88 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



by wliich time tlie most forward of tlie plants will be fit tor 

 planting out for hedges, and the less forward should be 

 planted again in the nursery, to gain strength for another 

 season or two. 



When hedges are to be planted, and afterwards attended to 

 in a proper manner, the younger the plants used the better. 

 But it must be confessed that, in general, the management of 

 hedges is very little attended to, even by those who ought to 

 be most sensible of their utility ; and we find it very frequently 

 the case, that after a hedge has been planted, very little is 

 thought of it afterwards. Cattle arc allowed to browze on it, 

 if the plants ever attain a size sufHciently large to rear their 

 heads above the weeds, with which they are allowed to be 

 smothered ; and if they be fortunate enough to attain any 

 height, they are often allowed to grow on until they become 

 quite thin at the bottom, and after being five, six, or ten 

 years planted, are probably cut down to the bottom, to be 

 again, for a year or two, liable to all the disasters and accidents 

 which they had weathered in their growth. Those who wish to 

 have good and substantial hedges, nmst pay some attention 

 to the plants during their first few years' growth. Keeping 

 them clean, guarding them against the browzing of cattle, and 

 a judicious application of the hedge-knife, is all that has to 

 be attended to ; and if judiciously done, and followed up, good 

 and substantial fences may be expected. Upon this subject 

 Sang offers the following excellent remarks : — " The rapid 

 progress of the hedge depends, in a great measure, on the 

 goodness of the plants employed. The goodness of these, 

 however, does not so much consist in the thickness of their 

 stems, as in the numerous fibres of their roots. A very thick- 

 stemmed plant may have hardly a fibre at its root to support 

 it when planted. The most desirable plants are, therefore, 

 such as have the greatest number of fibres at their roots with 

 a clear and vigorous stem. It must be observed tliat, if thorns 

 stand in the nursery-line more than one, or, at the most, two 

 years unrcmoved, their roots become thinner of fibres, which 

 consequently render them less fit for the purpose of planting 

 for hedges, than if they had been removed at an earlier period 

 of tlicir growth. One-year seedlings of good growth, nursed 



