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PARK AND CEMETERY 
The Hardy Orange Hedge Plant 
Candidates for public favor as hedge plants are 
looming up every few years, the latest one, the 
hardy orange. Citrus trifoliata, being now on trial. 
This is a true orange, not simply named orange, as 
is the case with the Osage orange. If I remember 
right, it appeared first at Washington, D. C., where 
it had been brought from Japan as a stock on which 
fruiting sorts had been grafted. Proving a good 
one for the purpose, more of them were imported. 
CITRUS TKlFOI.I.\TA — HARDY ORANGE. 
and some were allowed to grow up as small trees, 
and they proved hardy. Though named “hardy” 
because of being far hardier than any other known 
sort, it is not hardy in the far North. It is, how- 
ever, quite hardy as far as Philadelphia, and doubt- 
less farther north along the coast, it would be un- 
injured. Anywhere south of Philadelphia it is a 
beautiful specimen plant and an invaluable hedge 
plant. Where defensive hedges are still deemed 
necessary, there is nothing better. The Osage 
orange and the honey-locust, long favorite hedge 
plants, have been almost wholly discarded. Natur- 
ally of tree growth, they were hard to keep in shape, 
and to add to this, their roots, especially those of 
the Osage, extended so far each side of the hedge, 
as to rob the food from crops for several yards in 
each side of it. 
In the South, or wherever a hedge is still re- 
quired, this hardy orange will doubtless be the best 
of all plants to use. The Pyracantha is rather slow 
growing, and it does not make stifif shoots. The 
Cherokee and other roses do not make as thick or 
as stiff a hedge as desired. Now the hardy orange 
would turn man or beast after once fairly of good 
size, which it is not long in reaching. It has very 
rigid shoots and spines, and it stands almost as 
firm as a planted post. Nothing would attempt its 
passage more than once. 
The hardy orange is not evergreen, such as many 
hedge plants are, but at all times its shoots are deep- 
green, and these make a hedge of it attractive even 
in the winter season. 
Perhaps a good feature is the fact that its pretty 
oranges are not palatable, being of a very bitter 
taste. Were it otherwise, boys would be apt to 
damage the hedge to get the fruit, though the for- 
bidding nature of its thorns and its very stiff shoots,, 
as already noted, would resist successfully ordi- 
nary attempts to interfere with them. 
The plants are raised from seeds, sown in spring, 
germinating well at once, and making a good 
growth the first season. 
Naturally this plant is a bushy grower close to 
the ground, and not making the rampant growth 
of the Osage orange ; one pruning a year is suffi- 
cient for it. This natural bushiness makes it un- 
necessary to use as many plants per yard as the 
older hedge plants require ; and a good hedge re- 
sults in three or four years. 
In early spring these plants are full of pretty 
white “orange blossoms”, just like the fruiting ones 
produce, but without the sweet odor, which makes 
those of the old sorts renowned. 
Referring again to the question of hardiness, Phil- 
adelphians get zero weather for a few days nearly 
every winter, and the hardy orange is hardy there. 
This will be some guide as to its hardiness in other 
localities. 
The photograph is of a bush growing on the 
grounds of Charles W. Henry, Chestnut Hill, Phil- 
adelphia. Just imagine what an effective hedge it 
would be composed of such a thick, twiggy, thorny,, 
stiff-growing plant as it represents. A few 
“oranges” are still on the branches and several are 
on the ground. Joseph Meehan. 
THE YEW AS A HEDGE PLANT. 
For the purpose of a hedge the Yew is generally 
used for the inside of a garden, where for terraces 
and hedges near the mansion it is the best plant that 
can be employed. It should be treated in every respect 
in the same way as the Holly, with the important ex- 
ception of being clipped in May, as the Yew makes 
most of its growth in the early part of the year. 
— The Garden. 
