It
should be pruned in wedge shape, but shearing is objectionable as
causing a thick and short growth of leaves at the exterior, excluding
light from the inside and causing bare branches there. Cutting back more
irregularly with a knife allows the growth of interior foliage, and
gives more breadth to the hedge. The sheared hedge presents an unnatural
stiffness in ornamental grounds; but skillfully cut back with the knife
it has more of the beauty of natural form. The manner of pruning is very
important, both as regards utility and beauty. For farm barriers hedges
do not require so elaborate care. Another mode of treatment has been
adopted in the Western States. The trees are trimmed and the main stems
trained upright for a few years. They are then cut half off at the
ground and bent over at an angle of thirty degrees with the ground, a
tree being left upright at distances of four or five feet, and the
inclined ones interwoven among them, a straight line of trees being thus
formed. The tops are then cut off about three feet high. New shoots
spring up in abundance and form an impenetrable growth, as many as
fifty having been counted from a single plant the first year.
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