HEDGES, in agriculture, are either planted to make fences round inclosures, or to divide the several parts of a garden. When they are designed as outward fences, they are planted either with hawthorn, crabs, or black-thorn; but those hedges which are planted in gardens, either to surround wilderness-quarters, or to screen the other parts of a garden from sight, are planted according to the fancy of the owner; some preferring ever-greens, in which case the holly is best; next the yew, then the laurel, laurustinus, phillyrea, &c. Others prefer the beech, the hornbeam, and the elm.
Before planting, it is proper to consider the nature of the land, and what sort of plants will thrive best in it; and also, what is the soil from whence the plants are to be taken. As for the size, the sets ought to be about the thickness of one's little finger, and cut within about four or five inches of the ground; they ought to be fresh taken up, straight, smooth, and well rooted. Those plants that are raised in the nursery, are to be preferred.
In planting outside hedges, the turf is to be laid, with the grass-side downwards, on that side of the ditch the bank is designed to be made; and some of the best mould should be laid upon it to bed the quick, which is to be set upon it a foot afunder. When the first row of quick is set, it must be covered with mould; and when the bank is a foot high, you may lay another row of sets against the spaces of the former, and cover them as you did the others: the bank is then to be topped with the bottom of the ditch, and a dry or dead-hedge laid, to shade and defend the under-plantation. Stakes should then be driven into the loose earth, so low as to reach the firm ground: these are to be placed at about two feet and a half distance: and in order to render the hedge yet stronger, you may edder it, that is, bind the top of the stakes with small long poles, and when the eddering is finished, drive the stakes anew.
The quick must be kept constantly weeded, and secured from being cropped by cattle; and in February it will be proper to cut it within an inch of the ground, which will cause it strike root afresh, and help it much
in the growth.
The crab is frequently planted for hedges; and if the plants are raised from the kernels of the small wild crabs, they are much to be preferred to those raised from the kernels of all sorts of apples without dilution; because the plants of the true small crab never shoot so strong as those of the apples, and may therefore be better kept within the proper compass of an hedge.
The black-thorn, or sloe, is frequently planted for hedges: and the best method of doing it, is to raise the plants from the stones of the fruit, which should be sown about the middle of January, if the weather will permit, in the place where the hedge is intended; but when they are kept longer out of the ground, it will be proper to mix them with sand, and keep them in a cool place. The same fence will do for it when sown, as when it is planted.
The holly is sometimes planted for hedges; but where it is exposed, there will be great difficulty in preventing its being destroyed: otherwise, it is by far the most beautiful plant; and, being an ever-green, will afford much better shelter for cattle in winter than any other sort of hedge. The best method of raising these hedges, is to sow the stones in the place where the hedge is intended; and, where this can be conveniently done, the plants will make a much better progress than those that are transplanted: but these berries should be buried in the ground several months before they are sown. The way to do this, is to gather the berries about Christmas, when they are usually ripe, and put them into large flower-pots, mixing some sand with them; then dig holes in the ground, into which the pots must be sunk, covering them over with earth, about ten inches thick. In this place they must remain till the following October, when they should be taken up, and sown in the place where the hedge is intended to be made. The ground should be well trenched, and cleared from the roots of all bad weeds, bushes, trees, &c. Then two drills should be made, at about a foot distance from each other, and about two inches deep, into which the seeds should be scattered pretty close, lest some should fail. When the plants grow up, they must be carefully weeded: and if they are designed to be kept very neat, they should be cut twice a year, that is in May and in August; but if they are only designed for fences, they need only be sheered in July. The fences for these hedges, while young, should admit as much free air as possible: the best sort are those made with posts and rails, or with ropes drawn through holes made in the posts; and if the ropes are painted over with a composition of melted pitch, brown Spanish colour and oil, well mixed, they will last several years.
Hedges for ornament in gardens are sometimes planted with ever-greens, in which case the holly is preferable to any other: next to this, most people prefer the yew; but the dead colour of its leaves renders those hedges less agreeable. The laurel is one of the most beautiful ever-greens; but the shoots are so luxuriant that it is difficult to keep it in any tolerable shape; and as the leaves are large, to prevent the disagreeable appearance given them by their being cut through with the sheers, it will be the best way to prune them with a knife, cutting the shoots just down to a leaf. The laurustinus is a very fine plant
Hedges. plant for this purpose; but the same objection may be made to this as to the laurel: this, therefore, ought only to be pruned with a knife in April, when the flowers are going off; but the new shoots of the same spring must by no means be shortened. The small-leaved and rough-leaved laurestinus are the best plants for this purpose. The true phillyrea is the next best plant for hedges, which may be led up to the height of 10 or 12 feet; and if they are kept narrow at the top, that there may be not too much width for the snow to lodge upon them, they will be close and thick, and make a fine appearance. The ilex, or ever-green oak, is also planted for hedges, and is a fit plant for those designed to grow very tall.—The deciduous plants usually planted to form hedges in gardens are, The hornbeam, which may be kept neat with less trouble than most other plants. The beech, which has the same good qualities as the hornbeam; but the gradual falling of its leaves in winter causes a continual litter. The small-leaved English elm is a proper tree for tall hedges, but these should not be planted closer than eight or ten feet. The lime-tree has also been recommended for the same purpose; but after they have stood some years, they grow very thin at bottom, and their leaves frequently turn of a black disagreeable colour.
Many of the flowering shrubs have also been planted in hedges, such as roses, honeysuckles, sweet-briar, &c. but these are difficult to train; and if they are cut to bring them within compass, their flowers, which are their greatest beauty, will be entirely destroyed.
Mr Anderson who hath treated the subject of hedging very particularly, is of opinion, that some other plants besides those abovementioned, might be usefully employed in the construction of hedges. Among these he reckons the common willow. This, he says, by no means requires the wetness of soil which is commonly supposed. "It is generally imagined, (says he,) that the willow can be made to thrive no where except in wet or boggy ground: but this is one of those vulgar errors, founded upon inaccurate observation, too often to be met with in subjects relating to rural affairs; for, experience has sufficiently convinced me, that this plant will not only grow, but thrive, in any rich well-cultivated soil, (unless in particular circumstances that need not here be mentioned), even altho' it be of a very dry nature. It could not, however, in general, be made to thrive, if planted in the same manner as thorns; nor would it, in any respect, be proper to train it up for a fence in the same way as that plant. The willow, as a fence, could seldom be successfully employed, but for dividing into separate inclosures any extensive field of rich ground: and, as it is always necessary to put the soil into as good order as possible before a hedge of this kind is planted in it, the easiest method of putting it into the necessary high tilth, will be to mark off the boundaries of your several fields in the winter, or early in the spring, with a design to give a complete fallow to a narrow ridge, six or eight feet broad, in the middle of which the hedge is intended to be planted the ensuing winter. This ridge ought to be frequently ploughed during the summer-season, and in autumn to be well manured with dung, or lime, or both, (for it cannot be made too rich) and be neatly formed into a ridge before winter.
Hedges. "Having prepared the ground in this manner, it will be in readiness to receive the hedge, which ought to be planted as early in winter as can be got conveniently done; as the willow is much hurt by being planted late in the spring. But before you begin to make a fence of this kind, it will be necessary to provide a sufficient number of plants: which will be best done by previously rearing them in a nursery of your own, as near the field to be inclosed as you can conveniently have it; for, as they are very bulky, the carriage of them would be troublesome if they were brought from any considerable distance. The best kinds of willow for this use, are such as make the longest and strongest shoots, and are not of a brittle nature. All the large kinds of hoop-willows may be employed for this use; but there is another kind with stronger and more taper shoots, covered with a dark green bark when young, which, upon the older shoots, becomes of an ash-gray, of a firm texture, and a little rough to the touch. The leaves are not so long, and a great deal broader than those of the common hoop-willow, pretty thick, and of a dark-green colour. What name this species is usually known by, I cannot tell; but, as it becomes very quickly of a large size at the root, and is strong and firm, it ought to be made choice of for this purpose in preference to all other kinds that I have seen. The shoots ought to be of two or three years growth before they can be properly used, and should never be less than eight or nine feet in length. These ought to be cut over close by the ground immediately before planting, and carried to the field at their whole length. The planter having stretched a line along the middle of the ridge which was prepared for their reception, begins at one end thereof, thrusting a row of these plants firmly into the ground, close by the side of the line, at the distance of 18 or 20 inches from one another; making them all slant a little to one side in a direction parallel to the line. This being finished, let him begin at the opposite end of the line, and plant another row in the intervals between the plants of the former row; making these incline as much as the others, but in a direction exactly contrary; and then, plaiting these basket-ways, work them into lozenges like a net, fastening the tops by plaiting the small twigs with one another, which with very little trouble may be made to bind together very firmly. The whole, when finished, assumes a very beautiful net-like appearance, and is even at first a tolerable good defence: and, as these plants immediately take root and quickly increase in size, it becomes, after a few years, a very strong fence which nothing can penetrate. This kind of hedge I myself have employed; and find that a man may plant and twist properly about a hundred yards in a day, if the plants be laid down to his hand: and, in a situation such as I have described, I know no kind of fence which could be reared at such a small expence, so quickly become a defence, and continue so long in good order. But it will be greatly improved by putting a plant of eglanine between each two plants of willow, which will quickly climb up and be supported by them; and, by its numerous prickles would effectually preserve the defenceless willow from being browsed upon by cattle.
"As it will be necessary to keep the narrow ridge, upon...
upon which the hedge is planted in culture for one year at least, that the plants of eglantine may not be choked by weeds, and that the roots of the willow may be allowed to spread with the greater ease in the tender mold produced by this means, it will be proper to stir the earth once or twice by a gentle horse-hoe in the beginning of summer; and, in the month of June, it may be sowed with turnips, or planted with cole-worts, which will abundantly repay the expence of the fallow."
The same author also gives the following useful directions for planting hedges in situations very much exposed to the weather, and recovering them when on the point of decaying. "Those who live in an open uncultivated country, have many difficulties to encounter, which others who inhabit more warm and sheltered regions never experience; and, among these difficulties, may be reckoned that of hardly getting hedges to grow with facility. For, where a young hedge is much exposed to violent and continued gulls of wind, no art will ever make it rise with so much freedom, or grow with such luxuriance, as it would do in a more sheltered situation and favourable exposure."
"But, although it is impossible to rear hedges, in this situation, to so much perfection as in the others, yet they may be reared even there, with a little attention and pains, so as to become very fine fences."
"It is advisable, in all cases, to plant the hedges upon the face of a bank; but it becomes absolutely necessary in such an exposed situation as that I have now described: for the bank, by breaking the force of the wind, screens the young hedge from the violence of the blast, and allows it to advance, for some time at first, with much greater luxuriance than it otherwise could have done."
"But, as it may be expected soon to grow as high as the bank, it behoves the provident husbandman to prepare for that event, and guard, with a wise forecast, against the inconvenience that may be expected to arise from that circumstance."
"With this view, it will be proper for him, instead of making a single ditch, and planting one hedge, to raise a pretty high bank, with a ditch on each side of it, and a hedge on each face of the bank; in which situation, the bank will equally shelter each of the two hedges, while they are lower than it; and, when they at length become as high as the bank, the one hedge will in a manner afford shelter to the other, so as to enable them to advance with much greater luxuriance than either of them would have done singly."
"To effectuate this still more perfectly, let a row of service-trees be planted along the top of the bank, at the distance of 18 inches from each other, with a plant of eglantine between each two services. This plant will advance, in some degree, even in this exposed situation; and, by its numerous shoots, covered with large leaves, will effectually screen the hedge on each side of it, which, in its turn, will receive some support and shelter from them, so that they will be enabled to advance all together, and form, in time, a close, strong, and beautiful fence."
"The service is a tree but little known in Scotland; although it is one of those that ought perhaps to be often cultivated there in preference to any other tree whatever, as it is more hardy, and, in an exposed situ-
ation, affords more shelter to other plants than almost any other tree I know: for it sends out a great many strong branches from the under part of the stem, which, in time, assume an upright direction, and continue to advance with vigour, and carry many leaves to the very bottom, almost as long as the tree exists, so that, if it is not pruned, it rises a large close bush, till it attains the height of a forest-tree."
"It is of the same genus with the rawn-tree—and has a great resemblance to it both in flower and fruit; its branches are more waving and pliant—its leaves undivided, broad and round, somewhat resembling the elm, but white and mealy on the under side. It deserves to be better known than it is at present."
"But if, from the poorness of the soil in which your hedge is planted, or from any other cause, it should so happen, that, after a few years, the hedge becomes sickly, and the plants turn poor and stunted in appearance, the easiest and only effectual remedy for that disease, is to cut the stems of the plants clean over, at the height of an inch or two above the ground; after which they will send forth much stronger shoots than they ever would have done without this operation. And, if the hedge be kept free of weeds, and trained afterwards in the manner above described, it will, in almost every case, be recovered, and rendered fresh and vigorous."
"This amputation ought to be performed in autumn, or the beginning of winter; and, in the spring, when the young buds begin to show themselves, the stumps ought to be examined with care, and all the buds be rubbed off, excepting one or two of the strongest and best placed, which should be left for a stem. For, if the numerous buds that spring forth round the stem are allowed to spring up undisturbed, they will become in a few years as weak and stunted as before; and the hedge will never afterwards be able to attain any considerable height, strength, or healthfulness.—I have seen many hedges, that have been repeatedly cut over, totally ruined by this circumstance not having been attended to in proper time."
"If the ground for 16 or 20 feet on each side of the hedge be fallowed at the time that this operation is performed, and get a thorough dressing with rich manures, and be kept in high order for some years afterwards by good culture and meliorating crops, the hedge will prosper much better than if this had been omitted, especially if it has been planted on the level ground, or on the bank of a shallow ditch."
"It sometimes happens, that a hedge may have been long neglected, and be in general in a healthy state, but full of gaps and openings, or so thin and straggling, as to form but a very imperfect sort of fence. On these occasions, it is in vain to hope to fill up the gaps by planting young quicks; for these would always be outgrown, choked, and starved, by the old plants: nor could it be recovered by cutting clear over by the roots, as the gaps would still continue where they formerly were. The only methods that I know of rendering this a fence are, either to mend up the gaps with dead wood, or to plash the hedge; which last operation is always the most eligible, where the gaps are not too large to admit of being cured by this means."
"The operation I here call plashing, may be defined,
Hedges. fined, "a wattling made of living wood." To form this, some stems are first selected, to be left as stakes at proper distances, the tops of which are all cut over at the height of four feet from the root. The straggling side-branches of the other part of the hedge are also lopped away. Several of the remaining plants are then cut over, close by the ground, at convenient distances; and the remaining plants are cut perhaps half through, so as to permit them to be bent to one side. They are then bent down almost to a horizontal position, and interwoven with the upright stakes, so as to retain them in that position. Care ought to be taken, that these be laid very low, at those places where there were formerly gaps; which ought to be farther strengthened by some dead stakes or truncheons of willow, which will frequently take root in this case, and continue to live. And sometimes a plant of eglantine will be able to overcome the difficulties it there meets with, strike root, and grow up so as to strengthen the hedge in a most effectual manner.
"The operator begins at one end of the field, and proceeds regularly forward, bending all the stems in one direction, so that the points rise above the roots of the others, till the whole wattling is completed to the same height as the uprights.
"An expert operator will perform this work with much greater expedition, than one who has not seen it done could easily imagine. And, as all the diagonal wattlings continue to live and send out shoots from many parts of their stems, and as the upright shoots that rise from the stumps of those plants that have been cut over quickly rush up through the whole hedge, these serve to unite the whole into one entire mass, that forms a strong, durable, and beautiful fence.
"This is the best method, of recovering an old neglected hedge, that hath as yet come to my knowledge.
"In some cases it happens that the young shoots of a hedge are killed every winter; in which case it soon becomes dead and unsightly, and can never rise to any considerable height. A remedy for this disease may therefore be wished for.
"Young hedges are observed to be chiefly affected with this disorder; and it is almost always occasioned by an injudicious management of the hedge, by means of which it has been forced to send out too great a number of shoots in summer, that are thus rendered so small and weakly as to be unable to resist the severe weather in winter.
It often happens that the owner of a young hedge, with a view to render it very thick and close, cuts it over with the shears a few inches above the ground the first winter after planting; in consequence of which, many small shoots spring out from each of the stems that has been cut over:—Each of which, being afterwards cut over in the same manner, sends forth a still greater number of shoots, which are smaller and smaller in proportion to their number.
"If the soil in which the hedge has been planted is poor, in consequence of this management, the branches, after a few years, become so numerous, that the hedge is unable to send out any shoots at all, and the utmost exertion of the vegetative powers enables it only to put forth leaves. These leaves are renewed in a sickly state for some years, and at last cease to grow at all—the branches become covered with fog, and the hedge
perishes entirely.
"But if the soil be very rich, notwithstanding this great multiplication of the stems, the roots will still have sufficient vigour to force out a great many small shoots, which advance to a great length, but never attain a proportional thickness. And, as the vigour of the hedge makes them continue to vegetate very late in autumn, the frosts come on before the tops of these dangling shoots have attained any degree of woody firmness, so that they are killed almost entirely by it; the whole hedge becomes covered with these long dead shoots, which are always disagreeable to look at, and usually indicate the approaching end of the hedge.
"The causes of the disorder being thus explained, it will readily occur, that the only radical cure is amputation; which, by giving an opportunity to begin with training the hedge anew, gives us also an opportunity of avoiding the errors that occasioned it. In this case, care ought to be taken to cut the plants as close to the ground as possible, as there the stems will be less numerous than at any greater height. And particular attention ought to be had to allow very few shoots to arise from the stems that have been cut over, and to guard carefully against shortening them.
"But as the roots, in the case here supposed, will be very strong, the shoots that are allowed to spring from the stems will be very vigorous, and there will be some danger of their continuing to grow later in the season than they ought in safety to do; in which case, some part of the top of the shoot may perhaps be killed the first winter, which ought if possible to be prevented. This can only be effectually done by giving a check to the vegetation in autumn, so as to allow the young shoots to harden in the points before the winter approaches. If any of the leaves or branches of a tree are cut away while it is in the state of vegetation, the whole plant feels the loss, and it suffers a temporary check in its growth in proportion to the loss that it thus sustains. To check, therefore, the vigorous vegetation at the end of autumn, it will be prudent to choose the beginning of September for the time of lopping off all the supernumerary branches from the young hedge, and for clipping off the side-branches that have sprung out from it; which will, in general, be sufficient to give it such a check in its growth at that season, as will prevent any of the shoots from advancing afterwards. If the hedge is extremely vigorous, a few buds may be allowed to grow upon the large stumps in the spring, with a view to be cut off at this season, which will tend to stop the vegetation of the hedge still more effectually.
"By this mode of management, the hedge may be preserved entire through the first winter. And, as the shoots become less vigorous every successive season, there will be less difficulty in preserving them at any future period. It will always be proper, however, to trim the sides of a very vigorous hedge for some years while it is young, about the same season of the year, which will tend powerfully to prevent this malady. But when the hedge has advanced to any considerable height, it will be equally proper to clip it during any of the winter-months, before Candlemas."