Shrubbery and Trees 225 



possible not to have trees and shrubbery of some 

 kind, but in the East, where millions of dollars are 

 spent on public parks, practically nothing is done 

 in the city backyards to promote shrubbery or 

 tree growth, and not very much is done in the 

 suburban towns, though a great deal of time may 

 be given the garden for the cultivation of summer 

 flowers. Yet it is during the winter that these 

 plants would be most appreciated and a great deal 

 of attention to them is not needed. Hedges of 

 privet, barberry, box, ilex, myrtle, and many other 

 varieties require only an annual fertilization and an 

 occasional pruning and they stand to delight the 

 eye twelve months in the year. Shrubbery fills 

 a niche which flowers never can fill and evergreen 

 shrubbery is always to be recommended where a 

 great variety cannot be afforded. Merely a hedge 

 around a well-kept grass plot will furnish plenty of 

 green, though a hedge around a small yard should 

 never attain a height greater than two and a half 

 feet, otherwise the tendency will be to make the 

 yard appear smaller still and the house will seem 

 cramped for room as well. On large tracts a 

 hedge used as a screen will be most satisfactory and 

 a large tract can easily afford a hedge six feet or 

 more in height, if one would like to copy the Eng- 

 lish idea of privacy. It is a much mooted ques- 

 15 



