EVERGREENS FOR HEDGES. 51 



windbreaks, if extended in a continuous line, would 

 cover over half a mile; nor do I wish to part with a 

 single rod of them. 



SECTION I MATERIAL. 



The handsomest of all evergreen hedges is made 

 of our native hemlock spruce. The foliage is fine 

 and hangs with peculiar grace. Another advantage 

 is that the color does not change during the winter 

 months. Arbor-vitse becomes a russet brown, very 

 beautiful, but hemlock is as green in January as in 

 June. A hemlock hedge is, however, more easily 

 spoiled by wrong trimming or neglect, and I cannot 

 therefore recommend it for general planting, as fully 

 equal to the arbor-vitae. By all means, try it for 

 small enclosures, especially near the house, or to pro- 

 tect roses and delicate shrubbery. The Norway 

 spruce makes an admirable hedge, but needs severe 

 pruning, and is almost certain to get out of control 

 or become unsightly after a few years. Nearly all 

 that I have seen planted I have also seen dug out. 

 The junipers can be more safely used, especially 

 red cedar. Its special value is, however, to create 

 shelter. It will readily make a wall from twenty to 

 thirty feet high, and as such its value will be appre- 

 ciated in keen wild weather. It is thoroughly hardy 

 and the growth is quite rapid. The low-growing 

 junipers make pleasant but irregular hedges, while 

 the savin is important mainly to grow along the 

 foot of high windbreaks, or to be associated with a 

 rockery. 



Very similar in growth to the savin is our 

 native evergreen bush, the mahonia. This is the 



