CLIPPING. 



QQ CLOTHING THE STEMS OF TREES. 



They require a very rich, soil, con- 

 sisting of one part of sandy loam, 

 two of vegetable mould, and one of 

 rotten manure ; or, where vegetable 

 mould cannot readily be procured, 

 of equal parts of sandy loam and 

 manure ; and they should be con- 

 stantly watered while they are grow- 

 ing. The seed -pod is below the 

 flower, and looks like its footstalk. 

 If the seeds are sown in pots as 

 soon as they are ripe, and kept in 

 shelter all the "winter, they will Ije 

 ready for planting out into beds or 

 boxes, for a verandah or balcony, in 

 March or April, and they will be 

 brilliantly in flower by May ; and if 

 constantly watered, they will con- 

 tinue to produce a succession of 

 blossoms till the plants are des- 

 troyed by frost. 



Clipping or shearing plants was 

 a very common practice in gardens 

 T/ith all shrubs, many trees, and 

 even fruit-bearing bushes, such as 

 the Gooseberry and the Currant, 

 from the earliest times up to the 

 commencement of the last century ; 

 but it is now chiefly confined to 

 hedges and edgings. Evergreen 

 hedges, such as those of Holly, Yew, 

 and Box, are generally clipped about 

 midsummer ; and this is also the 

 season for clipping Box edgings. 

 Deciduous hedges, such as those of 

 the common Thorn, may either be ; 

 clipped immediately after midsura- i 

 mer, or during winter; as during ' 

 the latter season, the sap is in a ' 

 great measure dormant, and the | 

 wounded points of the shoots are the i 

 less liable to be injured by frosts, i 

 In general, both evergreen and de- ! 

 ciduous hedges and edgings may be 

 elipped at any period after the i 

 growth for the season is completed ; i 

 but if cut or clipped before that 

 takes place, the amputated shoots 

 are apt to make a second growth, 

 which thickens too much the sur- 



face of the hedge, and, by excluding 

 the air, causes the -decay of the 

 interior branches. Broad-leaved 

 plants used as hedges, such as the 

 common Laurel, should be cut with 

 the knife by hand ; as, when the 

 large leaves are cut through, the 

 appearance of the hedge afterwards 

 is mutilated and unsightly. Holly 

 hedges are also best cut by hand. 

 Privet, Yew, and Box hedges may 

 also be clipped. Thorn hedges, in 

 the best agricultural districts, are 

 generally cut with a hedge-bill ; and 

 the stroke is always made upwards, 

 in order not to fracture the shoots ; 

 as breaking them, by admitting 

 moisture, causes them to decay at 

 the points, and also stimulates them 

 to produce small shoots which 

 thicken the hedge too much at the 

 surface. There are two kinds of 

 shears for cutting hedges : the com- 

 mon kind, in which the two blades 

 work on a fixed pivot, and make a 

 crushing cut which bruises the 

 shoot ; and the pruning-shears, in 

 which the pivot is fixed into one 

 blade, and the other moves over it 

 in a groove, in consequence of which 

 a draw-cut is produced in the same 

 manner as if the hedge had been cut 

 by hand with a knife. All hedges, 

 and especially all garden hedges, 

 should be cut with this kind of 

 shears. 



Clothing the Stems of Trees 

 is a practice resorted to with half- 

 hardy species, such as some kinds of 

 Magnolia, for the purpose of pxe- 

 serving vitality in the lower part of 

 the stem, and the collar or neck of 

 the tree, by excluding the cold, and 

 thi'owing off the rain ; because it is 

 found that the seat of life in all 

 plants is chiefly in the collar, and 

 consequently that a tree may have 

 all its branches killed, and all its 

 roots, excepting a part of the trunk 

 next the collar, and a part of the 



