6 MY GARDEN 



seasons after planting in early spring this to insure a 

 compact growth at the base and thereafter the prun- 

 ing may be done in June when the spring growth of the 

 young shoots is accomplished. 



The management of the evergreen hedge, the first 

 few years after planting, is all important, and I think I 

 could not do better than to quote the following enlight- 

 ening instructions from "The Book of Topiary"*: "No 

 matter how much it is desired to get a hedge quickly 

 grown in a certain place, whether for shelter or anything 

 else, it is the greatest possible mistake to sacrifice 

 strength and substance to a desire to promote rapid 

 growth, a result that is certain to occur if a hedge is 

 allowed to grow eight or ten feet before it is stopped. 

 Nothing should be done to a hedge in the way of clipping 

 the same autumn or winter it is planted, and perhaps 

 not even the following autumn, but each year afterward 

 it should be stopped, and never allowed to make more 

 than a few inches of growth each year. By following 

 the system of stopping the growth every year, the 

 length of time required to grow a hedge eight or ten feet 

 in height is greatly extended. But the result will amply 

 repay the extra time that has been taken to grow it; 

 you will get a hedge full of strength and substance, and 

 well furnished with young growths from top to bottom. 

 But if the other system is followed of allowing the hedge 

 to get to its full height before any clipping is done, you 



* "The Book of Topiary." by Charles H. Curtis and W. Gibson. 



