690 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



A COMBINATION HEDGE TO SCREEN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



Can you think of anything that would make a more effective screen than this hedge of peaches makes? Or a hedge more orna- 

 mental and profitable than this one will be when hung with ripe peaches? 



spring totaled two and a half bushels. There is no dif- 

 ficulty in disposing of the surplus. In 1920 we sold nearly 

 ten dollar's worth of currants. 



Probably there is no plant that the home owner can 

 raise more easily than the currant. The bushes can be 

 propagated by cuttings, root division, and layering. Lay- 

 ering is the bending down of a pliant branch until it 

 touches the earth. It should be pegged down at a node or 

 joint, and earth should be heaped over the joint. Roots 

 will shortly grow where the plant is covered, especially 

 if a slight notch is made in the branch near the node and 

 between it and the root. When the new plant is well es- 

 tablished, it can be severed from the main bush. By lay- 

 ering, several plants can be propagated from one bush at 

 the same time. Thus by the following spring the propa- 

 gator should have a number of plants for setting out. 



Root division is merely the severing of the roots into 

 a number of pieces, each with at least one stem. A large 

 bush can readily be divided into a considerable number 

 of smaller plants. 



Hardwood cuttings are merely pieces of the plant 

 cut when dormant. All currants need to be pruned, and 

 cuttings can be taken when the regular pruning is done. 

 These should be at least six inches long and may profitably 

 be longer. They should have about three buds. The 

 cuttings should be kept cool and moist until spring. 

 Wrapped in moist moss and put in a cool cellar, they will 



keep perfectly until planting time in spring. Then they 

 should be planted in the garden with the upper bud above 

 ground, and be well cultivated. Roots will start, tops 

 will grow, and shortly one will have thrifty little bushes 

 that will be suitable for setting out in a year or two. 



Given one plant, it is a very simple matter for the gar- 

 dener to propagate as many new plants as he wishes and 

 to have lots of pleasure in doing it. Thus, if one has it in 

 mind to plant a currant hedge, one need not worry about 

 the cost unless it is necessary to have all the plants im- 

 mediately. Select one each of the varieties desired, 

 plant them in the garden, feed and cultivate them well, 

 and propagate by layering and cuttings. 



That is the way the writer is getting the bushes for a 

 filbert hedge. Good filbert bushes of the European vari- 

 eties, which are far the most desirable, cost perhaps one 

 to three dollars each. A hedge of these bushes would be 

 quite expensive if one were to buy all the bushes needed. 

 Our proposed hedge will require scores of plants. We 

 bought only two bushes, one each of two varieties. These 

 are in a nursery row in the garden, where, by the meth- 

 ods already mentioned, we intend to produce as many 

 plants as we need. 



The European filbert bears a larger, better flavored 

 nut than the native American filbert or hazelnut. Com- 

 mercial nurserymen estimate that a mature filbert bush 

 under proper cultivation will produce annually twenty 



