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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE BEECHEN TREE 



Sir, — There are few things of more importance to 

 liortieulture and agriculture than hedges and fences; 

 besides their services as dividing property, they act as 

 a shelter to all crops which they enclose. In short, we 

 must all have fences of some kind or other, for the 

 vineyard mentioned in holy writ, that was to have 

 " the hedge thereof broken down," gives unquestion- 

 ably the idea of utter ruin to that very desirable piece 

 of property. 



Common sense, in these days of " express speed," 

 and intelligence transmitted at the rate that the light- 

 ning travels, is of very little avail ; and in our haste to 

 cultivate the unemployed moor and unprofitable waste, 

 we shall certainly have to hedge in, in hot haste, as a 

 preliminary to all further improvement. 



The quickset hedge of honest hawthorn has long held 

 sway in this department, and has every chance of being 

 a troublesome tenant to get rid of; and it will be no 

 easy task to get up a case against such a plant, seeing 

 it has done such service to the trade. 



The size of an unpruned thoru tree, full grown, may 

 bo taken at one-tenth of the size of the beech tree, 

 where the latter finds a favourable soil. The thorn is 

 decidedly a slow-growing plant, becoming eventually a 

 stunted-looking small tree, coming into leaf early, and 

 remaining in full foliage till late in the autumn ; these 

 are its chief characteristics. But its strength lies in its 

 prickles; and were it not for this armour, it would 

 doubtless have passed into the same disrepute in agri- 

 culture that its confrere the thistle has done. 



Deciduous trees like the thorn are always objection- 

 able as liedge plants, since their sheltering properties 

 are always least just at the time when their services are 

 most needed; and if we could get holly trees to grow 

 quickly, they would set the matter quite at rest as to 

 what plants we should make our hedges of. 



The yew, were it not poisonous to cattle, would be 

 an equally great boon to the farmer as a hedge plant ; 

 but with all its beauty it is but of slow growth, and for 

 100 years or more is but a small tree. The thorn, the 

 holly, and the yew are all costly if planted when they 

 are over three feet in height ; consequently they are 

 planted very young; and two rows of p>,sts and rails, 

 chartered for the occasion, have to take charge of their 

 childhood, and a good supply of manure to their roots 

 adds no small item of expense to their culture. It is 

 far otherwise with the " beechen tree." It can be 

 planted full-size at once for a hedge ; for you can pur- 

 chase at most nurseries beech plants five or six feet 

 high, and that at a very moderate price considering the 

 importance of the plant when got of the proper hedge 

 sizt'. I have seen a tall beech hedge planted in two 

 rows, one line sloping to the east at an angle of 4.'i de- 

 grees, and the other to the west, and both tied here and 

 there to keep them close, This hedge wa'j full grown 



the day it was'planted ; and twenty years afterwards, 

 when I saw it last, it was a fine beech hedge, forming 

 a beautiful object, a substantial fence, and an excellent 

 shelter both in summer and winter ; for the old adage 

 is, that the beech is the wisest tree, for keeping its old 

 coat till it sees how the new one suits it. In this respect 

 it is quite an exception to deciduous trees, which, when 

 in good health, drop their leaves one and all when ripe, 

 and the footstalk shows a clean scar, as if the separa- 

 tion of this organ from the tree had little to do with 

 winter's cold, but obeyed a law that gave it leave to go 

 in peace when it had perfected its labours. 



The beech tree, therefore, recommends itself to us on 

 the score of economy as well as on that of speed ; for it 

 is cheap in the first instance, and requires no paling to 

 make it a fence ; thereby lessening the outlay, and 

 acting immediately as a hedge, it allows cultivation to 

 proceed under its protection. But the great advantage 

 of beech hedges is that they can give shelter to any de- 

 sirable height, and still can be kept at the height of a 

 man if preferred. Their yellowish -brown colour in 

 winter is decidedly pleasing ; and I have seen some 

 beautiful shapes clipped in single plants, standing above 

 the hedge, as starers, globes, pyramids, and the like. 

 And where beceh hedges are used as shelter to a nice 

 farmhouse, or villa residence, a little taste on the part 

 of the owner or occupier in this way is certainly praise- 

 worthy : where a thing is useful and essentially neces- 

 sary it may with good reason be respected, and even 

 made ornamental. 



Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, had a beech hedge 

 as a back to one of his orchard-houses ; and in this way 

 he imitated the climate of the south of France, and 

 produced the fruits of such a climate successfully with- 

 out fire heat, simply by a glass roof and boarded ends 

 and front. To invalids such a house would be a very 

 great luxury. 



To horticulture and agriculture high hedges, with 

 proportionate enclosures of land, so as to secure shelter 

 without the overshadowing which unpruned ti'ces al- 

 ways give, would warm the climate by many degrees; 

 and thus give early crops, and half-house the live stock 

 in foul or cold weather. 



I would gladly have given the prices at which I have 

 been purchasing beech plants; but this is not an adver- 

 tisement, and I have no interest whatever in selling any 

 man's goods; but it is really very provoking to see people 

 planting, at great cost, a string of tiny thorn plants, 

 and waiting patiently for years till they grow info a 

 hedge-row, when they might have a full-grown, strong 

 beechen hedge at once, for the same money as the 

 plants, jiales, and manure represent. 



Ar.F.x. FOUSTTH. 



13, Islington-square, Salford, 

 Manchester, Feb. 19, 1859. 



