Objections 

 to hedges 

 considered. 



FIG. 329. 



FIG. 330. 



FIG. 331. 



FIG. 332. 



THE FORMAL ARRANGEMENT OF TREES. 



allow of a few feet of higher hedge against a building (111. No. 327). To these modes 

 of treatment may be added several which are not quite so simple, such as the raised 

 semicircular " rounds," as shown in illustration No. 328, while the reverse of this 

 treatment, or a series of sweeping hollows cut out of the level top of the hedge, with 

 short level portions left between every hollow and the next, though difficult to trim 

 correctly, is most effective where a beautiful expanse of distant hill and valley is framed 

 in the semicircular openings. Either of these useful shapes may be further elaborated, 



should the surroundings call for it, by 

 the addition of pilasters between each 

 two rounds; or these again may be sur- 

 mounted by heads clipped to a ball 

 shape or half ball, with or without 

 whorls below, or to the shape of sugar- 

 loaf finials. 



Most of these arrangements demand that the hedge shall be trimmed perfectly 

 square in section, i.e., with vertical sides and a flat top; but this is not always the best 

 section for ensuring a strong hardy growth. The nurseryman and forester, on the one 

 hand, and the architect on the other have completely different views on this matter. 

 Both the former would keep the hedges wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, as 

 shown in section in illustration No. 329, because hedges so trimmed make strong lower 

 branches, and a dense, close bottom is obtained. Architects however, from artistic 

 motives, generally prefer hedges trimmed square on the top (111. No. 330), and the 

 gardener usually enlarges upon this by allowing the top to over-hang, as in illustration 

 No. 331, with the result that the hedge gets poor and open at the bottom. The 

 pointed section preferred by foresters (111. No. 332) does not look so prim as the square 

 shape, but for practical reasons is undoubtedly the best. By a little care, however, the 

 advantages of the one shape may be combined with the primness of the other, by 

 keeping the hedge pointed while young, and when a good strong bottom has matured, 

 by gradually allowing the top to grow outwards until it can be trimmed square. 



Many gardeners who, in most things connected with their craft, are excellent men, 



have an unwarrantable 



dislike to hedges, which 



they allege rob the soil 



of nutriment and harbour 



every known garden pest, 



making successful flower 



growing impossible, or at 



the best, disappointing. 



While it is true that trees 



and shrubs harbour pests, 



the idea that they make 



flower gardening impossible or even difficult is "altogether erroneous. A bed of lettuces 

 in the middle of a fifty-acre field, half a mile removed from hedges, would receive greater 

 attention from these pests than a whole flower garden with hedges and box edging covering 

 half the ground. Granted, however, that there is some truth in the gardeners' contention, 

 and add to it the further objection that the roots of the hedges absorb the nutriment 

 from the soil, the shelter which they give to the plants is an excellent compensation 

 for these drawbacks. When the necessary outlay can be afforded, the impoverishment 

 of the borders may be completely prevented by building a wall some three feet deep 

 into the ground between the hedge and the border, its top being level with the ground, 

 as shown in the first sketch (111. No. 333). Where this plan is too costly, it is 



FIG. 333. 



FIG. 334. 



256 



