HEDGES FOR SMALL LAWNS. 39 



when loaded with berries in July and August. These 

 are of different shades of color, according to the 

 color of the flowers. The pink-flowering produces 

 a fine carmine berry. Of the value of these berries 

 as bird food I shall speak in another place. 



The lilac has some value as a hedge plant, but 

 easily grows ugly with age, while the intense suck- 

 ering tendency of the plant decreases the blossoming 

 power of the bushes. The Persian lilacs will do much 

 the best, provided you have room for them; but a 

 good Persian lilac hedge will require from ten to 

 fifteen feet in diameter. The show of flowers will 

 be inconceivably beautiful during May, and after 

 that the bushes are dense enough to make a very 

 good windbreak. Set the bushes eight or ten feet 

 apart, or if you prefer, set them five feet apart, and 

 later remove every other bush. At the best the 

 inside branches of any lilac will die out every year, 

 and must be carefully removed. Josikaea and Charles 

 X are later-blooming varieties, with stout trunks, 

 and can be used in the hedge form. Some of the 

 more recently developed varieties are far better, but 

 at present somewhat costly. I have seen the com- 

 mon white lilac used as a hedge, but with nothing to 

 recommend it, except that it served as a windbreak, 

 and would turn a stray animal. 



The Weigelas are among the prettiest plants 

 for hedge rows, but more particularly the variegated- 

 leaved sort. This is one of the handsomest of all 

 shrubs, as its variegation is clear and bright and 

 lasting. It is not in the least sickly in hue, like many 

 variegations. It has a drooping but compact form, 

 and in florescence is a marvel of beauty. As it is 



