Evergreen Hedges

Froiu tho N". Y. Fvening l'ost. Evergroon hodges and screens are so boautiful at all Beasons, bo useful, and bo easy to raiae with proper eare and attention, that it is a matter of surprise as woll as regret that farmers should bo generally neglect thoin. As shelter bolta they are useful about fruit orchards and dwollinge, but they pay in beauty alono where a cultivator can appreciate them ; and a man -who does notjadmiro them is not to be envied for his tasto. Porhaps they are neglected because of of the supposed cost and the difficulty of growing them. These objectioas aro dolusire. Purchased nnd planted when small, they are not expensio or difficult to raise, and tho care lequired is not beyond the skill of any ordinary farmer who has the inind to read and think itud oDserve oioseiy. Perhaps we them with more faoility in Vineland, from thó fact that stook ia not allowed to run at laige here; and bocause we clo not follotr the old fgy plan of pasturagó. Kut stook has no business about tbc ía.vn ov grquuds conuected with the dweiling .of uny furmer of taste, and henee hedges :night bü cultivated there without danger from. their interferenoe. Whon pasturing gives place to soiling, as it must eventaiiUy, than the most rcrious danger to evergreen hedges will havo passed away. I have a thrifty, woll branohod hodgo of Norway Bpruce, extending along threfi sides of a ten-acre farm, besides bordering the oarriage way, running over tho lawn and about the house, and the myH tery of getting it eatablished can easily be oomprehended. The planta wore bought when about one foot high, and coat, freight inciuded, about two oents eaoh. I planted them in straightjrows, putting swamp muck under them, and gave them good nursery culture for one and two yeare ; the best of them wore put in a front hedge row at the end of one year. The hedge row I proparod by ploughing a trench as deep as I could make it witli oue norse (two would be botter) and then I ran a subsoil plough through the bottoin. Into this furrow muck waa liborally scattered. The plants in the nursory row were then cut out by means of a long-handled and round-pointed spade, with a ball of earth and muek attaohed, placed on what most farmers would cali a " stone boat " and when there was a reasonable load liftcd, vere hauled to tho hedge row, and carof elly planted two feet apart. The ball of earth kept the roots in place, and there was little work except to haul the earth up oarefully about them, and see that they stood ereot and at oqual distances. When the row was completo, I ran the hoe along ou each sido to keep the ground opon and to keep down tho weeds. There is no more difficulty about that work than there is in cultivating oorji. Tlie oftener it is dono through the soason tho botter it will bo for tho hedgo. The hand hoo will be needed ocoasionally for weeds which horse culture cannot reach. Keep down tho weeds and grass on each side for a space of at least thrce feet, and do it for four or five years, uud and thore will not probably be anythiug to complain of in tho way of rapid growth. The pruning required ia to " snip " the leader onco a year, say in March or April, so as to muintain a uuifoim height and to cause a dense growth of foliage and branches at thebottoin. The other pruning necessary is simply to keep the bottom limbs the longest, and to clip the sides just enough to make the hodge roofshaped. If this is noglocted the bottom limbs are apt to die out occasionally, and luave ugly gaps. This training, liko that of children, is specially important when the hedge is young. Neglect it then and no af ter care eau remedy the faults. Get it well started, thiok at the bottom, etocky and well-shaped, and the aftor care amounts to comparatively little. Evergreens are Ies9 difficult to train than other trees, becauso they naturally tuko on the pyramidal form, and noed comperatively little pruning in order to make them perfect iñ thrs respect. In the hedgo only tho outsido limbs need bo pruned after the inside limbs touch each other. The interlockiug and interlacing of the latter is what makea1 the hodge stroug. "VVhen well grown and nino or ten years old, only some " rampageous " animal like a mad buil will go through a hedgo of Norway spruce. Where au evergreen screen is desired- " that is, a tall hedge twonty, thirty orjforty feet high, which shali bo an effectual wind-break and shut off the view in a certain diroction - the troatment at planting is preoisely tho same, except to allow wider spacos. Four or six feet will do for a screen, but early care in pruning, so' as to secure a thick growth at tho bottom is uil-important. Keep the plants as uniform as possible in shape and height until thoy are six or oight feet high, and' then they may bo trustod tp have thoir own way.