358 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



their roots and stems. In young hedges thi^ work should be 

 done as early as possible in the spring, in order that the weeds 

 may not get too great a head ; and the best way is to pare the 

 surface off thinly with a spade, which not only renders the plants 

 clean, but likewise exposes the ground contiguous to them to the 

 mouldering effects of the air. 



The common custom of cutting and clipping young locust and 

 other quick hedges every year, however advantageous it may be 

 considered in point of the appearance of the fence, is very pre- 

 judicial to the groAvth of the quicks, keeping them small and 

 weak in the stems, and rendering the hedges, as they advance in 

 years, open at the bottoms. Whereas those left more to them- 

 selves become strong in the stems, and have large side branches, 

 which by interweaving with one another render the hedge thick 

 and impenetrable. 



Those that are cut at proper intervals, as about every five or 

 six years, are superior to those which have been dipt from the 

 time they were first planted. Besides there is a great saving of 

 labor, and the hedges are far more profitable. When pruning is 

 necessary it may be performed in a neat and expeditious manner 

 by means of an instrument made in the form of a reaping hook, 

 and exceedingly sharp, to which is fixed a handle about two feet 

 long, this in the hands of an expert gardener is an admirable 

 instrument. 



The time at which hedges are generally cut is in summer, 

 which, from the state of vegetation, is the most improper that 

 can be selected, because the plants are then full of sap, and can 

 not but be much injured. The latter part of the fall is probably 

 the most suitable, when the plants are in a much less vigorous 

 state. 



In respect to the manner of cutting them numerous methods 

 are adopted and practiced, but that which appears to give the 

 most useful form is by sloping them on both sides from the bot- 

 tom to the top, as by such a mode the thickest part will be in the 

 bottom where it is most required. Another erroneous practice is 

 to top a hedge while young, which tends greatly to diminish its 

 strength, because it induces it to send out a large number of 

 small stems, which being cut again are divided into still smaller 

 and more numerous ramifications, till their number is increased 

 to such a degree, and their size, of consequence, so much dimin- 

 ished, tliat tbe hedge may be said to consist entirely of twigs, 



