DECIDUOUS HEDGES. 31 



The shape of a deciduous hedge should be aboXit 

 that of a very young bush of the same plant where 

 it stands wild. It should have a broad base and rise 

 to a round top never to a sharp or pointed top 

 and equally never to a flattened top. The hawthorn, 

 and particularly the buckthorn, submit to a very neat 

 oval shaping, but should have the lower branches a 

 little longer than the others. The Osage orange is 

 not so submissive to form, but it may be kept reason- 

 ably in bounds if never given any freedom. The 

 pyramidal form is an outrage on nature, because it 

 is never undertaken with deciduous plants in their 

 native state. In all cases avoid artifice and the arti- 

 ficial; follow nature's outlines, and heed nature's 

 suggestions. 



Whatever may be said of special tools for more 

 rapid cutting, nothing is so satisfactory as the long- 

 handled hedge-shears. The blades of these should 

 be fifteen to twenty inches long. If trimming is 

 done coarsely it will tell, in the process of the years, 

 in an ungainly hedge. For cutting strong branches 

 it is necessary also to have what are called hedge- 

 clippers. These are short curved shears with handles 

 three feet long. They will sever a half-inch branch 

 readily. For ordinary trimming these are not 

 needed, but will be of importance when the hedge 

 is to be cut back, or when from neglect a hedge has 

 to be reshaped. The same tools are useful for much 

 other work about trees and shrubbery. They should 

 be kept sharp so that one-half of power may be saved 

 in using them. Dull tools of all sorts will be found 

 a dead loss. They use up wastefully a large part of 

 your power, and all of your patience and good cheer, 



