HED 



[ 470 ] 



HED 



gust, for if cut sooner they will shoot 

 again, and appear almost as rough the 

 remainder of the summer and all winter 

 as if they had not been clipped. Very 

 high hedges are hoth troublesome and 

 expensive to cut. The clipping is 

 sometimes performed by the assistance 

 of a high machine, scaffolding, or stage, 

 twenty or thirty feet high or more, 

 having platforms at different heights 

 for the men to stand upon, the whole 

 made to move along upon wheels ; it is 

 composed of four long poles for up- 

 rights, well framed together, eight or 

 ten feet wide at bottom, narrowing 

 gradually to four or five at top, having 

 a platform or stage at every seven or 

 eight feet high, and one at the top of 

 all ; and upon these the man stands to 

 work, each platform having a rail waist 

 high to keep the man from falling; 

 and a sort of ladder formed on one 

 side for the man to ascend, and at 

 bottom four low wheels to move it 

 along ; upon this machine a man may 

 be employed on each stage or platform, 

 trimming the hedge with shears, and 

 sometimes with a garden hedgft bill 

 fixed on a handle five or six feet long, 

 which is more expeditious, though it 

 will not make so neat work as cutting 

 with the shears. 



A hedge is not only an imperfect 

 screen, but in other respects is worse 

 than useless, since nothing can be 

 trained to it, and its roots exhaust the 

 soil in their neighbourhood very consi- 

 derably ; as the south fence of a garden 

 it may be employed, and hawthorn, in 

 some respects, is the worst shrub that 

 could be made use of. It is the nur- 

 sery of the same aphides, beetles, and 

 caterpillars, that feed upon the foliage 

 of the apple and pear, from whence 

 they often spread to the whole garden. 

 Evergreen are better than deciduous 

 hedges, and more especially those of 

 the holly, which is not so slow a grower 

 as is generally imagined. 



In a cloudy day in April or May, the 

 wind seems to be actually refrigerated 

 in passing through a thick hawthorn 

 hedge, and this may be accounted for 

 on the same principle that cool air is 

 obtained in the houses of India, by 

 sprinkling branches of trees with water 



in their verandas. Holly, laurel, and 

 most evergreens, exhale but little 

 moisture from their leaves, except for 

 about a month in June, consequently 

 in April and May, when we most re- 

 quire warmth, and in September and 

 October, the leaves of these, when fully 

 exposed to the sun, become heated to 

 the touch to 85 or 90. Added to 

 this, hoar frost, or a deposition of 

 moisture of any kind, never attaches 

 so readily, or remains for so long a 

 time, upon the foliage of evergreens as 

 upon the sprays of deciduous shrubs, 

 consequently the refrigeratory power is 

 greatly diminished. When the garden 

 is of considerable extent, three or four 

 acres and upwards, it admits of cross- 

 walls or fences for an increase of train- 

 ing surface and additional shelter. 



Hedges should always be clipped 

 into a conical form, as the diminution 

 of the branches towards the top in- 

 creases their development at the bottom. 



Furze makes one of the best and 

 handsomest of hedges, if kept regularly 

 clipped. Upon the formation of such 

 a hedge, we have the following remarks 

 by Mr. McL, of Hillsborough ; The 

 most ancient, and perhaps the most 

 simple of all fences, are walls made of 

 turf. These walls, however, are much 

 injured by the atmosphere, and the 

 rubbing and butting of the cattle. To 

 guard against this they should be 

 planted or sown with the Ulex Eu- 

 ropceus or Furze. The roots of this 

 plant will soon penetrate the turf, and 

 tend to bind the wall. The plants not 

 only afford shelter as well as food for 

 the cattle, but add to the height of the 

 wall and give it a formidable appear- 

 ance. When walls are made for this, 

 the foundation should be three feet 

 wide, and tapering to fifteen inches at 

 top. As the plants advance in growth, 

 they should be regularly trimmed with 

 the shears ; by proper attention to this 

 they will be prevented from growing 

 too tall and thin at the bottom. If this 

 is annually repeated, the plants will be 

 longer preserved in a healthy and vi- 

 gorous state ; clipping has also a good 

 effect in checking the furze from 

 spreading over the field. A good and 

 substantial fence may thus be quickly 



