658 



H E D 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



H E D 



blunt, arched at the tip, green. It grows naturally in all the 

 northern parts of America, was first brought to Europe from 

 Canada, and has been chiefly employed to cover walls or high 

 buildings; which this plant will do in a short time, for it will 

 shoot almost twenty feet in one year; but as the leaves fall off 

 in autumn, and are late before they come out in the sprinsr, it is 

 not much esteemed, unless where better things will not thrive. 

 As it receives no injury from smoke, or the closeness of the air, 

 it is proper to cover buildings in great towns. The stalks put 

 out fibres, like the Common Ivy, which insinuate themselves 

 into the joints of a wall. It was cultivated here in 1629. 



4. Hedera Pendula. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, entire ; pe- 

 duncles very long, pendulous. Native of Jamaica. 



5. Hedera Nutans. Leaves elliptic, coriaceous ; umbels 

 nodding, hemispherical. Native of Jamaica. 



6. Hedera Terebinthinacea. Leaves in sevens, elliptic, 

 quite entire. The whole plant is smooth ; clusters compound ; 

 partial flower-stalks umbellate. Native of Ceylon. 



Hedge Hyssop. See Gratiola. 



Hedge Mustard. See Sisymbrium and Erysimum. 



Hedge Nettle. See Galeopsis. 



Hedges. Hedges are either planted to make fences round 

 enclosures, or to part off and divide the several portions of 

 a garden : when they are designed as outward fences, they 

 are planted with Hawthorn, Crabs, or Black-thorn, which 

 is the Sloe ; 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 with various sorts 

 of plants, according to the fancy of the owner; some prefer- 

 ring evergreen hedges, in which case the Holly is best, next 

 the Yew, then Laurel, Laurustinus, Phillyrea, &c. ; others, who 

 make choice of the deciduous plants, prefer the Beach and 

 Hornbeam, English Elm, or the Alder, to any other. Those 

 hedges which are intended for outside fences are generally 

 made of White or Haw Thorn. It will be proper, before 

 planting, to consider the nature of the land, and what sorts 

 of plants will thrive best in that soil ; and also what the soil 

 is from whence the plants are to be taken : for if the land they 

 are taken from be much better than that in which they are to 

 be planted, it will be more difficult to get them to grow. As 

 for the size, the sets ought to be about as large as a goose- 

 quill, and cut within about four or five inches of the ground ; 

 they should be fresh taken up, straight, smooth, and well 

 rooted. Those plants which are raised in the nursery are to 

 be preferred to all others. The time for planting is February, 

 March, and April. Secondly, if the hedge have a ditch, it 

 should be made six feet wide at top, and one foot and a half 

 at bottom, and three feet deep, that each side may have a pro- 

 per slope; for when the banks are made too upright, they are 

 very subject to fall down after every frost or hard rain ; besides, 

 if the ditches are made narrower, they are soon choked up in 

 autumn by the falling leaves, and the growth of weeds, nor 

 are they a sufficient fence to the hedge against cattle where 

 they are narrower. Thirdly, if the bank be without a ditch, 

 the sets should be placed in two rows almost perpendicular, 

 at the distance of a foot from each other, in the quincunx 

 order, so that in effect they will be but six inches asunder. 

 Fourthly, the turf should be laid with the grass-side down- 

 wards, 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 sets ; they are then to be planted upon it about a 

 foot asunder, so that the ends may stand upright. Fifthly, 

 when the first row is planted, it must be covered with mould, 

 and the turf laid upon it as before; so that when the bank 

 ii a foot high you may plant another row of sets against the 

 spaces of the lower ones, covering them as before. The 



bank is to be topped with the bottom of the ditch, and a dry 

 or dead hed;;e laid on the other side, to defend the planta'- 

 tion from caltlo. In the making of these dead hedges there 

 should be stakes driven into the loose earth, at about two 

 feet and a half distance, so low as to reach the firm ground : 

 for this purpose oaken stakes are most esteemed, and next to 

 them the Black-thorn and Sallow. The small bushes must 

 be laid at the bottom, but not too thickly, which would cause 

 the bnslies to rot; but the upper part of the hedges should 

 be laid with long bushes, to bind the stakes in with, by inter- 

 weaving them. In order to render the hedge yet stronger, 

 you may edder it, as it is called, that is, bind the top of the 

 stakes in with long small poles, or sticks, on each side; and 

 when the eddering is finished, drive the stakes anew, because 

 the waving of the hedge and eddering is liable to loosen the 

 stakes. The plant*; must be constantly kept weeded, and 

 secured from being cropped by the cattle, and in February 

 it will be proper to cut it within an inch of the ground, if it 

 was not done before ; which will cause it to shoot strong, 

 and greatly adjust its growth. When a hedge is of about 

 eight or nine years' growth, it will be proper to plash it; the 

 best time for this work is either in October or February. 

 When a hedge is grown old, say about twenty or thirty years' 

 growth, and there are in it old stubs as well as new shoots, 

 the old stubs should be cut sloping off within two or three 

 inches of the ground, and the best and longest of the middle 

 size should be left to lay down ; and some of the strongest, 

 at the height of five or six feet, in proportion to the intended 

 height of the hedge, may be left to serve instead of stakes, 

 and fresh stakes should be put into those places where they 

 are wanting. The hedge should then be thinned, so as to 

 leave on their stubs only such shoots as are designed to be of 

 use, that there may be room left to put a spade in between 

 them ; the ditch also should be cleansed, and each side of 

 the slopes kept as in a new ditch, and where the earth is 

 washed from the roots, or is hollow, face it anew with so 

 much of the first spit of earth that is dug out of the ditch, 

 as there is occasion for, and lay what is dug out at the 

 second spit, on the top of the bank ; for it' it be laid on the 

 side or face of the bank, it will slip into the ditch again when 

 wet comes, and also take a great deal of the bank along 

 with it. In plashing, there are two extremes to be avoided ; 

 the first is, laying it too low and too thick, because it muktc 

 the sap run all into the shoots, and leaves the plashes with- 

 out nourishment, which, with the thickness of the hedge, 

 kills them ; secondly, it must not be laid too high, because 

 this draws all the sap into the plashes, and so causes but 

 small shoots at the bottom, and makes the hedge so thin, 

 that it will neither hinder the cattle from going through, nor 

 from cropping of it. When the shoot that is designed to be 

 plashed is bent, give it a small cut with a bill, half through, 

 sloping a little downwards, and then weave it about the 

 stakes; and when the whole is finished, train off the small 

 superfluous branches that straggle too far out on both sidei 

 of the hedge. If the shrubs be very old, cut them quite 

 down, and secure them with good dead hedges on both 

 sides, till the young shoots are got up tall enough to plash, 

 and plant new sets in the void spaces. In making- a hedge, 

 if it be set with Crab-stock, it will be proper to kave one 

 standing uncut up at every thirty or forty feet, if the ground 

 on both sides of the hedge be your own; which being done, 

 they may be so ordered, by pruning or staking, that one may 

 lean into one ground and the other into another. These 

 stocks should be pruned up every year, till they aie brought 

 out of the reach of the cattle, and then they may !>. grafted 

 with a red-streak, gennet-moil, or whatever kind of cider 



