The Planting and Care of Hedge Plants 
SOME OF THE BEST VARIETIES TO USE AND THEIR QUALIFI¬ 
CATIONS—PREPARING THE SOIL, PLANTING AND PRUNING 
by M. Roberts Conover 
A LTHOUGH its form may 
change with the demands 
of popular favor, or the pref¬ 
erence for certain hedge plants 
may wax or wane, yet the 
hedge is an established feature 
of the garden. The satisfactory 
hedge plant must be adapta¬ 
ble in habit of growth, sightly 
the greater part of the year, 
and hardy enough to endure 
the winter in its locality. The 
California privet owes its wide 
popularity to the fact that it 
readily meets these require¬ 
ments, making it possible to the 
home of moderate means or to 
the exactions of elegant and 
extensive landscape work. 
The number of plants which 
may be used in hedge culture 
is greater than one would 
believe if he observes only the 
matic conditions, and often the limited variety of plants kept 
by the local nurseryman, serve to bring about a certain monotony 
in the hedges of particular regions. Certain vines as well as 
dwarf trees may, with a little assistance from the pruner, form 
beautiful hedges if some support is given them during the early 
years of growth. 
That the hedge may endure through years of usefulness and 
beauty, prelimi¬ 
nary preparation 
must be given to 
the site chosen 
for its planting. 
While the actual 
work of planting 
can best be done 
in the spring, the 
work of clearing 
and marking off 
the allotted space 
and even working 
and manuring the 
soil should be 
done in late fall 
or early winter 
while the ground 
is yet unfrozen. 
Good drainage 
should be estab- 
1 i s h e d where 
needed and care¬ 
ful note taken of 
the conditions 
Althea makes an excellent screening hedge and which may deter- 
has a tendency to rather high growth mine the choice of 
plants and the general form of 
the hedge—as the proximity of 
shade trees, bleak exposures, 
etc. 
A space four feet wide is not 
too ample for the work of cul¬ 
tivation which when done for 
some months before setting 
renders the soil less resistant 
to the roots. Where the soil is 
very infertile, the application of 
good soil in the trench along 
the proposed hedge-line will be 
necessary. When one consid¬ 
ers that the prepared soil costs 
two dollars per cubic yard it 
will be seen that this prepara¬ 
tion for an extensive hedge 
line is expensive. When one 
has the facilities, however, this 
may be had much cheaper. 
Leaves and rakings from the 
lawn, the remains of garden vegetation and the cleanings from 
the hennery and stable or dairy barn if composted with a quan¬ 
tity of top soil will solve this problem with less expense. This 
well rotted composition should be used in the trench to a depth 
and width of eighteen inches where the soil is poor. 
Where hedges are wanted to give merely an apparent strength 
to the boundary lines of the grounds in front of residences, along 
streets, etc., the hedge plants of fine foliage are alone desirable. 
The height of the 
hedge is, of 
course, deter¬ 
mined by the taste 
and preference 
of the owner, 
but the low hedge 
allowing a view, 
of fine lawn or 
landscape effects 
is of much more 
value to the ap¬ 
pearance of the 
street or avenue. 
T h e Japanese 
barberry, haw¬ 
thorn, privet, 
Rosa rugosa or 
dwarf evergreens 
are more appro¬ 
priate for a hedge 
of this character. 
T h e Japanese 
barberry and 
privet should be 
(Continued on 
page 321) 
Photographs by Nathan R. Graves 
In some localities spruce thrives and forms an attractive hedge. It 
is shown here in the foreground. In the rear is Arbor vitae 
hedges in one locality. Cli- 
Arbor vitae is well adapted for use as a hedge. 
Plants should be set eighteen inches apart 
( 300 ) 
