48 THE BOOK OF TOPIARY 
at one time, instead of adding trees at intervals of a few 
years, there will be too much uniformity about it. 
This should be avoided as far as possible, and if a few 
box trees have been planted here and there, they will 
help to break the evenness of the garden, since box can 
be kept down to almost any size desired by the aid of 
constant clipping. 
When the work of marking out the places and 
planting the trees is being done, avoid anything that 
will afterwards have a tendency to over-crowding. 
Allow plenty of space for each tree to develop into 
whatever size or shape may be desired, and then have 
plenty of space for each tree to be plainly and distinctly 
seen. Trees that are too thickly planted never have 
the same appearance as those that have been allowed 
sufficient space; neither is over-crowding beneficial. 
It has a great tendency to draw the trees up too quickly, 
at the expense of strong and robust growth. 
When the planting operations are finished, each tree 
should be given a good mulching of farmyard manure. 
Nothing is more beneficial to the health and vigour of 
the trees than half decayed manure from the farmyard, 
applied as a mulching either to old or newly-planted 
trees. It is the best stimulant that can be applied, as 
it answers the two-fold purpose of imparting health and 
vigour to the trees and protecting the roots from frost 
during winter, although there is perhaps very little 
danger of frost doing any damage to the roots of the 
yew on account of its extreme hardiness. It is always 
safer to protect trees that have been recently planted, 
and the manure will certainly not be wasted. 
If the garden is an old established one and full of 
old trees, these will be greatly benefited by the aid of 
occasional top dressings of some sort of manure, or the 
trees will begin to show signs of deteriorating in course 
of time. More especially will top dressing be necessary 
