204 COMMON SENSE GARDENS 



selected. They are generally more or less pyram- 

 idal in form, terminating in a slightly pointed 

 top, sometimes in two tops. Set these bushes 

 close together, cut the tops off and trim the sides 

 level; they will make a very good beginning for a 

 hedge, but should not be allowed to grow upwards 

 until they have grown well into each other. Such 

 a hedge should be carefully fertilized every year, 

 and if it is in a slightly exposed position it should 

 be protected with a screen of boards until well 

 established. It will not be necessary to board the 

 hedge up, in fact this is really worse for it than 

 no protection at all. Cover the butts with coarse 

 litter or salt-grass, and give plenty of manure 

 w r ater during the Summer, and especially during 

 the growing season. On the next page there is a 

 photograph of an old hedge in Westchester 

 County, New York, which for many years has been 

 well established on the top of a stone retaining 

 wall, hedging in the yard. It was badly scarred 

 in the Winter of 1903-05, and at present writ- 

 ing there are many gaps in it which have made 

 the heart of its owner sad. A garden enclosed 

 by a good Box hedge, with posts at the corners 



