PARK ADMINISTRATION 



variations of colour that the intricately modelled surface displays. 

 Contrast the monotone of a hedge or closely trimmed shrub with almost 

 any free growing plant. Branches represent merely the framework 

 or structure upon which colour harmonies of foliage are displayed, 

 and Nature seems to be satisfied with her second best in foliage colour- 

 ing when the branch growth is held to rigid planes. 



4. Loss of motion. There is always something dull and dutiful 

 about trimmed deciduous plants. As a part of a formal, regular garden 

 design, sheared specimens undoubtedly have a place, contributing as 

 line or accent to the synthetic composition. Used in the open, however, 

 as a part of natural scenery, mingling with the very atmosphere and 

 thrilling to the touch of every passing breeze, there is a grace and 

 freedom to living trees and shrubs and flowers that trimming seems 

 to curtail. Swaying branches with trembling leaves join the individual 

 plants in a fusion of foliage that expresses a living composition. 

 Shearing back of foliage to prescribed lines coarsens and stunts plant 

 growth, removes the slender supple branches that contribute to the 

 nebulous movement and rhythm of foliage masses, and thereby destroys 

 the buoyancy of a plant composition. 



HARMFUL RESULTS OF CROPPING 



5. Cause of disease. It is argued that a plant is kept young and 

 blossoming by constant pruning. Such is true when the removal of 

 old wood is for replacing with new. In nine cases out of ten, however, 

 the annual or semi-annual cropping back of shrubs in parks means the 

 removal of all new wood, the growth of the previous months, with the 

 result that the plant finds itself back where it started, minus the energy 

 expended in the process of natural development. During this period 

 of set-back, many plants are very susceptible to parasitic attacks, and 

 diseases ordinarily thrown off obtain a foothold, eradicated later with 

 difficulty. The plants are kept always dependent upon old wood and, 



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