• • • GARDENING. 



Oct, /, 



headed tree, much as the English oak 

 does. It is famous for its large, massy 

 foliage; and should it be that the dwarf 

 forms met with would reproduce them- 

 selves from seed, specimens of these hand- 

 some leaved oaks, in bush size, though 

 tree shape, as they would be, would be 

 most ornamental on a lawn. The two 

 others mentioned, ilici folia and prinoides, 

 have quite small leaves, not like the nigra 

 at all. 



In southern Europe these dwarf oaks, 

 especially ilicifolia, are much used for 

 game covers. The acorns are sown in 

 beds and the seedlings transplanted when 



the advent of the Japanese privet, as the 

 beauty of a hedge of this plant and the 

 ease with which it is managed, as well as 

 its adaptability to so many positions, 

 make it a universal favorite. In fact it is 

 not as a hedge plant, in the old-time 

 meaning of the word, that it is so much 

 used. Hedges were, and are yet, to keep 

 out intruders. This privet is used as 

 much to form an ornamental dividing 

 line or a screen as for a hedge. Indeed, 

 as it lacks thorns, it would be useless for 

 hedging where a determined person was 

 bent on getting through it. 



It is, no doubt, because of its great use 



SCENE ON HEMLOCK HILL. ARNOLD ARBORETUM, BOSTON. 



two years old. Low thickets are thus 

 formed which serve the purpose intended 

 admirably. Ilicifolia is used more than 

 the other, but this is partly because 

 prinoides belongs to a section the acorns 

 of which will not keep fresh very long 

 after falling, requiring to be placed in 

 earth within a few weeks after dropping 

 from the tree. Ilicifolia and nigra on the 

 other hand, may be placed in a cool, 

 moist cellar and will be perfectly good for 

 sowing in the spring. 

 Philadelphia. Joseph Meehan. 



PRUNING HEDGES. 



Frequent inquiries from friends and cor- 

 respondents as to how hedges should be 

 trimmed seem to call for some general 

 remarks on the subject. Hedges are far 

 more popular now than they were before 



that so many inquiries concerning it are 

 received. As what applies to this plant 

 does also to most all other deciduous 

 ones, I will speak of the proper treatment 

 of this particular one at this time. 



Should the plants have been set last fall 

 or spring they should have been cut down 

 to within two to three inches of the 

 ground in the spring. This is that many 

 shoots may take the place of one, to form 

 a bushy base. Then the shoots which 

 would have sprung up should have been 

 cut off when about six inches in length 

 again to make bushiness. This is all the 

 work required for the first season. Some 

 time before the following spring the top 

 should be cut back to very near the point 

 at which they were last cut, the whole 

 effort being to get the base bushy. 



After the new growth has progressed 

 that the shoots are six inches or so in 



length, the shears will be required, and 

 this time the shaping of the plants should 

 be commenced. Cut the ends of the side 

 shoots in such a way that the lower ones 

 extend the farthest. Flat sided hedges 

 succeed fairly well but those flourish the 

 best that are much narrower at the top 

 than at the base. The top shoots may 

 also be shortened a little. The shape 

 having been given the remaining work for 

 the season is to keep a neat looking hedge 

 by repeated prunings. There is no set 

 time for it. The oftener it is done, the 

 thicker the hedge. 



Farmers are content to prune their 

 Osage orange and honey locust hedges 

 twice a year. They think it does not pay 

 them to consider neatness, and so a trim- 

 ming in June and another in September 

 suffices. In this section the close of 

 August usually sees the last pruning ot 

 the season given to this and other decid- 

 uous hedges. A slight growth succeeds, 

 just enongh to take off the stiffness a 

 freshly pruned hedge presents. While 

 many shrubs and other plants used for 

 hedges and division lines will bear con- 

 siderable cutting back, to thicken them, 

 none will bear it so well as the privet, 

 and the habit of the plant must be stud- 

 ied before the application of the knife. 



The principles of pruning are very much 

 the same for evergreens as for deciduous 

 shrubs, excepting that they will not bear 

 the close cutting back recommended for 

 the others. An evergreen cut back be- 

 yond its leaves is very reluctant to break 

 afresh. On the other hand, their habit is 

 towards bushiness, and a little pruning 

 of the ends about twice during the season 

 is sufficient. The American arbor-vitae, 

 hemlock and Norway spruce are the three 

 mostly used for hedging, partly because 

 of their cheapness as well as their utility. 

 When the hedge is of about full growth 

 and as b shy as desired many are satis- 

 fied with but one pruning a year, and this 

 about the time growth in length is nearly 

 completed, in July. 



But evergreen hedges, to look well, 

 should receive two cuttings, one towards 

 the time of completion of growth, the 

 other in late summer; to cut away late, 

 straggling growths, which are often 

 made, and to give a neat even surface to 

 the hedge. Any time in late summer does 

 for the last one, excepting that it must 

 not be later than two months before 

 freezing weather setsin. Pruningexposes 

 inner growth, and this wants hardening 

 up before winter comes. 



Philadelphia. Joseph Meehan. 



HYPERICUMS. ST. JOHNS WORT. 



The various species of bypericutn are 

 very useful, for they do much to brighten 

 the appearance of a shrubbery- in midsum- 

 mer, a period in which but few'shrubs are 

 in bloom. Some are of almost creeping 

 habit, such as the calycinum; others, as 

 Kalmianum, are perfect shrubs. 



Kalmianum is one of the best of the 

 shrub growing kinds. All the species 

 have yellow flowers. Kalmianum has 

 them of fair size, and with the deep yellow 

 petals is a bunch of fuzzy stamens of the 

 same color, or nearly so, adding to the 

 mass of color. This species, though of 

 shrub-like growth, makes but a small 

 sized shrub, two to three feet in height. 



Another one, native, like the last, is 

 prolificum. This is of more slender 

 growth than the preceding, yet the 

 bunches are strong and stiff, and there 

 are so many of them that a bushy look- 

 ing shrub results. The flowers are not as 

 large as those of Kalmianum, but there 

 are many more of them, and it is alto- 



