YOUR PRIVET HEDGE AND ITS SHAPING 



CHARLES CLARK 



Entirely Dependent Upon Your Knowing How to Prune It 

 This Feature Will Become Just What You Yourself Make It 



IHE object of pruning a hedge is twofold — to give it the 

 i proper shape and size, and to increase the number of 

 twigs that bear leaves. Hedges that are permitted to 

 grow too fast do not have enough leaf-bearing twigs. 

 A Privet plant growing alone and untrimmed soon loses the 

 bottom limbs and foliage, and forms a bushy top. The reason 

 is that the top gets more light and air. When a hedge is made 

 of Privet — or any other plant — this tendency to run to top must 

 be overcome. Foiled by severe pruning in its attempt to run 

 to top a plant is forced to make bottom growth; and thus a 

 hedge properly pruned throws 

 out limbs at the bottom. 



This is the only feature of 

 growing a good hedge that 

 offers any difficulty. Bottom 

 limbs are to be encouraged; 

 but they should not be per- 

 mitted to grow long else they 

 will shade out and check the 

 growth of other shoots coming 

 from within the hedge. When 

 their pliant and willowy ends 

 are cut off, they tend to spring 

 upward, and this permits in- 

 ferior shoots — especially those 

 struggling to emerge from the 

 interior — to get more light and 

 air. Hence constant pruning 

 encourages the weaker shoots 

 to come out to the surface of 

 the hedge, where they are 

 needed to bear leaves. 



IT WILL thus be seen that 

 constant pruning removes 

 from the face of the hedge a 

 certain amount of foliage which 

 threatens the limbs below with 

 its shade. Moreover vigorous 

 shoots are always tending to 

 dwarf the less vigorous ones 

 by growing at their expense. 

 Pruning equalizes this; and 

 when a limb is cut on the face 

 of the hedge the buds below 

 the cut shoot out, forming a 



fork, and thus more leaf-bearing twigs are provided — which 

 is precisely what we want. For we need an enormous number 

 of small twigs at the surface of the hedge to bear the dense crop 

 of leaves there which make a fine, close texture. Frequent prun- 

 ing is absolutely the only way in which we can get these little 

 twigs. 



Another argument for pruning when the wood is small and 

 soft is that it can be done so rapidly, while cutting off branches 

 the size of a lead pencil is slow, hard work. If, on account of a 

 long rainy spell, a hedge runs away and makes a tremendous 

 top growth, all this new growth should come off! Such severe 

 pruning will make it look queer unquestionably for a few days, 

 but new growth will hide the nakedness with astonishing 

 rapidity. 



Never trim the sides of a hedge to a true perpendicular. In 

 this form the base is bound to be injured by shade, whereas if 



WHERE PRUNING TAKES ON THE CHARACTER OF SCULPTURE 



It is a man with shears who represents to a hedge that divinity which 

 shapes the end — but rough-hewn it assuredly will be unless he 

 uses brain as enthusiastically as he uses the aforesaid implement! 



the hedge is trimmed A-shaped — that is, with sloping sides — 

 the base gets the sunlight and air that are so necessary to dense 

 leaf growth. 



TO GROW a hedge in a shady situation, two things are neces- 

 sary: — heavy fertilization, and very severe pruning. Such a 

 hedge is slow to make a satisfactory base, and the top must 

 simply be cut back until such a base is formed. It requires a 

 longer time therefore to grow such a hedge— and the owner 

 must exercise patience as well as the pruning shears. Similarly, 



since it is difficult to grow on 

 an east-west hedge an equally 

 dense base on the north side 

 away from the sunlight and on 

 the south where it shines con- 

 tinually, such a one should be 

 pruned with considerable slope 

 to the sides; and the base on 

 the north side should be care- 

 fully watched. 



If you have a hedge that is 

 all top and leggy below, first 

 mulch it heavily with manure 

 in the fall or early winter; 

 then in the spring cut it down 

 to within four inches of the 

 ground, and start it all over 

 again. You will be astonished 

 at the rapid growth it will 

 make, for old established roots 

 grow a new top with amazing 

 speed. Prune early and often 

 to keep the bottom dense and 

 shape it up well right from the 

 start. And never allow your 

 hedge to grow too thick. A 

 hedge four feet tall should 

 never be thicker than two and 

 a half feet at the base. 



When a tree grows near a 

 hedge and stunts its growth, 

 dig a trench two feet deep 

 about three feet from the 

 hedge, cut off all roots of the 

 tree that are encountered and 

 set plank edgewise in the 

 trench to keep out new tree roots. Fill the trench to within 

 6 inches of the top with stable manure, covering with earth. 

 If it is desirable to grow a flower border close to a hedge, a 

 similar plank barrier may be sunk close to the hedge to keep 

 out the roots, providing it is done while the latter is small. 



STOP pruning, or shearing for the season in time to let the last 

 growth " ripen " before frost comes — soft unripened "wood" 

 is tender, and tender growth winter kills every time! To be quite 

 safe, the latter part of August should see the last pruning, but 

 the exact time will vary with the soil, site, and season. 



Finally, a word about the shears for hedge pruning. Don't 

 sharpen them to a flat cutting edge, like ordinary scissors. They 

 should be rounded up to a sharp, knife-like edge. If you do not 

 understand, go to a dealer, and ask to be shown a new pair, and 

 notice the manner in which the cutting edges are shaped. 



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