HEDGES FOR GARDENS. 



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it grows more freely, but cannot make so close a fence. The myrobalan is more 

 snitable for boundaries in woodlands than in dressed grounds. Holly or privet 

 (Ligustrum) are not infrequently mixed with quick-thorns for hedges, but the mixture 

 does not long remain uniform, one or the other growing the more rapidly, with the con- 

 sequent degeneration of the weaker ; it is a question of the " survival of the fittest " for 

 the soil and situation. 



Hedges of common laurel are frequently seen, but only rarely in satisfactory 

 condition. They are not adapted to all soils, while they are liable to be killed to the 

 ground by severe frost. Where laurels thrive and hedges are desired, the Colchic 

 variety is the best to plant, as being more hardy than the common form, and less liable 

 to injury by rabbits. The appearance of holly hedges is spoiled by clipping them with 

 shears. They should be cut with knives — rather a tedious operation — not severing 

 the leaves. 



In soils where the common holly (Ilex aquifolium) luxuriates, it forms a deep green 

 impenetrable boundary fence, and, well kept, is decidedly ornamental. The holly hedges 

 by the side of the highway that passes through Baron Schroder's estate at Englefield 

 Green, Surre}^, may be described as models, and they are admired by thousands of 

 persons who traverse the beautiful district near the great park of Eoyal Windsor. The 

 soil is gravelly loam. They have been planted upwards of thirty years, and are trimmed 

 annually, during the last week in July, for keeping them close and j)leasing in appear- 

 ance all the year round. If desired, it is not difiicult to add what some persons regard 

 as a novel feature, to green holly hedges, by having at intervals globes or pyramids of 

 the Golden or Silver Queen varieties supported above them. They are formed by allowing 

 healthy growths of the green kind to extend, and inserting in them buds, with a leaf 

 attached to each, of the varieties named, at any time when the sap is active in the 

 summer, binding them with matting or worsted, as in budding roses. 



The tree box (Buxus sempervirens) makes a close, bright green divisional hedge 

 in gardens, and grows the most satisfactorily in chalky soils. 



Along the south coast, and even in the neighbourhood of London, hedges of green 

 or variegated Japanese Euony muses succeed admirably, are decidedly attractive and 

 seldom materially injured by frost. They are more hardy than laurels, and also more 

 beautiful. 



1^0 hedges are more quickly formed than those of the familiar privet. They may be 

 also close and dense, when clipped twice a year, but are not formidable barriers. The 



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