oliage twice
or thrice a day instead they would have all lived. It is important in
the case of newly planted yew and holly hedges to protect by screens of
spruce boughs secured to a hurdle or any other material suitable at hand
to assist the plants until they have started into growth.

PRUNING.--This is a great advantage to all Evergreens in moderation; the
majority, if left to their own will, become straggling in growth and
unsightly.

Evergreens differ from deciduous plants in regard to time of pruning.
Most deciduous things may be pruned at any time between the fall of the
leaf and the recommencement of growth in spring. But evergreens should
never be pruned in late autumn or winter. For plants that are grown
merely for foliage sake and not for the flowers, pruning should be done
just as new growth is commencing. In the case of flowering shrubs like
Rhododendron or Berberis it should be done as soon as the flowering
season is past.

Rhododendrons are improved by pruning, but the pruner must know
something of the varieties and their growth. _Berberis stenophylla_
gains in beauty by severe pruning, thinning out and cutting back after
flowering is over. It helps the plant to make those long, drooping
growths which are so beautiful in spring.

CLIMBING EVERGREENS.--One of the peculiarities of the evergreen class of
plants is the marked absence of climbing species in cool temperate
countries--that is, true climbers, not, the numerous things that are
made to do duty as such on walls. If one takes up a tree and shrub
catalogue of even the best nurserymen, one is struck by the few
evergreen climbers offered. In spite of the fact that the cool,
temperate regions of the earth have been so thoroughly ransacked during
the last century, no plant has ever been found that equals or even
approaches in value the Common Ivy and its varieties for the special
purposes for which they are adapted. The best that are available are the
Jasmine, _Ercilla volubilis_ (_Bridgesia spicata_), Smilax, _Clematis
calycina_, and tenderer things like Lardizabala and _Passiflora
caerulea_.

[Illustration: _WEEPING HOLLY ON LAWN._]

Evergreens as a whole are much neglected in ordinary gardens. Instead of
drawing upon the great wealth of shrubs available, so many go on using
the same old things over and over again, generally Aucuba, Portugal and
Cherry Laurels, _Rhododendron ponticum_, and such like.

THE HOLLY is one of the most beautiful of all