December 17, 1874. ] 



JOUBNAIi OP HOBTIOULTUBB AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



537 



E. Crista-galli ; while I hardly think the one oalled E. lauritolia 

 BtiiSoiently distinct to be entitled to a botanical place, but 

 only to be such a sport aa most seedlings are now and then 

 liable to run into. I may further add, aa supplementing Mr. 

 Giles's remarks on the cultivation of this plant, that it is 

 most easily propagated from seed ; it may also be struck from 

 cuttings, but to endeavour to do so from the old ripened stems, 

 cut into lengths like what is done with Vines, was a puzzling 

 matter to the last generation of gardeners. I content myself 

 with seeds. — J. Eobson. 



EVEBGREEN HEDGES. 



It is sometimes desirable to form a hedge to separate two 

 portions of a garden or kept grounds, or to serve as a screen 

 by which one portion may be completely shut-out of view 

 from the other. For this purpose it is evident that such a 

 hedge or partition should be made with evergreen plants com- 

 pact and neat in habit, and permitting free use of the knife 

 or shears, both for improving the appearance of the hedge 

 and for keeping it within the required limits of height and 

 width. The formation of hedges, directions for planting them, 

 the materials suitable for the purpose, and their after-treat- 

 ment, have been discussed in these pages before, although 

 a long time has since elapsed, but not so exhaustively, if I 

 remember aright, as to include every case that may arise. A 

 revival of the subject, therefore, will not be deemed inoppor- 

 tune or unnecessary, especially as many plants of easy pro- 

 pagation have of late come under notice as being suitable sub- 

 jects for the purpose under discussion, and which by this time 

 have probably been to greater or less extent applied to it. 

 To elicit the experience so far as yet ascertained of those 

 readers of The Journal of Horticulture who will kindly 

 furaish it, of any evergreen, whether coniferous or otherwise, 

 that they have used, or seen used, to form neat and picturesque 

 hedges or partitions in kept grounds, is the object of the 

 present article. 



Evergreen hedges are common enough, but how few and 

 often indifferent are the materials of which they are formed. 

 Excepting the Holly and Yew, which require a long time to 

 form really serviceable and impervious screens, wo rarely meet 

 with evergreen hedges formed with any other plant than the 

 common Laurel, and occasionally the Portugal. The common 

 Arbor-Vitae (Thuja occidentalis), is sometimes used, but by no 

 means so generally as it might and ought to be. Anyone who 

 has seen the magnificent hedges of Arbor- Vitaj, Holly, and 

 Yew at Knap Hill or Piltdown cannot fail to have admired 

 them. 



With the variety of plants suitable for the purpose now pro- 

 curable, and the evident superiority of some of them over the 

 few, excepting the Holly, that have hitherto been employed, 

 it ia quite clear some improvement in this direction may be 

 effected, for the question is not one of boundary fences or of 

 defensive hedges, a purpose for which the Hawthorn with its 

 dense plexus ia still unsurpassed in this country. The chief 

 objections against the common Laurel are — it takes up too 

 much room, its foliage although cheerful is too large and 

 sparse, its leaves are shed at a season when of all times it is 

 most desirable that the garden should be as free from litter as 

 possible. Its rapidity of growth is counterbalanced by equally 

 rapid decay, especially at bottom, causing unsightly gaps, 

 which necessitate a cutting-down of part or the whole plant 

 or hedge to induce new growth from the ground. The Y'ew 

 forms a massive and dense screen of indefinite permanence, 

 admirably suited for nursery purposes, 'but too sombre for the 

 garden unless strongly contrasted with its surroundings. The 

 Arbor- Vitie (Thuja occidentalis), is excellent, but becomes dis- 

 coloured in winter. Undoubtedly the Holly is one of the best 

 of plants for forming a picturesque hedge, and the more bo if 

 budded or grafted the third or fourth year after being planted 

 with the many pretty variegated forms in cultivation. Its 

 slow growth is an obstacle to the case I am now supposing, to 

 form a screen that shall be at once effective, or become so 

 within a short period. 



We must, therefore, turn to the ConiferoB for the material 

 we seek. Thuja gigantea (sometimes known as T. Lobbii), 

 would be superior to T. occidentalis from its verdant appear- 

 ance at all seasons. Capressus Lawsoniana, now one of the 

 commonest, but at the same time one of the most elegant as 

 well as most hardy of Conifers, appears to be well adapted for 

 this purpose. A nurseryman of great experience stated to me 

 that it was too thin ; further evidence is much wanted. Thuja 



plioata ia a compact and erect plant, but less cheerful than 

 T. gigantea. Biota orientalis on soils not too light forms an 

 erect and dense plant. If this has been tried (aud it is worth 

 atrial), it is necessary to know it cutting causes the plant to 

 remain thick at bottom, where it geuerally becomes thin when 

 allowed to grow without check. Juniperus chinensis flourishes 

 on almost any soil and bears close cutting. 



The above-named Conifers are suggested for screens and 

 hedges of any height up to 12 or even 15 feet. If a much 

 lower height is all that is required, as 5 feet, there are several 

 useful and hardy evergreen shrubs that might safely be tried. 

 For light foliage, Buxus balearica and some of the forms of 

 B. sempervirens ; for dark, Phillyrea latifolia and P. buxifolia, 

 Euonymns japonicue (green variety) ; the others cannot be de- 

 pended upon in very severe winters. Intermediate is Vibur- 

 num Tinus and Ligustrum ovalitolium (Oval-leaved Privet), a 

 stronger species than the common Privet and evergreen, which 

 the common kind can hardly be considered. A picturesque 

 hedge could be formed with a judicious intermixture of all 

 these, aud they are all patient of the shears and become dense 

 after being clipped. — A. H. Kent. 



LIFTING AND EOOT-PEUNING FRUIT TREES. 



No. 7. 



We have trees of Peaches, Nectariues, Apricots, and Plums 

 which in three years after planting will have grown, according to 

 the soil and treatment, much and barren, moderately and fruit- 

 ing or promising to bear, and little having small weak growths 

 which promise greatly for fruit, usually ending in mere blossom. 

 There is a poverty which ends in a sheet of bloom but no fruit, 

 and there is growth which promises nothing beyond it. The 

 one is as unprofitable as the other, and the remedy is the same 

 for both, but applied in a different manner. For the stunted 

 subject the proper remedy is to lift with every particle of root, 

 and plant in richer soil, and only moderately firm, the tree 

 being young. It will slowly but surely become invigorated. 

 The vigorous subject will, say if three years planted, require 

 to have a trench taken out 3 feet from the stem all round and 

 as deeply as the roots, cutting off every root at 2 feet 6 inches 

 from the stem, or, if very vigorous and if against a wall, 3 feet ; 

 so for a pyramid or bush, 2 feet for a very vigorous tree, and 

 1 foot 6 inches for a vigorous one. Removing the loose soil 

 down to the roots, lift with the ball as entire as practicable; 

 put in some soil where the roots were and tread or ram hard, 

 raising so that the setting-on of the roots will, when the tree 

 is placed in position, be just level with the surrounding ground. 

 FiU-in with soil, adding a fourth of manure to it, and tread 

 hard. If dry give a good watering, forming the soil into a dish 

 so that the lifted part may receive the water ; and when it has 

 settled in level mulch for 3 feet round with only partially 

 decayed manure, the roots to be covered about 3 inches deep 

 with soil. The best time to lift is when the leaves begin to 

 fall. 



Trees which are vigorous and tending to frnitfuluess are best 

 left alone. To lift them would only be to make them fruit 

 more and grow less, which is hardly desirable until they have 

 covered their allotted space or are as large as desired. 



Trees which are large and unfruitful from, it may be, age 

 induced by poverty of soil or a system of treatment which aims 

 at the restraining of the vigour and inducing of fruitfulness, 

 weak and small parts though numerous are produced, result- 

 ing in crowding masses of bloom being produced, there being 

 twenty or more of bloom to one of wood buds, the branches 

 long and bare of bearing wood — the trees being vigorous in 

 some parts only, aud there mildew appears ; whilst dying 

 branches with an ugly tree aud small fruit — dry and mealy 

 instead of large and juicy — usually show poverty to be the 

 cause of such indifferent results. Many in such a case, and 

 especially a young hand, consider resuscitation hopeless, and 

 so root out the trees, which may cover a space which will 

 require seven years for young trees to gain, aud that time to 

 give as much fruit as the old renovated will iu one year. Many 

 a man has been turned out of a good situation for no other 

 reason than he has shown himself of too enterprising a spirit 

 for the old-fashioned groove in which his employer's ideas 

 have been running. Want of " digging about and dunging " 

 weakly fruit trees, especially Peaches, Nectarines, and some- 

 times Apricots and Plums, which, though twenty or more years 

 planted, are not old, but the cropping and treatment to 

 which they have been subjected make them barren, has led to 

 much of their failure in many places where they formerly 



