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Sambucus (elder). 



Saynbuais canadensis. 



Sambucus nigra. 



Sambucus racemosa or pubens. 

 Vaccinium (high-bush bhiebcrry). 



Vaccinium corymbosum. 



Among other devices for sheltering birds on the estate of 

 Count von Berlepsch at Seebach is a broad hedge of fir trees 

 about five hundred and forty-seven yards in length, growing 

 beside a ditch. Such a ditch and hedge make an excellent 

 fence as well as a bird shelter. The hedge is used to connect 

 the shelter woods with one another and with the park. Here 

 and there along the hedge on one side or the other are moun- 

 tain ash trees and pollards (trees that have been lopped or 

 cut back). The fir hedge, now about thirty-five years old, 

 was planted in three rows with a space of three feet between 

 the rows and the same space between the trees of each row. 

 It was kept low by lopping oft' the tops. As the branches 

 spread and interlocked, the center row was removed and every 

 other tree taken out of the outer rows. All the branches were 

 kept alive by this method. The tops of the trees are cut off 

 every four or six years, and for this purpose the hedge is di- 

 vided into six parts, so that in some parts the tops are always 

 growing. While birds nest in the hedge, its great value lies 

 in the shelter between the trees and beneath the wide-spreading 

 branches, where birds and game find a safe retreat and feeding 

 place in winter. The hedge when thirty years old was some- 

 what over twenty feet in width. 



How TO Plant. 



Inexperienced planters are likely to fail even if provided 

 with excellent plants or seeds. The common plan of sticking 

 seeds into little holes in the sod or leaf mold is foredoomed to 

 failure, as only a very small percentage of the seeds ever suc- 

 ceed. The resulting young plants are exposed to many enemies 

 and must compete with grasses, weeds or other well-established 

 plants which surround them. If seeds are to be used they 

 should be planted in rows about nine inches apart, near the 

 surface, in a box of good loam, where they can be watched. 



