A similar treatment may be adopted when a hedge becomes too high by long
years of growth. The trees are first partly trimmed with a light axe or
hook with a long handle, and then half cut off at the ground and bent
over. A new growth will spring up and form a new hedge. This course was
adopted by the essayist with a hedge planted twenty-eight years ago, and
which has been a perfect farm barrier for more than twenty years. The
cost of this hedge was about twenty-five cents a rod the first year, and
the three subsequent cuttings for sixty rods cost about twenty dollars,
averaging less than a dollar a year. But it was usually too tall and
shaded, and occupied too much ground, to be recommended where land is
valuable.

Ninety rods of Osage orange hedge, properly trimmed, cost about the same
for the first four years of cultivation, but more for annual cutting
back. It was planted twenty-four years ago, and has been a perfect
barrier for about twenty years. The yearly cost of pruning was about
four cents a rod for ten or twelve years, and since it has become larger
and higher nearly double. For cutting back a stout hook with a handle
two and a-half feet long or a stout scythe was used. Hedge shears are
too slow except for ornamental hedges, and even for these the knife is
preferable.

The Honey locust has been extensively used for hedges of late years on
account of its hardiness. Seed should be selected from the most thorny
trees. The trees have a tall, slender, and not hedgy growth, and require
thorough cutting back to secure a thick mass of branches at the bottom,
and very few have received this treatment when young. The care in
planting and rearing is similar to that required by the Osage orange.

Many hedges have been injured or even destroyed by pruning after the