar as if clipped annually with a hedge 

 shears. 



Another superior qualification possessed 

 by the native Arbor Vitee, is its freedom 

 from disease, or tendency to decay — in 

 many hedge plants, and even the Red Ce- 

 dar, some of the hardiest branches, and 

 occasionally whole trees, die off without any 

 apparent cause ; neither does it ever suffer 

 from the effects of winter, like the Chinese 

 Arbor Vitae, and many other plants. It is a 

 fact that such a thing as a dead tree or 

 branch is never seen, even in its native lo- 

 calities, unless broken or injured in some 

 unfair manner ; add to this, that insects 

 never attack it, and its longevity is very 

 great. Another character peculiar to the 

 Arbor Vitse is, that in summer, when many 

 evergreens look brownish, compared with 

 the foliage of some of the deciduous trees, 

 its beautiful verdure will not suffer in com- 

 parison with the most lively green of June 

 foliage. 



The foregoing remarks have reference to 

 the American Arbor Vitae as a screen plant. 

 But as a hedge plant, its claims are even 

 greater, one qualification only lacking, that 

 is not being sufficiently impervious, in locali- 

 ties where the quadrupeds, and even bi- 

 peds, are not sufficiently domesticated; 

 even in such localities, depredations from 

 the former m.ay be prevented, by having a 

 low, cheap board fence, or what would be 

 much better, if the beautiful and cheap wire 



