92 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



SKPT. 22, 1841. 



For the New England Farmer. 



HEDGES. 



Mr Ediiof — Sir — I pcrcoivo that it is becom- 

 ing quite common for indiriduals to propose ques- 

 tions, and as there are many important sources of 

 information relative to the manngenient of our 

 farms that can only be approached in this way, I 

 wish to propose tiie followinfr: — 



let. What is the best and most thrifty variety 

 of the thorn for hedges ? 



2d. At what age should they be transplanted ? 

 and — 



3d, How should they be managed after they are 

 transplanted ? • 



By answering these questions you will greatly 

 oblige Yours, &c. H. I). W. 



mndham, Mt., Sept. 8, 1841. 



OJ'In answer to the preceding inquiries, we 

 can say nothing from experience, and nuist quote 

 the writings of others. The subject is of much 

 importance to such farmers as have not stones 

 enough to enclose their lauds with a substantial 

 wall. It gratifies us to find that one correspon- 

 dent wishes for such information, and it is with 

 pleasure we do the best we are able in reply. Af- 

 ter considerable search, we can find nothing better 

 than the following, from the pen of one who has 

 been eminently successful in the cultivation of 

 hedges. The article was published in the New 

 England Farmer, vol. ix. page 209 ; and though 

 long, we are unwilling to abridge it: every part is 

 important to those who are disposed to make trial 

 of such fencing. 



VVc have the impression that Dr. S. has told us 

 that he now deems the native thorn of New Eng- 

 land the best fur use in this climate Ed. 



LIVE FENCES. 



Mr Fesse.'»den — If you think the following di- 

 rections for setting and training a hedge, which 

 were written for the use of my son, will be service- 

 able to our New England farmers, you are at liber- 

 ty to publish them. They were written in haste, 

 while I was quite sick, and confined to my cham- 

 ber. There is considerable tautology, and the lan- 

 guage inelegant, but I believe easy to be under- 

 stood. BENJ. SliURTLEFF. 



Baalon, Jan. 10/A, IS."?!. 



ter roots, and are more likely to do well. You 

 will rear your hedge in half the time, if you use 

 those that are four years old and upwards, than 

 you will if you use seedlings. Loudon says — 

 "Tlireeyeais old is certainly the youngest that 

 should be planted, and if they are even si.x or sev- 

 en years old, ao much the better." IJlaikie says, 

 "the age of the quickset plants (whether of one or 

 two years' growth) is not so material, as that the 

 planti should be of free growth." I set one hedge 

 In ISKi, with two years old plants, and another in 

 IBit?, with seedlings, and they have done very 

 well, considering my inexperience and the awk- 

 wardness and unwillmgness of my men to do any 

 thing that their fathers and grandfathers had not 

 previously done. 



4. Assort tite Plants. — Let your plants be as- 

 sorted ; the large, the small, and the different sizes 

 of intermcdiiites, each by themselves. Set the 

 large on the high, poor and gravelly land, and the 

 small on the rich land, and in the valleys and bot- 

 toms, and those of intermediate size on the inter- 

 mediate kind of land. In this way, your hedge 

 will grow nearly alike and be very even; but if 

 you intermingle promiscuously large and small, the 

 largo will grow rapidly and will keep the small 

 down, and your hedge will be uneven and full of 

 gaps. If you plant the large in the rich hollows, 

 and the small on the poor knolls, ono part of your 

 hedge will be years ahead of the others. Either 

 before or after planting, cut off the tops of the 

 plants, about an inch from the root or yellow part, 

 so as to leave an inch of the green bark or top 

 with four buds or eyes. 



5. Spare Plants. — Select a tenth or more of 

 yonr best plants, and set in your nursery in wide 

 rows, and at a distance from each other in the 



AN EAST WAT TO MAKE 

 LIVE rE.^CE IN 



CnHPLETE HEDGE OR 

 SHOUT TIME. 



1. Material for a Hedt^e, — The plants commonly 

 used for a hedge arc the English White Thorn 



raising the surface so much, or making it so coi ( 

 vex as to lose the moisture. By laying or slopic »i 

 your plants, small roots strike down from the o, 

 tap roots, and you have a great number of ne' 

 routs that nourish the plants and keep them fin 

 and prevent them from writhing about. By cu 

 ting off the lop of the plant, you will have thri 

 or four strong upright young shoots, starting frO' 

 the surtacc of the ground, instead of a solitary o 

 one. 



8. Hoeing and Clearing. — Let your hedge tLi; 

 perfectly hoed and kept entirely free from grdi ^ 

 and weeds. Care must be taken that the root |t 

 stems and side branches are not abraded or wouot 

 ed by the hoe. .\ little fresh earth ought to II j 

 drawn about the roots at each hoeing, and in tii ^ 

 autumn all the leaves should be raked away 

 prevent the stems and roots from being girdled U j 

 mice. 



- 9. Pruning, &,x. — Prune either early in ti 

 spring, about midsummer, or late in the fall, wht 

 there is no flowing of the sap. When you plantt 

 your hedge, you preserved every root, but you ci 

 off the top, leaving but four buds ; these will pri 

 duce you four large stems as supports. This 

 all the pruning or trimming the stems or uprigl 

 shoots must have, on any condition, till they ait 

 five or six feet in height; then you may trim th 

 down to the height you mean to keep your hedgi 

 but the side branches 'should be gently trimnic 

 every year, leaving those longest near the gruun 

 so as to have ihem broad at the bottom and tipe 

 ing gradually towards the tops in the form of 

 cone, pyramid, a young fir or pitch pine. 



The trimming of the side branches makes ihei 

 send out more new shoots from these cxtrciuitie 

 which by frequent trimmings will become so iliic 



, , . , , , , ,, . . I as to fill up every crevice from top to bulioin i 



rows, so that the side branches shall not interfere ,,<,j „.,„„ j,,^ ; , ^^^ ^^ ,,^,, ^^ 



fl.n* .,«.. .«o.. *; ..n..«..^ .^^ ;« ,.„..- t.^-l — .^i 1-1 ^J & J r O 'J 



that you may fill vacancies in your hedge, should 

 any occur. .Manure and hoe them, so as to keep 

 them well ahead of your hedge, so that when set in 

 a gap the will not be behind their neighbors. 



0. Preparation of the Soil. — Let your land be 

 well prepared, a strip ut least eight feet wide, deep 

 plowed, well harrowed, raked .over, and cleared of 

 all sward, sods, gross and weeds ; let it be as well 

 prepared as if you were to sow garden seeds. If 

 any part of the land is poor, harrow and rake in 

 old and well rotted manure that will not ferment; 

 then plow or dig a trench through the middle 8 or 

 10 inches deep, one side perpendicular, and the 

 other with a gentle slope or angle of thirty decrees. 



J\Tode of Plantins;. — Your land and plants 



(Crat(tgiLS^ oxycanlha,) the Purging Buckthorn | t''"-'' prepared, lay your plants on the inclined 



(Rhamnus calhartieus,) the Newcastle Thorn (Cra- 

 IfLgiu crus Gain,) the Three Thorned Acacia or 

 Honey Locost, ( Gleditschia triaianthos,) the Red 

 Cedar, (Junipcrus Firginiann,) &c. But I much 

 prefer the American, Virginian, or Washington 

 Thorn, (Cratngus cordatn.) It seems to have no 

 enemy. In more than half a mile of hedge, I did 

 not find a dozen caterpillars' nests, or one plant 

 girdled by mice during the past year. 



'i. Season to set a Hedge. — In our climate, a 

 hedge should be set out in the spring, before the 

 plants begin to vegetate, and every fibre of the 



plane or slope, in a straight line, nine inches apart 

 (more or less,) and as deep as they originally were 

 in the nursery, making allowance for the dry dirt 

 that may be blown or washed away ; set them so 

 loep that all the yellow part may he completely | of your plants to the North, they will not li 



covered ; then with a hoe carefully draw on the 

 mellow earth to cover the roots, and press and pat 

 it down well around them. They had better be 

 set a little deeper than a little shallower, than 

 when in the nursery, and they will bear it, as in 

 the nursery they were perpendicular, but in tlie 

 trench sloping. It will be best not to fill the 



,,,,., ■ 1 , , , trench completely, but to leave it a little concave 



rooU should be take.n up with them, and by no , , ,, , .Y, . .i . i . . 



, , cf ' ' about the roots, that the moisture may be retained, 



means be cut off. 1 , .i . i n . i r , ^ 



[and that you may be able to draw a few inches of 



3] Age of the Plants. — The more age the plants , piilverr^od earth every year around the roots, to 



haveihe better; as they are more hardy, have bet- i make them throw out new shoots, and this without 



ing trimmed, will ascend with strength, and su| 

 port the hedge. 



10. Pruning Jnstrumenis. — Trimming is u=uul 

 performed with a hedge-bill or shears ; but a kni 

 with a short and slightly curved blade, thick n tl 

 middle, and tapering to a thin and very sliuii* Lilg 

 on each aide, is preferable to trim off lii ^lc 

 branches between the plants. For triumiML' tli 

 sides and cropping the top of the hedge, 1 h:iv 

 used a scythe. I cut olf the heel, and puucli tir 

 holes in the same end, and make a mortise in tk 

 end of a straight pole or snaith, and bore two holf 

 through the mortise, and rivet the scytii'? lu tli 

 pole end in the samo direction with the (jiU, udi 

 not ut right angles as for mowing. I put two nib 

 on the pole. With this you can cut the sides il| 

 or the lops off very quick and neat. In all yoK 

 cuttings, cut ii;j if you wish to benefit your hc.lgl 

 cut down if you wish to ruin it. 



11. Miscellaneous Observations. — Slope tiie iaj» 



■1* 

 lh«i: 



ble to be broken down by suiiw ; or to ha 

 buds injured in the spring, by alternately 

 and thawing — land that has been in culu\ ■.' ■ • ■ 

 preferable to now or sward land. 



Two or three rows of white beans or ll ■ lut 

 nips, may be sowed on each side of your . i^e 

 but potatoes would shade too much, ami n r 

 would poison the plants. Cattle, sheep, ^ r i,,ij 

 not trample or browse on them. 



Forest or fruit trees, (except walnut ami lai 

 may be set in a hedge forty or fifty feet n> .inicr 

 they make u beautiful appearance, but trim thcr. 



