68 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



generally, has been used as a hedge; but when constantly cut 

 in it never bears, so that when used as a hedge it is inferior 

 to most others ; while, most likely, the object with which 

 they were first planted as a hedge was the bearing, which the 

 clipping prevents. We need not go to the cactus or agave 

 hedges of South America, our object being more immediately 

 at home. 



Management of Hedges. — "Whatever may be the material 

 of which the hedge is composed, regard must always be had 

 to its branching near the ground. It is not necessary to have 

 a ditch for the success of a hedge ; but hedges are adopted as 

 appropriate finishes. Nothing can look more desolate than a 

 single ditch and bank ; therefore it is natural that there 

 should be something ; but, as the ditch is only useful when it 

 acts as a drain, it does not follow that there shall be either 

 bank or ditch made. Where these are unnecessary, the only 

 things requisite for the welfare of the hedge are, that the 

 plants shall be young, the roots good, the ground prepared by 

 good manuring and trenching, good watering, following good 

 planting, and the whole protected against the least disturbance 

 by animals of any kind. The cutting back may be good for 

 privet, hornbeam, thorn or quickset, sweetbrier, and such like ; 

 and four inches above-ground enough for either of them ; but 

 the yew and the holly must not be cut back, nor must they be 

 touched with the knife, except to cut off all the bruised ends 

 of the roots and the broken pieces. They must not be touched 

 till they have grown larger than you want them ; and then 

 they must only be cut within the bounds that they are in- 

 tended to be gro^m. If the hedge is to be a foot and a half 

 thick at the bottom, do not take off a leaf within that thick- 

 ness ; wait patiently until the growth exceeds those bounds, 

 and then cut them merely to the right place. By the same 

 rule, if you want the hedge to be four feet high, do not touch 

 a leaf that has not passed that boundary ; because you want 

 every leaf till that space is filled, and should touch none but 

 those which exceed these limits. In the best gardens horn- 

 beam, yew, holly, and other hedges, enclosing three sides 

 perhaps, and sometimes nearly the fourth, of a square, afford 

 shelter for the greenhouse plants and heaths turned out of the 

 houses j keeping off the violent heat of the sun, yet not de- 

 priving them of air ; and, at the same time, shielding them 

 from the Tnnds. These hedges are found to be of the greatest 



