DECIDUOUS HEDGES. 2j 



trust a landscape gardener implicitly, for while 

 he may be skilled in his selection and grouping 

 of plants, he may wholly lack an eye for such lines. 

 Many a time such a defect in vision is unknown to its 

 possessor. In fifty years of landscape work I have 

 never found but one man who could materially assist 

 me in working out long and double curves he was 

 a common Irish laborer with a gift. A long sweep- 

 ing curve is not easily established and it grows all 

 the worse when one curve is to be multiplied by 

 another. 



(3) Preparing the Ground. This is an impor- 

 tant point. The ground must be as clean as a gar- 

 den and thoroughly tilled into loose friable condition. 

 There is no use sticking plants into half-prepared 

 soil. Where the sod is tough and vigorous it should 

 have been tilled with some hoed crop during the 

 previous year. The rotted turf will then make 

 excellent soil for hedge planting. Before setting, 

 let the soil be thrown, by back furrowing or by the 

 spade, toward the center, enough to form a slight 

 rise, that will carry off rather than retain water. 

 After planting, there will be more or less settling, and 

 your ridge will not be perceptible. If you are 

 obliged to run through wet places, drain on both 

 sides, throwing up the line of the hedge with soil 

 from the ditches. 



(4) Setting the Plants. All tricks and devices 

 for saving labor at this point are undesirable, if you 

 intend to make sure of your hedge. There must 

 be no mistake about the mellowness of the soil, and 

 if two-year-old plants are used, a trench must be 

 ready along the line of your stakes. If one-year-old 



