CHAPTER  XXIII
 

                              Hedges.



Hedges have several uses.   They may serve merely as barriers to prevent

horses and cattle, or even human trespassers, from reaching places where

their presence is not  desired;  or, in gardens, they may be employed to

screen undesirable objects from view, to  define and separate areas where

particular or diverse  types  of gardening are carried  on, such  as purely

formal arrangements, rose  gardens, etc., and  lastly,  they  may provide

shelter by  acting as wind-breaks.

   If it  be desirable to keep the hedge to  a  strictly formal  outline by

an annual clipping, the  number  of plants is not large whose capacity for

making  good  hedges has been proved.  Among hedge plants in this

country whose use is merely to provide an unclimbable barrier, the quick

or hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)  is  easily first.  The marvellous net¬

work of hedges that gives to cultivated England so characteristic an aspect,

as compared with other countries, is composed almost entirely  of quick.

No other  plant at  once  so   cheaply  and  easily raised,  so  formid¬

ably armed, so  amenable to persistent clipping and  so hardy, has been

found.  But in  gardens something more is usually wanted,  a hedge of a

more  ornamental character and one  that will  give shelter.  For  these

reasons an evergreen is desirable.

   Holly.—For forming a dense, ordinarily impassable hedge of handsome

appearance no evergreen has yet been found to equal the holly.  It can

be made to grow into a wall-like mass  12 ft. or more high, and makes

one of the best of wind-breaks.   A holly hedge should be clipped annually

between July and September, and will grow healthier and thicker if it is

made  to  narrow upwards.   When  the hedge is first made,  plants should

be used that have been grown  for the purpose and trained into columnar

form in the nursery.  Such plants,  well furnished to the base,  may be

obtained from  2 to  5 ft. high  in first-class nurseries,  which will form a

good hedge in three or four  years from planting, especially if watered and

taken  care of the first season.   The  considerations that govern the trans ■

planting of hollies generally  apply to hedge plants also.  The work must

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