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MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG TREES 61 
or imported from the Continent. The system of buying 
trees that are already shaped is an excellent way of 
getting a Topiary garden made and furnished with 
trees in the quickest possible time. But it is a plan 
that is not to be universally recommended or practised. 
In the first place, trees of that description generally 
have the very great drawback of being very expensive. 
Only those who have to deal with the training of 
yews have any idea how much labour and care is 
Spent on a tree in shaping it into even the smallest 
bird; and it therefore stands to reason that the 
time and labour nurserymen spend on clipping and 
training Topiary trees, and preparing them for the 
market, must be paid for by the purchaser. But 
there is another, and perhaps an even greater objec- 
tion in buying trees already trained. Surely the person 
who loves his garden and takes a great personal interest 
in Topiary work, would never think of planting it with 
trees that have already been cut into shapes by other 
hands. Although there is no question about the ex- 
cellence of nursery trained trees, I would strongly re- 
commend that the person who spends the time and 
money in forming and laying out a Topiary garden, 
should have the patience to undertake and carry through 
the training of his own trees. A far greater source 
of pleasure will be derived from watching your own 
trees grow, and from seeing them clipped and trained 
each year into the particular shape that it is intended 
they should represent. 
It has been very often said, and said with a great 
deal of truth, that a person can with care and manage- 
ment train the yew into almost any shape desired. Even 
figures or letters are easy to form out of yew. In hand- 
ling the yew, you have a kind of tree to work upon 
that lends itself in the most convenient way to the work 
of clipping and training into all the quaint and curious 
