68 THE BOOK OF TOPIARY 
allowed to grow too quickly. More especially does this 
apply to hedges. No matter how much it is desired to 
get a hedge quickly grown in a certain place, whether 
for shelter or anything else, it is the greatest possible 
mistake to sacrifice strength and substance to a desire to 
promote rapid growth, a result that is certain to occur if 
a hedge is allowed to grow eight or ten feet before it is 
stopped. Nothing should be done to a hedge in the way 
of clipping the same autumn or winter it is planted, and 
perhaps not even the following autumn; but each year 
afterwards it should be stopped, and never allowed to 
make more than three or four inches of growth each year. 
By following the system of stopping the growth every 
year, the length of time required to grow a hedge eight 
or ten feet in height is greatly extended. But the result 
will amply repay the extra time that has been taken to 
grow it; you will get a hedge full of strength and sub- . 
stance, and well furnished with young growths from top 
to bottom. But if the other system is followed of allow- 
ing the hedge to get to its full height before any clipping 
is done, you will have a hedge that is lacking in strength 
and substance, easily blown out of shape by every wind, 
and also one that it is very difficult to clip in anything 
like a proper way, on account of its many strong branches 
growing towards the outside, that should have been re- 
moved to make room for a thicker growth. Each year 
when the work of clipping is being done, a sharp look- 
out should be kept for all small branches or shoots that 
are inclined to grow towards the outside of the tree or 
hedge, and these must be removed whenever they are 
seen. In equal force does this apply to both hedges and 
trees, and it is a part of the work in a Topiary garden 
which if not carefully attended to, will very soon cause 
a great deal of harm. ‘Those shoots in the course of a 
few years will grow into strong branches, and become a 
regular nuisance in the way of keeping them constantly 
