SEPT.] FLOWER GARDEN. 525 



BOX EDGINGS. 



Clip box edgings where it was omitted in the two former months, 

 but let this be done as soon now as possible, that the box may have 

 time to grow a little and put on a fresh appearance before winter ; 

 it will be best to do this in wet or cloudy weather, if such should 

 happen in due time. 



In the last week of this month, should the season prove moist, you 

 may begin to plant box edgings where wanted, as directed on page 

 316, but if the weather sets in dry and hot immediately after, it will 

 be necessary to shade them with boards, &c., for a month ; about 

 that period they will be newly rooted, and appear neat all winter. 

 However, should the weather not prove favorable in this month, it 

 would be more advisable to defer that work till the early part of 

 October. 



If you have low bunches of dwarf box, that the offsets are gene- 

 rally rooted, you need be under no apprehension of their striking 

 fresh root and growing freely at this time if kept regularly watered ; 

 but where you form edgings of box cuttings, these will require to be 

 carefully shaded from the sun, at least for a month after, if planted 

 at this season. 



CLIP HEDGES. 



Such hedges as have not been trimmed in the preceding month 

 should be clipped in the early part of this, before the shoots get hard. 



In clipping hedges, always take particular care to have the shears 

 in perfect good order, that you may be able to make neat and expe- 

 ditious work. Let the sides of the full grown hedges be always clip- 

 ped in nearly to the former year's cut, and as even and straight as 

 possible ; for it tooks awkward and not workmanlike to see the sides 

 of hedges, especially garden hedges, waved and uneven : and always 

 observe to clip a hedge in such a way as to slope in a narrow manner 

 upiuards, that the top may be a little narrower than the bottom, and 

 at the same time as even and level as possible. 



In clipping young hedges under training be cautious not to cut 

 them too close above, but clip the top off regularly to retard the 

 luxuriant shoots, and cause them to branch out and thicken the 

 hedge, and also to give the moderate growths an equal advantage of 

 air and room to advance as equally as possible; cut the sides with 

 similar care but closer, and always sloping inwards or narrowing to- 

 wards the top; for by thus exposing the sides and bottom of the 

 hedge to the influence of the air, rain and dews, all parts are equally 

 encouraged in growth, and the whole becomes close and well fur- 

 nished ; but when the top overhangs the bottom, the lower branches, 

 for want of those advantages, decay, and the hedge becomes thin 

 below, and consequently much more unfit to answer the end than if 

 judiciously trained. 



