YOUR PRIVET HEDGE AND ITS SHAPING 
CHARLES CLARK 
Entirely Dependent Upon Your Knowing How to Prune It 
This Feature Will Become Just What You Yourself Make It 
fcMMHE object of pruning a hedge is twofold — to give it the 
M|3r§ proper shape and size, and to increase the number of 
^igs that bear leaves. Hedges that are permitted to 
grow too fast do not have enough leaf-bearing twigs. 
A Privet plant growing alone and untrimmed soon loses the 
bottom limbs and foliage, and forms a bushy top. The reason 
is that the top gets more light and air. When a hedge is made 
of Privet — or any other plant — this tendency to run to top must 
be overcome. Foiled by severe pruning in its attempt to run 
to top a plant is forced to make bottom growth; and thus a 
hedge properly pruned throws 
out limbs at the bottom. 
This is the only feature of 
growing a good hedge that 
offers any difficulty. Bottom 
limbs are to be encouraged; 
but they should not be per- 
mitted to grow long else they 
will shade out and check the 
growth of other shoots coming 
from within the hedge. When 
their pliant and willowy ends 
are cut off, they tend to spring 
upward, and this permits in- 
ferior shoots — especially those 
struggling to emerge from the 
interior — to get more light and 
air. Hence constant pruning 
encourages the weaker shoots 
to come out to the surface of 
the hedge, where they are 
needed to bear leaves. 
I T WILL thus be seen that 
constant pruning removes 
from the face of the hedge a 
certain amount of foliage which 
threatens the limbs below with 
its shade. Moreover vigorous 
shoots are always tending to 
dwarf the less vigorous ones 
by growing at their expense. 
Pruning equalizes this; and 
when a limb is cut on the face 
of the hedge the buds below 
the cut shoot out, forming a 
fork, and thus more leaf-bearing twigs are provided — which 
is precisely what we want. For we need an enormous number 
of small twigs at the surface of the hedge to bear the dense crop 
of leaves there which make a fine, close texture. Frequent prun- 
ing is absolutely the only way in which we can get these little 
twigs. 
Another argument for pruning when the wood is small and 
soft is that it can be done so rapidly, while cutting off branches 
the size of a lead pencil is slow, hard work. If, on account of a 
long rainy spell, a hedge runs away and makes a tremendous 
top. growth, all this new growth should come off! Such severe 
pruning will make it look queer unquestionably for a few days, 
but new growth will hide the nakedness with astonishing 
rapidity. 
Never trim the sides of a hedge to a true perpendicular. In 
this form the base is bound to be injured by shade, whereas if 
the hedge is trimmed A-shaped— that is, with sloping sides — 
the base gets the sunlight and air that are so necessary to dense 
leaf growth. 
T O GROW a hedge in a shady situation, two things are neces- 
sary: — heavy fertilization, and very severe pruning. Such a 
hedge is slow to make a satisfactory base, and the top must 
simply be cut back until such a base is formed. It requires a 
longer time therefore to grow such a hedge — and the owner 
must exercise patience as well as the pruning shears. Similarly, 
since it is difficult to grow on 
an east-west hedge an equally 
dense base on the north side 
away from the sunlight and on 
the south where it shines con- 
tinually, such a one should be 
pruned with considerable slope 
to the sides; and the base on 
the north side should be care- 
fully watched. 
If you have a hedge that is 
all top and leggy below, first 
mulch it heavily with manure 
in the fall or early winter; 
then ih the spring cut it down 
to within four inches of the 
ground, and start it all over 
again. You will be astonished 
at the rapid growth it will 
make, for old established roots 
grow a new top with amazing 
speed. Prune early and often 
to keep the bottom dense and 
shape it up well right from the 
start. And never allow your 
hedge to grow too thick. A 
hedge four feet tall should 
never be thicker than two and 
a half feet at the base. 
When a tree grows near a 
hedge and stunts its growth, 
dig a trench two feet deep 
about three feet from the 
hedge, cut off all roots of the 
tree that are encountered and 
set plank edgewise in the 
trench to keep out new tree roots. Fill the trench to within 
6 inches of the top with stable manure, covering with earth. 
If it is desirable to grow a flower border close to a hedge, a 
similar plank barrier may be sunk close to the hedge to keep 
out the roots, providing it is done while the latter is small. 
S TOP pruning, or shearing for the season in time to let the last 
growth “ ripen ” before frost comes — soft unripened “wood” 
is tender, and tender growth winter kills every time ! To be quite 
safe, the latter part of August should see the last pruning, but 
the exact time will vary with the soil, site, and season. 
Finally, a word about the shears for hedge pruning. Don’t 
sharpen them to a flat cutting edge, like ordinary scissors. They 
should be rounded up to a sharp, knife-like edge. If you do not 
understand, go to a dealer, and ask to be shown a new pair, and 
notice the manner in which the cutting edges are shaped. 
WHERE PRUNING TAKES ON THE CHARACTER OF SCULPTURE 
It is a man with shears who represents to a hedge that divinity which 
shapes the end — but rough-hewn it assuredly will be unless he 
uses brain as enthusiastically as he uses the aforesaid implement! 
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