490 



JOURNAL OF HOETICDLTOBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ December 2. 1875. 



by an evergreen hedge compared with that afforded by a de- 

 oidnous hedge. We have repeatedly found on the leeward 

 Bide of a Lanrel hedge, and of a Yew hedge, the thermometer 

 Bhowed 10 of higher temperature than on the leeward side of 

 a Blackthorn hedge, and a Hawthorn hedge. A Holly hedge 

 would probably be as good a preventive of cold, but we have 

 not had an opportunity to test it. 



If the evergreen heclgea are curved as at Elvaaton they are 

 more sheltering from winds, and consequently more preserva- 

 tive of temperature, than if in straight lines. Saoh hedges 

 should not be less than 2 feet thick and !i feet high. 



Hedges as mediums of shelter might in exposed districts be 

 more advantageously employed than is the case at present. 

 Many are the gardens, especially those recently made, which 

 are quite destitute of provision against high and cold winds, 

 and also^for this is important — against the overpowering 



effect of the sun in summer. None, except those having the 

 management of gardens entirely exposed, can appreciate how 

 earnest and, too often, how hopeless is the longing for a shaded 

 " north border." A garden without this necessary adjunct, 

 and, of course, its corollary the " warm " south border," is iu- 

 complete, as lacking the invaluable means of accelerating and 

 retarding many important crops. Where walls are not pro- 

 vided (in many places they are inadmissible), a great use may 

 and ought to be made of evergreen hedges. 



Their utility and value is appreciated in nurseries where 

 they are employed to a much greater extent than in private 

 gardens, and we may be assured that this would not be unless 

 they answered important protective purposes against cold on 

 the one hand and heat on the other. This is, perhaps, even 

 more apparent in continental than in EngUsh nurseries. 



There can be no doubt whatever that to judiciously intersect 



Fig. 105. — TOPIAKY WORK AT ELVASTON CASTLE. 



exposed gardens with neatly-kept evergreen hedges would be to 

 increase the usefulness and profit of the ground to a very con- 

 Biderable extent, and at the same time would add to the ap- 

 pearance of such unbroken flats, and render the gardens more 

 diversified and attractive. 



We have frequently been envied the aid of a fine Yew hedge 

 running east and west with its sloping warm border on the 

 south side, and still more so perhaps the cool border on the 

 north. As a space in wliich to plnnge pot plants in summer 

 a shaded border is indispensable, and not in a less degree is it 

 valuable for purposes of propagation. A hedge will afford all 

 that is necessary for shelter and shade, and would also be 

 ornamental where a wall would be totally out of place. 



Frame and forcing grounds should invariably be protected 

 by walls or hedges. The consumption — really waste — of heat- 

 ing material in forcing Seakale and Ehubarb is enormous 

 when the site is exposed ; while on the southern side of a thick 

 hedge the work is easy, and the shelter is almost worth half 

 the manure. 



In connection with this subject may also be mentioned the 

 formation of the ground. In making new garden a great ex- 

 penditure of labour is frequently indulged in in levelling the 

 ground — that is, the ground for the kitchen garden, when the 

 very undulations which are removed at such great expense might 

 by judicious treatment be made of the greatest value. We 



are intimately acquainted with a garden which is simply a 

 series of hills and dales ; and on the ridges, following their 

 conformation, are neat Tew hedges, the borders sloping to the 

 walks and facing almost every point of the compass. In this 

 garden there is no wall, yet the district does not produce 

 earlier and better Peas and Potatoes, and afterwards Oacum- 

 bers and Vegetable Marrows, than come from its sheltered 

 borders ; and on the shady slopes salads and Strawberries are 

 prolonged to a period when they could not be had on perfectly 

 level ground. To dig up the hedges and level the undulations 

 of that garden would be to rob it at the same time of a great 

 measure of its usefulness as well as its attractive features. 



As the results o much experience and observation we are 

 convinced that the usefulness of evergreen hedges as aids to 

 the gardener are not fully appreciated, and there are thousands 

 of bleak gardens that would be greatly improved by such 

 divisional evergreen lines tastefully disposed. But we know 

 what is the great bugbear — their impoverishment of the soil. 

 Yet this is not so formidable as it seems. When once a h'-dpe 

 has attained the desired size regular clippings prevent it 

 making much growth afterwards, and when the top growth is 

 restricted so also is the extension of the roots ; and the sup- 

 port that such a hedge requires is really very little, and it is 

 much more than compensated for by the assistance it affords 

 to the crops in spring, summer, an! winter. 



