Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-11-17

of IA feet back to six. The result was
a mass of black, leafless branches which
seemed to justify the belief of the mans
wife that the hedge was ruined and had
better be grubbed out. / saw q posi-
bility of its recovery and advised pa
thence The result justified my opinion
as it has almost recovered its outer
foliage and is once more an object OF
beauty. If the reader will closely notice
a coniferous hedge that has been closely
sheared for many years he will find that
the foliage is all upon the outside and
that within it is a mass of bare branches
with only occasionally a mere fragment
of green. The illustration shows a
piece Of a branch cut out of a thick hem
lock tree A and B are minute sprays
of foliage drawn to the relative size OF
the branch they grow upon, and were
the only sign of living foliage within
four feet of the body of the tree. Had
the tree all been cut away except the
stem and this bit of a stub, the tree
would in time have grown another top
from these bits of living foliage and
become a somewhat awkward tree as
large as the original. Had two stubs
of limbs been left on opposite sides,
the resulting tree would have had two
distinct pointed tops; with four
branches left the tree would have made
four tops distinct and separate until
their intermingling growth crowded
out a leader with a slight advantage of
yigor when a single pointed top would
once more restore the normal form, It
was the presence of many little sprays
on the inner branches of the hedge re-
terred to that made it possible for it to
reclothe itself and once more become
ornamental.
A knowledge of the fact that only a
very little foliage is necessary to en-
able to confer to grow a new top is often
of advantage when a tree gets so large
As to be in the way. A confer will not
sprout from the stump like a willow or
a chestnut; but if a very little bit Of
growth can be left near the ground, be
1t ever so small, the tree al be started
again and will make the same extra
strong growth as a d%eciduous stump.
The fact that coniferous trees hava
no adventitious buds makes it much
easier to control their growth and limit
the size Of trees than with deciduous
sorts. AS every owner of an apple tree
knows, the cutting way of a large
branch brings many water sprouts, and
these are not confined to the stump
amputated, but grow all over the tree
where a favorable accumulation OF sap
may force a bud. These accidental
sprouts being impossible in a confer
one has but to control the foliage by
shearing or amputation of branches to
bring about any desired form and check
growth.
: European and Japanese gardeners
have for centuries taken advantage of
these possibilities to make all sorts
Of grotesque forms, and imported trees
are now growing in several eastern
nurseries in the form of doves, pleas
ants and other birdlike and animal
'orms.
| once saw a singular result of an
accidental pruning of an American ar
Dor vitae about Is feet high. It was
first sawed off about five feet high for
material wherewith to trim a hall.
Cattle destroyed all the limbs except a
large one at the top Of the stump. This
stretched out some eight feet and then
began to develop a shapely pyramidal
top and in a few years began to look
like an extended arm holding a neat
and shapely Christmas tree on the palm
of the hand.
Where an evergreen has grown so
tall as to obstruct desirable views from
porches or windows it may be cut off
two feet high, leaving the lower
branches. In two seasons a very pretty
fiat tree less than four feet high results
which, by annual pinching, may be
confined to a few inches of upward an
nual growth. l have seen Austrian and
Scotch pines 80 feet in diameter and
lot five feet high. All trimming of O n
lfers should be done in spring or sum
mer--L. r.. Pierce in Ohio Farmar