PRUNING ORNAMENTAL SHRUB^ AND TREES 



357 



summer two or three times whenever their development 

 seems to demand such attention. 



In America hedges are going out of fashion as stock 

 fences, mainly because they make unnecessary demands 

 upon the soil and because many of them (osage orange 

 especially) are breeders of insects injurious to fruit trees. 

 Where they are still planted for such purposes, the plants 

 are sometimes pleached while 

 still pliable so as to make them 

 more difficult to get through. 

 To get best results from this 

 method the plants are set ob- 

 liquely in the soil and the pri- 

 mary stems compelled to grow at 

 this angle usuallyabout45de- 

 grees. The new shoots that 

 develop may then be trained 

 either at right angles to the 

 stems which bear them or be 

 allowed to grow erect that is, 

 at right angles to level ground. 

 In either case the secondary 

 branches cross the original stems 

 and form a mesh, more especially 

 near the bottom, through which 

 even pigs cannot force their way. 

 Perhaps the honey locust is the 

 most popular plant for this kind 

 of hedge. 



267. Ornamental shrubs and trees. Pruning orna- 

 mental shrubs and trees for other purposes than to pro- 

 mote the formation of flower beds may be done at any 

 time, preferably in early spring or early summer, since 

 wounds heal better during the growing season than if 

 made in fall or winter. All that is necessary in pruning 

 for form is to restrain the too rampant growth of some 

 parts so as to make the bush symmetrical. Such pruning 



FIG. 292 SHADE TREE 



HEADED TOO LOW 

 Each of the three lowest limbs 

 should be cut, because they will 

 interfere with traffic later. 



