CHAPTER XIX 

 HEDGES: THEIR FORMATION AND MANAGEMENT 



STRICTLY speaking, hedges are divided into two kinds 

 useful and ornamental the former being employed for 

 keeping farm-stock in bounds, and the latter in the sub- 

 division of private gardens and for lawn and park purposes 

 generally. Where the fences are intended purely for protec- 

 tive purposes the thorn, beech, hornbeam or holly are 

 the plants usually employed, while for ornamental garden 

 subdivisions almost any shrub may be used, the choice of 

 which will lie with the operator. 



Amongst all the trees and shrubs that have been found 

 suitable for the climate of Britain, none equals the common 

 whitethorn, or Quick, for hedge-formation, where strength 

 and shelter are points of first consideration. The beech and 

 hornbeam certainly can thrive better on exposed and high- 

 lying ground and where the soil is poor and thin, but 

 neither forms so durable a protection against farm stock 

 as the thorn. 



When properly treated the thorn is a fast grower, and as 

 a fence plant it is ornamental, smooth, stubborn, and long 

 lived. It is also not at all subject to disease, and is very 

 readily propagated. Few soils come amiss to the thorn 

 that is, if they are not overcharged with moisture, but it 

 delights in a rich hazelly loam. 



(1) Plantation Hedges Preparation of the Ground 

 and Planting. Thorough preparation of the ground where 

 live fences are formed should take precedence of all other 

 operations indeed, nothing can repay the planter more 

 satisfactorily than the previous suiting of the land, in the 



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