646 



HEDERIC ACID. 



HEDGE. 



etc, 



British Museum. Statues of this kind were placed in towns and 

 villages where three roads met. The figures held various symbols, as a 



Statue of Hecate from the British Museum. 



globe, a patera, twisted cords, serpents, a torch, Ac. The hand* with 

 the attributes in the Museum statue, are however modern. 



HEDERIC ACID. An acid, of uncertain composition, extracted 

 from iyy-berries. It crystallises in needles or thin plates, which are 

 colourless and inodorous, but possess the intensely bitter taste of the 

 ivy. It is insoluble in water and ether, but soluble in alcohol. In 

 contact with concentrated sulphuric acid it strikes a fine purple colour. 



HKDKRINE. An alkaloid found in ivy-berries. It requires in- 



H KDOE, one of the most lasting and effectual of our fences. When 

 hedges have been well made, and are kept in good order, nothing can 

 surpass them, except well-built stone or brick walls, and even these 

 are far less effectual in keeping out trespassers of every description. 



Hedges are made of various kinds of shrubs and trees, trained so as 

 to throw out numerous branches along the stem from the surface of 

 the earth upwards ; this is done by judicious pruning when they are 

 young. The head being cut off and the side branches shortened, 

 numerous smaller branches spring out, which are shortened in their 

 turn, and form a very compact mass, consisting of the ends of stumps 

 and branches pointing in every direction. Those shrubs which are of 

 a thorny nature are best adapted for hedges. Holly, which bears 

 prickles on the edges of the leaves, is on this account by far the best 

 shrub to form a hedge. But it has a great inconvenience in ita very 

 slow growth, and except in very old gardens, which have been 

 surrounded by a holly-hedge before the present generation was born, 

 it is very seldom that such a hedge is met with. The high price 

 which the nurserymen charge for this plant is another reason why it is 

 seldom planted. 



In forming a holly-hedge the ground should be prepared by trenching 

 and abundant manuring : the plants should be most carefully planted 

 aftr midsummer, or immediately before the usual rains which come 

 at that season. There should also be a portion of virgin soil for the 

 roots to spread in ; and in planting they should be well divided, to 

 give them the greatest extent from which to draw their nourishment. 

 The earth should be well pressed to them by treading it down ; and in 

 case of a continued want of rain, they may be occasionally watered, 

 late in the evening, or early in the morning. By a little attention to 

 them in the first year, they will form a good fence several years sooner 

 than those which are comparatively neglected. The plants which are 

 usually put in are three years old ; but 3 they could be transplanted at 



once from the seed-bed, they would sooner come to perfection ; and 

 by being cut dowu and pruned earlier, would lay the foundation of a 

 closer and better hedge. Next to holly, as forming a close and 

 durable hedge, is the yew : it bears very close clipping, and forms a 

 thick hedge and good shelter all through the year. For gardens and 

 nursery-grounds, where shelter and occasional shading are required, 

 the yew-hedge is preferred ; but in all places where cattle are put to 

 pasture, the yew should never be permitted to grow. Many valuable 

 horses and cattle have been destroyed by grazing in places where yew- 

 trees grew ; and notwithstanding the instinct which leads animals to 

 reject food which is hurtful, they greedily eat the yew leaves in spring. 

 The same may be said of box. 



The various kinds of thorns are peculiarly adapted to form hedges, 

 and they are consequently by far the most common plants of which a 

 live hedge is formed. 



For high hedges and strong fences the hornbeam and a variety of 

 the beech which throws many branches from the stem are extensively 

 used in old gardens, where geometrical figures and numerous angles 

 are admired. 



Where it is desirable that the hedge should arrive very rapidly to 

 such a size as to be a good defence against cattle, elder may be planted. 

 Elder grows very rapidly, and throws out many long hollow branches, 

 which soon become hard, and are admirably calculated for a fence, and 

 cattle will not eat the leaves ; but it is never very close or ornamental ; 

 and as it requires to be cut down frequently, it displays very unsightly 

 knots and stumps when it has acquired a certain age. 



Sweetbriar is ornamental, and forms a good fence against sheep. It 

 is chiefly confined to flower-gardens and enclosures in pleasure- 

 grounds. 



Many other shrubs might be named, such as the Pyriu jajxinica, 

 which is prickly, grows close, and bears a beautiful flower. It is as 

 hardy as any native British plant, and will bear cutting and training as 

 well as any of them. Hitherto no hedges have been made of this 

 shrub, except a few in the gardens of nurserymen ; but there is no 

 doubt that if many young plants were wanted for htedges, they would 

 soon be produced at a reasonable price. The privet is a very common 

 and quick-growing shrub, which is frequently planted as a hedge where 

 cattle are not admitted ; but of all shrubs, the most common and 

 most useful for the purpose of hedges are the black and white thorn, 

 and they almost universally form the quick hedges by which our fields 

 are separated and enclosed. 



In order to have a good hedge, the shrubs should be planted in a 

 soil which is naturally strong, but well pulverised, and in which no 

 shrub or tree baa lately grown. The best soil is that which is pro- 

 duced by the decomposition of sods taken from commons or old 

 pastures ; and it is observed that in new enclosures, where the quick 

 has been inserted between two sods, it always grows luxuriantly, and 

 only requires to be protected, when young, against the cropping of 

 cattle and sheep, which are fond of the young tender shoots. The 

 usual mode is to insert, in the early part of the spring, a row of quick 

 in the aide of the bank, on a level with the surface of the ground, 

 where a sod has been turned over, and forms the base of the bank 

 raised by the earth taken out of the ditch. This quick requires to be 

 protected from cattle or sheep by some fence. [FENCE.] Sometimes 

 the quick is planted in two or three parallel rows on the top of the 

 bank, which in this case is made much wider, with a ditch on each 

 side. A double fence in such case is necessary for its complete pro- 

 tection. When the quick is planted on the top of the bank, the surface 

 sods are reserved to lay at the top; and after being broken and 

 chopped to pieces, are dug into the bank. Stable-dung is frequently 

 dug in at the same time, and is well bestowed : the quicks are then 

 inserted, and well watered. They never fail to come up luxuriantly ; 

 and when properly pruned they form a close and impenetrable hedge. 



Many think that it is advantageous to prune and cut down the 

 young shoots every year, in order to excite them to throw out fresh 

 one* in greater number. But this is an error, by which the growth of 

 the hedge is much retarded. The shoot should be allowed to grow to 

 its full extent the first and second year ; the root will then have struck 

 deep into the ground ; and in the third or fourth year the quicks may 

 be cut down to a few inches. They will then send out several fresh 

 strong shoots, which may be cut and pruned to the height and width 

 of the intended hedge. 



In Holland and Flanders the hedges are often trained along stakes 

 and rods placed for the purpose, and tied together with osiers. In 

 this case every slender branch is tied to the rods, and they are laid so 

 as to cross each other frequently, and the redundant shoots which 

 cannot be conveniently tied in are cut off. These hedges, when in 

 leaf, look very close and light, and take up very little room ; and birds 

 can scarcely harbour in them. It appears at first sight that much 

 labour is required to train hedges in this way ; but this is by no means 

 the case. When they have once grown to the proper height they only 

 require to be regularly clipped. 



In forming a hedge it is necessary to take into consideration the 

 quality of the soil, the aspect of the bank, and whether the land is 

 porous, or very retentive of moisture. In the first case it will be 

 advantageous to plaut the quick in the side of the bank, raising the 

 earth above it to keep in the moisture. A ledge may be made by 

 setting the first sod at a couple of inches from the edge of the ditch. 



