56 HEDGES., WINDBREAKS, SHELTERS, ETC. 



it is the heath-leaved arbor-vitae, and the pumila. All 

 of these are natural dwarfs. They will make a hedge 

 from one to three feet high. 



(7) The Retinospora squarrosa is another very 

 graceful and very beautiful small-growing evergreen, 

 with glaucous green foliage. 



(8) At the South may be planted to great 

 advantage the Irish yew, the English yew and other 

 varieties of the evergreen. The Variegata is edged 

 with golden yellow. These cannot be recommended 

 for the North as perfectly hardy. The yew is popu- 

 lar in England because it can be so easily sheared. 

 It grows with very dense foliage. 



(9) Among the large strong-growing ever- 

 greens the Austrian pine and the Scotch pine make 

 two of our very best for screens, but not the best for 

 close hedges. 



(10) But whatever else we overlook we must 

 not forget the Siberian arbor-vitae. This variety is 

 very much like the American, except that its foliage 

 is heavier and grows cultriform, that is, perpendic- 

 ular instead of horizontal. It bears trimming per- 

 fectly and can be kept in as good shape as our native 

 arbor-vitse. 



(n) The Balsam fir I mention not to recom- 

 mend it, but simply to warn all hedge growers from 

 undertaking the use of it. It is the most disappoint- 

 ing of all our evergreens for every purpose what- 

 ever. Exceedingly beautiful when young, it begins 

 to die out at the base very early, and as it becomes 

 a tree it becomes scraggy and unsightly. It also 

 has the exceedingly bad fault of breaking down 

 easily in high winds. 



