172 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



HEDGES. 



URROUNDINCi our principal school grounds, several 

 acres in extent, and enclosing a large number of our finest 

 private residences, the Hawthorne, Spruce and Beech 

 Hedges of Yarmouth, excite the wonder and admiration of 

 visitors. The common Scotch Hawthorne is used, to which 

 Burns refers in his " Cotter's Saturday Night." 



" Beneath, the milk white thorn that scents the evening gale,' 

 Fond lovers in each others arms breathes out the tender talc. 



Three year old plants are imported, costing, delivered here, about 

 eight dollars per thousand, the ground is properly prepared, drained, dug 

 over and fertilized, the plants are set early in the spring, being among the 

 first to grow, in double rows, ten or twelve inches apart, breaking joints, they 

 are pruned two or three times a year to make a dense, bushy hedge, and allowed 

 finally to attain a height of five or six feet, or in some cases, twelve or fourteen, 

 that is proof against man or beast, dog, goose or small boy, and a perfect pro- 

 tection from the wind. 



I can remember the first of these hedges, set out over sixty years ago and 

 still one of the best. About thirty years ago, to improve its condition, it was cut 

 back to the single stem, which was then hacked and slashed when it was desired 

 new buds should break, and within a few years the whole hedge was in finer 

 shape than ever. 



A few specimens of this single White Hawthorn have been allowed to grow, 

 without pruning, to a height of about twenty feet, with a diameter cf trunk 

 of (12) twelve inches or more, and in some cases whole hedges have been 

 neglected and permitted to grow to their full height. In June these are a mass 

 of white bloom of most delightful perfume, filling the whole air with fragrance. 

 The double white, single and double, rose and red Hawthorn, are grown singly 

 among our favorite ornamental trees, and are very beautiful during the brief 

 period of bloom, but are destitute of fragrance. 



Hedges of the native Spruce from six to twenty feet high, are also 

 grown to perfection ; they bear pruning equally with the thorn, and in the winter 

 season, in their comfortable dress of living green, opposing as impenetrable 

 barrier to the fiercest winds, seem preferable to a deciduous hedge. 



The Norway Spruce fails here utterly everywhere, in hedges the lower limbs 

 die, and as individual specimens, the growth is scraggy and irregular; out of the 

 hundreds that have been planted, not a single fine specimen has ever been 

 grown. 



The Scotch Beech has been planted in hedges and as single ornamental 

 trees, chiefly in our cemetery, it bears pruning well, and its perfect hardiness, its 

 thrifty, rare a growth, and its fresh, pretty shade of foliage makes it a favorite. 



No other Hedge plant has succeeded out. of the many that have been tried, 

 on the recommendation of the ubiquitous tree agent. I recall the Locust, the 

 Cedar, the Buckhorn, the IVivet, and the 3ox, among the failures. 



