LIVE HEDGES. 143 



I 



at the cavity at the back of the spade, which is to be 

 taken out, and the earth closed to the plant by the 

 right foot. Two persons are required to perform 

 the work, one to use the spade and one to insert the 

 plants. 



The plants will require to be kept clean during the 

 summer with the hoe, and the following spring a 

 sprinkling of well rotted manure may be spread by 

 the sides of the rows and neatly dug in with a spade. 

 The next year the management is the same as re- 

 gards keeping clean, &c. The third season the 

 plants may be headed down to two or three buds or 

 eyes, and the ground well worked and kept clean, 

 indeed young live fences of this kind should always 

 be kept in the best of order. The fourth year the 

 plants may be headed down to within six inches of 

 the root, and the sides cut thin, so as to form a 

 hedge of a narrow roof-like appearance, or, to give 

 a more definite idea, like the mane of a horse. 



Training, or after-management. When the 

 plants are of a proper strength they are to be pruned 

 or brushed once or twice a year in the fall and 

 spring, after the young shoots have made about six 

 inches of wood. The hedge should be kept as thin 

 as possible on the top, tapering from the bottom, 

 which should be kept thick and above two feet and a 

 half through. It should be increased to six feet in 

 height which will be sufficient in most cases, but 

 where it is required to be higher, it may be gradu- 

 ally allowed to attain a greater height. Keeping it 

 clean and a regular management the first few years, 

 is the principal object that must be strictly attended 

 to. 



