64 COME INTO THE GARDEN 



The plants for a privet hedge should be pref- 

 erably three-year-olds at least, for these alone 

 will insure plants that are thick and well 

 branched at the ground — which is almost the 

 most important thing about a plant that is to 

 go into a hedge. Set them nine inches apart, 

 and from one foot to two feet inside the actual 

 boundary line of the property they are to in- 

 close; and set them deep into the ground. The 

 simplest way to go about the work is to have 

 a trench dug some five or six inches deeper 

 than the roots of the plants; on to the bottom 

 of this spread well-rotted manure, then sprinkle 

 earth enough over it to cover it. Then set the 

 plants along in the trench, putting enough earth 

 over the roots of each as it is held in place, to 

 keep it there, but not filling in the trench until 

 all are set, when it can all be done rapidly. 



When the planting is done, cut back the 

 plants to within two inches of the ground — 

 which, by the way, is the hardest thing about 

 the entire proceeding usually, for the novice 

 at any rate. And I will agree that to cut back 

 a perfectly good bush that is perhaps four feet 

 high and strong and well branched, until noth- 

 ing is left of it but the stumps of its branches 

 standing just above the surface of the earth, re- 

 quires some determination — and possibly more 



