MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG TREES 61 



or imported from the Continent. The system of buying 

 trees that are already shaped is an excellent way of 

 getting a Topiary garden made and furnished with 

 trees in the quickest possible time. But it is a plan 

 that is not to be universally recommended or practised. 

 In the first place, trees of that description generally 

 have the very great drawback of being very expensive. 

 Only those who have to deal with the training of 

 yews have any idea how much labour and care is 

 spent on a tree in shaping it into even the smallest 

 bird ; and it therefore stands to reason that the 

 time and labour nurserymen spend on clipping and 

 training Topiary trees, and preparing them for the 

 market, must be paid for by the purchaser. But 

 there is another, and perhaps an even greater objec- 

 tion in buying trees already trained. Surely the person 

 who loves his garden and takes a great personal interest 

 in Topiary work, would never think of planting it with 

 trees that have already been cut into shapes by other 

 hands. Although there is no question about the ex- 

 cellence of nursery trained trees, I would strongly re- 

 commend that the person who spends the time and 

 money in forming and laying out a Topiary garden, 

 should have the patience to undertake and carry through 

 the training of his own trees. A far greater source 

 of pleasure will be derived from watching your own 

 trees grow, and from seeing them clipped and trained 

 each year into the particular shape that it is intended 

 they should represent. 



It has been very often said, and said with a great 

 deal of truth, that a person can with care and manage- 

 ment train the yew into almost any shape desired. Even 

 figures or letters are easy to form out of yew. In hand- 

 ling the yew, you have a kind of tree to work upon 

 that lends itself in the most convenient way to the work 

 of clipping and training into all the quaint and curious 



