HURDLE. 



HYDRANGEA. 



fl< ck may have the driest lair to retire to in ! 

 wet weather. In the setting of hurdles, an iron 

 crowbar, or fold pitcher, is employed, by which 

 much time and loss by breakage of the hurdles | 

 is effected." New hurdles, in the south of j 

 England, are about 16s. per dozen. They are 

 made at 4d. by professed hurdle-makers, who 

 find their own tools : they make about a dozen 

 per day. A larger kind of hurdles, called park 

 hurdles, cost 2s. each, and iron hurdles about 

 4s. 6(1. to 6.<. ; and these are, in the long run, 

 for permanent divisions, more economical than 

 wooden ones. A new kind of iron hurdle for 

 feeding sheep in gardens and pleasure-grounds 

 is described, with a wood engraving, by Mr. 

 Baist (Ibid. vol. ii. p. 113), and the complete 

 process of wooden hurdle-making is given, 

 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 647. There is also another 

 kind of hurdle, made with twisted hazel-rods, 

 very common in the south of England, whose 

 first cost is less than the other kinds, but they 

 do not last so long, and sooner get out of repair. 



The farmer who uses the ash hurdles would 

 find the advantage, on the score of durability, 

 of charring (or partially burning) that portion 

 of them which goes into the ground. Net hur- 

 dles are also sometimes economically used; 

 but they are rather more troublesome than 

 wooden or iron hurdles, and require to be kept 

 carefully in a dry place, when not in use. 

 There is a very elaborate paper on hurdling 

 off, and more especially upon all kinds of fenc- 

 ing, for the temporary or permanent enclosure 

 of land, by Mr. Somerville (Com. Board of Agf. 

 vol. ii. p. 1); he advocates the more general 

 hurdling off of grass lands in the spring of the 

 year. 



There are two modes of folding, which 

 should be practised according to circum- 

 stances : the first is where the sheep fed during 

 the day on waste or common land, are penned 

 at night, for the sake of their manure, on the 

 enclosed arable pastures of the farm. This is 

 a highly profitable mode. It is calculated that 

 the dressing thus given by 300 sheep is suffi- 

 cient, In a week, for one acre of land, and is 

 worth three pounds. Hence the enhanced va- 

 lue of farms having ready access to downs, or 

 possessing a right of common. The second 

 mode of folding is the feeding off of green 

 crops by sheep enclosed in daily divisions, by 

 hurdles, by which means the land has the full 

 benefit, equally distributed, yielded by the con- 

 sumption of the green crop ; of course the 

 value of the folding will mainly depend, both 

 in quality and quantity, upon the food con- 

 sumed : hence, too, the superior fertilizing effect 

 derived from sheep having oil-cake or corn 

 added to their green food. The plan of feeding 

 sheep on one field during the day, and folding 

 them :n another during the night, is a bad prac- 

 tice long since condemned by Arthur Young, 

 who describes it as " merely robbing Peter to 

 pay Pau'," since it is, in fact, only the removal 

 from one field to another of the richest organic 

 matters, the sheep being also injured by the 

 drift or labour of removal, and by the fasting 

 (so contrary to their natural habits) during the 

 night 



The folding of sheep on green crops is one 

 i f the great modern agricultural improvements. 

 650 



It insures the equal distribution of the manure, 

 prevents waste of food, keeps the sheep quiet, 

 gives them fresh ground daily, and enables the 

 farmer to plough close after the sheep, and 

 thereby prevents the loss by evaporation of the 

 finest portion of the manure. See FOLDS and 

 FOLDING. 



KURDS, or HARDS. A provincial name 

 for the refuse of hemp or flax. 



HURTLEBERRY, and HURTS. Provincial 

 names of the whortleberry.. 



HUSKS. The dry envelopes, or outward 

 integument of either fruits or flowers. 



HUSBANDRY. A comparatively primitive 

 term, including both agriculture and gardening, 

 or all those country occupations which the fa- 

 ther of a family is expected to perform in the 

 country. The term is very commonly used as 

 synonymous with agriculture. The Berwick- 

 shire husbandry, the alternate husbandry, and 

 the convertible husbandry, are terms employed 

 in agriculture for certain systems of cropping, 

 in which the land is alternately kept under 

 grass and tillage. See AGRICULTURE, and RO- 

 TATION OF CHOPS. 



HYBERNATION (Lat. hybernus, wintry). 

 The act by, or the state in, which certain ani- 

 mals exist during the season of the year when 

 excess of cold, or lack of food, prevents their 

 going abroad, and performing their customary 

 functions. The bat and the hedgehog, lizards, 

 snakes, frogs, toads, &c., are among the ani- 

 mals and reptiles which hybernate. Some quad- 

 rupeds, as the dormouse and squirrel, which 

 subsist on articles of diet better adapted to be 

 laid up in store than insects, carry a winter 

 provision to their hybernating nests ; and their 

 torpidity is more nearly allied to a profound, 

 but ordinary sleep. 



HYBRIDS (Gr.). The produce of a female 

 plant or animal which has been impregnated 

 by a male of a different variety of species. 



The most common hybrids are those which 

 result from the connection of different varieties 

 of the same species, as the produce of the wild 

 boar and domestic sow ; the endless modifica- 

 tions which result from analogous inter-breed- 

 ing from varieties of the rose, the African 

 geranium, and other ornamental plants, are 

 familiar examples of the principle among vege- 

 tables. The most common and useful of hybrids 

 is the mule. Although some rare exceptions 

 to the rule are on record, it seems to be a 

 principle of nature that all hybrids should be 

 sterile. 



HYDRANGEA (Hydrangea arborescent). A 

 hardy perennial, native of North America, 

 which flowers in July and August. It loves a 

 moist soil, and should be kept free from weeds. 

 Its roots may be parted in October. If a severe 

 winter attacks the plant, it will only die down 

 to the ground. 



Besides the common species, botanists enu- 

 merate 2 or 3 others found in the Southern and 

 Southwestern States. 



H. Jwrtensis, or the changeable hydrangea, 

 blooms from June to October. It is a native 

 of China. Cut the stems down every autumn, 

 and cover the root through the winter, to guard 

 it from frost. Hydrangeas are propagated by 

 | cuttings. 



