CHAPTER IV. 



EVERGREENS FOR HEDGES. 



Notwitstanding the enthusiasm we may genu- 

 inely feel for deciduous hedges, and the delight we 

 get from the shelters of sweet flowering shrubs, the 

 longer a man cultivates gardens and garden homes, 

 the more he will find himself convinced that no 

 deciduous bush or tree of any sort makes as good 

 a hedge for ornamental grounds, or so good a pro- 

 tection against winds, as an evergreen. The latter 

 creates a wall unchanged by the season. When the 

 day is bitter outside, the moment I step into my 

 drives between my arbor-vitse hedges the climate 

 becomes comfortable. Here, behind and between 

 these walls, I can grow shrubs and fruits that cannot 

 be grown across the street, where the wind and 

 weather have their way. Even in November or in 

 March I can find a cozy corner in a curve of arbor- 

 vitse. My Concords and even my Isabellas are 

 given a chance to ripen. Under the lee of protect- 

 ing hedges, December not seldom gives me a dande- 

 lion. Better yet, the birds know all about it ; robins 

 linger in the lap of winter and do not find it so bad 

 to tarry with us. But best of all is it to be able to 

 look out the dreariest and bleakest days of mid- 

 winter and rest my eyes on greenery as fresh as 

 May or October, My own evergreen hedges and 



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