473 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Pai;t 11. 



the bottom, which prevent them from growing thin and open, a fault to which, if due 

 pains are not taken, almost all hedges are liable. 



2983. On Ihe pruning and after-management of hedges will depend a very considerable 

 part of their beauty and future value. There is, perhaps, no part of the subject upon 

 which a greater contrariety of opinion at present prevails, than the age at which the prun- 

 ing of hedges ought to commence, the manner of that pruning, or the season of the year 

 at which it may be given with the greatest possible advantage and the least risk : the prac- 

 tice with some is, to prune, from the first year, not only the lateral branches, but the tops 

 also ; they give as a reason, that cutting off the extremities of the shoots contributes to the 

 thickening of tlie hedge, by making them push out a great number of new ones. The 

 fallacy of this argument, and the mischief with which the practice is attended, we shall 

 afterwards have occasion to notice. As to the manner of pruning, and the form of the 

 hedge, these seem, with many, to be matters of indifference ; no attention being paid to 

 dressing them in such a way as to have them broad at bottom, and tapering gradually 

 towards the top : many of them being of one width from top to bottom, and not a few 

 much heavier and broader above than they are below, it is obvious that such hedges can 

 neither look well nor be useful. 



2984. The season at which they are trimmed is in many instances an improper one ; for, in place of 

 choosing the time when the plants are least in danger of suffering from an eflflision of their juices, 

 which is either at a late period in the autumn, very early in the spring, or about midsummer, the 

 pruning is given late in the spring season, when the sap is flowing : the check and injury they must 

 receive from having the whole of their extremities cut off at this period may easily be conceived. In 

 speaking of the treatment of hedge plants before they are put into the ground, notice has been taken of 

 the necessity of preserving the roots as much as possible, and at the same time shortening the tops : the 

 latter operation has two good effects ; by curtailing the top and branches, the roots have less to nourish ; 

 and by leaving only two or three inches of the top above ground, in place of growing up with a single 

 stem, it sends out two or three ; and as these strike out from the plant so near the earth, each of 

 them has the same effect, and strengthens the hedge as much as the original stem would have 

 done by itself, with this addition, that, in place of one prop or support, the hedge will have three 

 or four. 



2985. After this first pruning, however, no hedge should be touched, or at least very gently, for 

 some years : from inattention to this circumstance, and from the injudicious application of the knife 

 or shears at an early period, many young hedges are rendered useless, which, under different treat, 

 ment would have made excellent fences, with half the trouble required to destroy them. The practice 

 of cutting over the tops yearly, which is done with a view to render the hedge thicker and more 

 perfect, is one of those mistakes which we would naturally have supposed common sense and observ- 

 ation would have sooner corrected ; the effect produced being, in almost every instance, the very 

 reverse of what was intended. Shortening the main stem of a thorn or any other plant makes it 

 throw out a number of small stems immediately at the place where it has been cut ; and if this 

 operation is repeated once or twice a year, every one of these is again subdivided, as it were, by sending 

 out more branches : thus in a course of years, during which the hedge makes very small progress 

 upwards, if it be examined, instead of being found to consist of strong vigorous plants, with a goo I 

 main trunk, each reaching from top to bottom of the hedge, and a sufficient number of lateral branches 

 throughout the whole length of it, it will be found, by such repeated cuttings, in the same stunted 

 situation as certain young trees and shrubs that are frequently cropped by sheep or cattle. From the 

 repeated crops of young shoots which the tops send out after every clipping, and the great quantity of 

 nourishment necessary to support such additional numbers, the lateral shoots at the bottom, upon the 

 strength and number of which the value of the hedge in a great measure depends, are stinted in their 

 growth, and soon die ; the hedge, of course, becomes open and naked at the bottom, and consequently 

 useless as a fence. 



2986. From thefrst year of planting, till the hedge has risen to the heighth of five or six 

 feet, the main stems ought to be left untouched, and the pruning confined solely to the side 



branches, leaving those next the root pretty long, and gradually tapering towards the 

 top : this pruning of the side branches will make them send out many new shoots 

 from their extremities, which, by repeated trimmings, will become so thick as to fill 

 up every interstice from top to bottom of the hedge ; while the main stems, by being 

 left untouched, continue their growth upward, till they arrive at the necessary height, 

 when they may have their extremities cut oflf with perfect safety. When a hedge 

 has attained the wished-for height, all that is requisite afterwards is cutting the sides 

 regular with a hedge-bill, preserving it pretty broad at bottom, and drawing it gradu- 

 ally to a point at top ; this form of a hedge is pleasant to the eye, is well calculated 

 to stand the weather, and becomes every year stronger and thicker. A hedge of this 

 sort in full leaf has the appearance of a solid wall ; and, when viewed after the 

 leaves are shed, presents to the eye a set of massy growing piles, so strong and 

 formidable as to bid defiance to any attempts that may be made to break through 

 them. "^ 



2987. In the management of old hedges, the above directions and observations ap- 

 ply, with strict propriety, only to such as have been regularly attended to from the 

 time of their being planted ; as there are, however, innumerable hedges in the king- 

 dom, which, by being neglected, have grown up to a great height, have become open 

 and naked below, and bushy and unmanageable at top, it is of consequence to point 

 out the means of reducing such hedges to a moderate scale, and rendering them use- 

 ful. This purpose can only be effected by cutting them down, and procuring from 

 their stumps a growth of new shoots, which, with proper management, will soon make 

 a perfect fence. If the fields enclosed by such hedges are alternately in pasture and 

 tillage, the period most proper for cutting them down is when the field is to be 



