THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



bordering drives. For screens they should be used 

 with great freedom. They break up extensive 

 plots, forming pleasant retreats, diversifying the 

 grounds, creating shady places for seats and ham- 

 mocks, and hiding clothes-lines, hot beds, and 

 compost piles. However, avoid the petty; be sure 

 you do not cut up your lawns into meaningless bits. 

 One purpose of ornamental hedges is to make a 

 large display of some eminently beautiful shrub, 

 such as lilac, or hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, 

 or Japanese quince, or Tartarian honeysuckle. I 

 never saw a farm that did not have some place 

 which a hedge of Tartarian honeysuckle would not 

 glorify, and at the same time be itself an object of 

 conspicuous beauty. Some of our shrubs we can 

 hardly have in excess if planted separately; as 

 hedges they can be multiplied even more freely. 1 

 have seen the Judas tree in April stretching out its 

 long lines of rich, lilac-hued flowers along the rear 

 of a garden; in another direction, a little later, Per- 

 sian lilacs flaming all across a mound ; while, alter- 

 nating with these, altheas would glorify the same 

 mound with superb flowers in August and Sep- 

 tember. "It is the finest thing I ever saw," said 

 my friend; and the hired man held his hoe for a 



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