212 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



opposite to the spaces of the other row. Let all the limbs on all 

 the insides of the trees be interlaced, as neatly as may be ; and 

 let the limbs on the sides of the hedge row be sheared to a uniform 

 length, from six to twelve inches in length, according to the length 

 of the limbs. During the first and second seasons, or perhaps 

 longer if necessary, let the tops be sheared of a uniform height. 

 As the hedge grows higher, let the inside limbs be interwoven 

 from tree to tree, backwards and forwards ; and do not fail to keep 

 the soil well cultivated on both sides of the hedge row, for at least 

 six or eight feet on each side. If everything is performed in a 

 workmanlike manner, a complete lattice-work, impenetrable by any 

 domesticated animal, will be formed in a few years. 



286. As the red cedar bears no thorns, and as cattle are so 

 much inclined to hook and thrust about in evergreen plants, the 

 red cedar may, upon trial, succeed better by training the young 

 trees to bare stems about four feet high, and then allow the tops 

 to branch out, so as to be sheared in the form of a pyramid, or in 

 the shape of an egg, with the little end upwards. (See paragraph 

 270.) In this style of training the inside limbs should be in 

 terlaced, from a point two feet above the ground to the top of the 

 hedge. 



287. A little skill and judgment, and the exercise of a 

 little common sense, are indispensably requisite in pruning the 

 young cedars. If the trees are two or three feet high it will not 

 answer to cut off all the limbs the first season, and leave but a 

 little bush at the top. The first season that they are transplanted 

 in the hedge row, the lower limbs, for about six inches along the 

 bottom of the stems, may be cut close with a sharp knife ; and 

 if the limbs above this point be more than a foot long, the ends 

 may be clipped off to a foot in length on each side. The next 

 spring trim off the limbs a few inches higher, close to the st&ms. 

 If the plants have grown six inches or more in height, it may 

 answer, if there is an abundance of limbs, to cut off smoothly all 

 the limbs for six inches more. The growth of the plants up 

 wards will usually determine how much of the limbs may be cut 

 off below in one season. 



