DECIDUOUS HEDGES. 2Q 



water to wet the roots thoroughly. This will require 

 a good deal of labor, but when once performed it 

 need not be frequently repeated. After the water 

 is poured in and has settled, draw over a little dry 

 soil to prevent evaporation. In this way the soil 

 becomes permeated, and remains wet. This is the 

 rule for all plants. Pour a quart for a strawberry, 

 pour a pailful for a tree. For a hedge it may be 

 best to run a furrow on each side and pour the water 

 in the trough. Then haul back the soil to cover with 

 the plow. If you have a well near by, attach a hose 

 and let the trench be filled by pumping. But to 

 throw water with a hose through a sprinkler 

 over the soil is worse than nothing. It requires 

 almost continuous sprinkling to make this method 

 of watering of any value, even for a lawn of 

 grass. 



(p) Trimming. I have suggested that plants 

 should be cut back when set. This matter of trim- 

 ming is one of the most important, from first to last. 

 It is requisite to get a thick bottom to the hedge, and 

 to do this, in almost all cases, the plants must be cut 

 nearly to the base the first year, and compelled to 

 spread laterals. Cut down to the collar, making the 

 branching start out so that the lower limbs will lie 

 upon the ground. If you have followed directions 

 you have set your plants two or three inches deeper 

 than where they were as seedlings. It will now be 

 your object to keep the hedge from growing upward, 

 and make it spread out and keep its lower limbs vital. 

 This is the constant aim in hedge-growing. The 

 law of nature, that a tree shall climb upward, and as 

 it climbs take away a part of the strength of the 



