The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1885-09-12
TRIMMING HEDGES,
How They Should BE Cared for to Secure
the Maximum of Growth and Beauty.

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How They Should BE Cared for to Secure
the Maximum of Growth and Beauty.
No one who has given the subject
any attention can pass through tht
country and observe how the hedge:
are trimmed, without coming to the
conclusion that very few understand
how a hedge should be trimmed tc
make it look beautiful and natural, or
how to trim it so as to keep it green
and vigorous close to the ground. The
most common and natural mistake is
not to cut Off enough the first and sec
ond year. Every one who sets a hedge
is in haste to get it up to the proper
height in the shortest time possible,
and So, even if they know 1t Is not the
best way. they are very likely to let
the shears run too high. Another mis-
take is common, which is to cut the top
nearly horizontal and the sides perpen-
dicular. Why this is done is n of
those mysteries which there seems to
be no accounting for; certainly it is
not natural for trees or shrubs to live
in such II box-like form, and it is equal
" certain that it does not add to the
natural beauty or durability of the
hedge. on the contrary it makes the
hedge look stiff and formal, and proves
fatal to the life of the lower branches.
The lower branches will begin to show
dead wood soon after the hedge gets to
its height, and in a few years large
gaps will appear, where both the leaves
and branches have died out, thus max
ing ting Irage appear anything but
ornamental. After vain efforts of the
owner to cover these unsightly gaps
with green leaves, the hedge is re-
moved because it fails to be the object
of beauty it was intended, and the real
cause of the unslghtly gaps never sus-
pected.
Whenever we attempt to assist ma
ture to bcautify herself, we ought to
contine ourselves as closely as possible
to natures laws. The leaves of the
trees and shrubs that are set for hedges
require sunshine and air to make a
vigorous appearance: in fact, shut out
either sunshine or air and the leaves
will die. 1t is the nature of a tree to
throw ont its branches so those nearest
the ground will extend the farthest
from the trunk, and it is also natural
when the tree gets large and the upper
branches extend beyond the lower, for
the lower branches to die. Such being
the fact, when we attempt to train a
hedge so as to keep the branches vigor-
Gus close to the ground, we must be
careful to prevent any of the upper
branches extending beyond the lower
ones; in fact, to keep the lower branches
vigorous We must be WY careful not
to cut them 50 as to make them quite
as short as those above them. The
hedge should be properly shaped when
it is small, trimming it down quite
close and leaving the bottom of the
hedge wider han the top, and the top
should be considerable higher in the
middle. 1t is true by trimming in this
way it will take several years longer to
get the hedge up to its proper height,
but when once grown it will make a
beautiful hedge, and continue so for
some years.
A hedge will look more natural and
more beautiful if it be trimmed with a
knife instead of with shears. The
shears cutting the twigs on a line with
each other it looks stiff and formal, in
fact unnatural, and is painful to an eye
that is in sympathy with nature. While
the knife, if properly used, will leave
the branches Just uneven enough to
look natural, ard the foliage will show
to much better advantage. 1t is true
it is more work to trim with the knife,
but the hedge is grown for beauty and
not for profit Massachusetts, Plough