MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG TREES 67 



quite a different shape from its neighbour. There is 

 such a variety of different shapes to be seen in almost 

 any garden where arches are trained, that there is no 

 occasion for two arches in one garden to be similar 

 in design. 



When the shapes have been carefully thought out, 

 let no time be lost in making a start on the clipping and 

 training of them, especially if the trees are far enough 

 advanced in growth to begin work on. It is simply 

 loss of time to allow the trees to keep growing, year 

 after year, when they might be having some training 

 done to advantage towards the clipping and shaping of 

 them. It is a very great mistake to allow young trees 

 to grow for several years after they are large enough 

 to be fit for training. As soon as ever a tree is large 

 enough to begin work on according to the shape the tree 

 is intended to be, a start should be made, or else it will 

 be found when the work is begun, that some branches 

 that have taken three or four years to grow will have 

 to be cut away altogether, after serving no other purpose 

 than exhausting in an unnecessary manner the strength 

 of the tree; whereas if the tree had been clipped 

 sooner, these branches could have been utilised in 

 forming its various parts, or else removed from the 

 tree. 



In the making of a Topiary garden, nothing should be 

 done to the trees in a hurry ; but on the other hand, no 

 more time should be lost than can possibly be avoided in 

 hastening on the work of shaping, and in getting the 

 garden furnished in the quickest possible time. No 

 young shoots or branches should be cut away that can 

 possibly be used in the construction of the various shapes ; 

 but in the training of young trees special care should be 

 given to them, and particular notice taken that they are 

 not allowed to make too rapid growth. In a very few 

 years trees will be injured to a great extent through being 



