SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS— HEDGES AND VINES 



25 



After setting the plants, cut all the tops back to a few 

 inches from the main stem. During the first season, clip 

 the tops several times to induce a broad and thick base. 

 The common practice is to trim the sides perpendicular 

 and the top fiat like a wall. The danger with this method 

 is that the sides do not get the full effect of the sunlight 

 and will get thin underneath. A more dense growth to the 

 ground can be had by trimming with a wide base sloping 

 in a rounded conical form to the top. Trimmed in this 

 way the base has a better chance and will thicken close 

 to the ground. 



A skilled hand, with a sharp sickle, can prune the hedge 

 far more rapidly than with the shears, but the ordinary 

 hand had better use a line and shears. With a little 

 care in training one can make the hedge take almost any 

 shape, and can train archways over the gates or trim into 

 fantastic shape. 



AMOOR RIVER PRIVET 



This variety is coming into use more recently and is 

 preferred by many, especially in the South, to the Cali- 

 fornia. It has smaller leaves and is rather less rank in 

 growth than the California species, and has the advantage 

 of being more evergreen, holding its leaves here very well 

 all winter. 



As a single plant for ornamental shrubbery the Amoor 

 River Privet is very attractive, for if left to take its natural 

 shape as a shrub it becomes verj^ graceful, and in spring 



is loaded with its white flowers, making it one of the 

 most attractive of shrubs. Coming from Siberia this 

 species should be even more hardy than the California. 

 There are other species of Privet that are even more 

 evergreen than the Amoor River. Lucidum is a dwarf 

 variety with broad leaves and as evergreen as a holly, 

 Japonicum is also evergreen and hardy at Washington. 

 The Lucidum has stood the winter at Philadelphia, but 

 how far north it will stand is not known. For the rapid 

 production of a hedge and cheapness of the plants the 

 California Privet is as yet unsurpassed. 



BOSTON IVY 



The plant that has gotten this name is not an Ivy, but 

 a species of the grape family, Ampelopsis tricuspidata. 

 It is closely related to our common Virginia Creeper, 

 Ampelopsis quinquefolia, but is neater in habit and clings 

 more closely to the wall than the Virginia Creeper. This 

 plant can be grown from seed or from cuttings of the 

 ripe wood, but cuttings are slow to root, and it is found 

 that one-year-old plants that have been grown from 

 seed make a far more rapid growth on the wall than plants 

 from cuttings. There is no plant that will more rapidly 

 cover bare brick walls and chimneys and transform them 

 into beauty in summer. Then, in the autumn the leaves 

 turn a brilliant red before falling. 



Of course, the true English Ivy is more attractive in 

 winter from its evergreen character, but unfortunately. 



