CLIPPING. 



58 



COB.EA. 



produce a succession of blossoms, till 

 the plants are destroyed by frost. 



Clipping or shearing plants was a 

 very common practice in gardens with 

 all shrubs, many trees, and even fruit- 

 bearing bushes, such as the gooseberry 

 and currant, from the earliest times 

 up to the commencement of the last 

 century ; but it is now chiefly confined 

 to hedges and edgings. Evergreen 

 hedges, such as those of holly, yew, 

 and box, are generally clipped about 

 midsummer ; and this is also the sea- 

 son for clipping box edgings. Deci- 

 duous hedges, such as those of the 

 common thorn, may either be clipped 

 immediately after midsummer, or 

 during winter ; as, during the latter 

 season, the sap is in a great measure 

 dormant, and the wounded points of 

 the shoots are the less liable to be 

 injured by frosts. In general, both 

 evergreen and deciduous hedges and 

 edgings may be clipped at any period 

 after the growth for the season is com- 

 pleted ; hut if cut or clipped before 

 that takes place, the amputated shoots 

 are apt to make a second growth, 

 which thickens too much the surface 

 of the hedge, and by excluding the 

 air, ends by causing the decay of the 

 interior branches. Broad-leaved 

 plants used as hedges, such as the 

 common laurel, should be cut with 

 the knife by hand ; as when the large 

 leaves are cut through, the appearance 

 of the hedge afterwards is mutilated 

 and unsightly. Holly hedges are also 

 hest cut by hand. Privet, yew, and 

 hox hedges may always be clipped. 

 Thorn hedges, in the best agricultural 

 districts, are generally cut with a 

 hedgebill ; and the stroke is always 

 made upwards, in order not to fracture 

 the shoots ; as breaking them, by ad- 

 mitting moisture, causes them to de- 

 cay at the points, and also stimulates 

 them to produce small shoots, which 

 thicken the hedge too much at the 

 surface. There are two kinds of shears 



for cutting hedges ; the common kind, 

 in which the two blades work on a 

 fixed pivot, and make a crushing cut 

 which bruises the shoot ; and the 

 pruning-shears, in which the pivot is 

 fixed into one blade, and the other 

 moves over it in a groove, in conse- 

 quence of which a draw-cut is pro- 

 duced in the same manner, as if the 

 hedge had been cut by hand with a 

 knife. All hedges, and especially all 

 garden hedges, should be cut by this 

 kind of shears. 



Clothing the Stems of Trees is a 

 practice resorted to with half-hardy 

 species, such as some kinds of Magno- 

 lia, for the purpose of preserving vita- 

 lity in the lower part of the stem, and 

 the collar or neck of the tree, by ex- 

 cluding the cold, and throwing off the 

 rain ; because it is found that the seat 

 of life in all plants is chiefly in the 

 collar, and consequently, that a tree 

 may have all its branches killed, and 

 all its roots, excepting a part of the 

 trunk next the collar, and a part of 

 the main roots below it, and yet live. 

 The best kind of clothing is wheat 

 straw, or long slips of bark ; and these 

 ought to be spread out at the base of 

 the trunk, so as to throw off the rain 

 to a foot or two of distance from the 

 collar. 



Cobvea. — Cohacece, or Polemo- 

 nacece. — C. scandens is a climbing 

 plant of very rapid growth, and pro- 

 ducing abundance of large bell-shaped 

 flowers, which are first green, but 

 afterwards become purple. The plant, 

 if allowed plenty of room for its roots, 

 and grown in a rich sandy loam, will 

 extend along a wall or trellis, thirty 

 or forty feet, in the course of a single 

 summer. When it is wanted to co- 

 ver any broad space, the points of the 

 shoots should be repeatedly pinched 

 off,tomake it throwout lateral shoots; 

 and these should be trained to cover 

 the bare places. When the wall is 

 rough, the plant will adhere to it by 



