Hedges 57 



PLANTING 



General Directions. Before planting is 

 started the soil must be properly prepared. 

 First thoroughly plow a width of six feet 

 and the length of the hedge and then cul- 

 tivate. Better results are certain when 

 fertilizers are used and the area cropped 

 the year previous, especially if the soil is 

 poor or impoverished. A trench or fur- 

 row is run through the center of the cul- 

 tivated strip deep enough to take the 

 roots without bending, and after setting 

 growth is hastened by making the soil firm 

 with a rammer. 



The young plants must be shortened 

 both top and root before planting and 

 must not be too old or large. It is true 

 that in transplanting hedge plants as well 

 as fruit trees the shock of transplanting 

 retards the growth when too far developed 

 so that a younger plant, which has not 

 gone far enough to be shocked, will over- 

 take and pass its older rival in a few years. 

 Two or three years old is about the right 

 age. A young hedge often has a wire 

 fence down the center as a reenforcing un- 



