132 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ February 15, 1883. 
The list of suitable kinds of deciduous plants and evergreens for 
forming hedgerows is rather limited. A good hedge of Holly 
leaves nothing to be desired, though unfortunately Holly does 
not thrive on heavy soils. Hollies ought not to be planted till 
near the commencement of growth, say late in March or early in 
April, and a single line of plants 12 inches apart is sufficient. 
The next best is the common Yew, and both these and Hollies are 
admirably adapted for forming handsome screens. They grow 
rapidly, form good bottoms, and can be cut to any shape, Yew 
especially being often trimmed into most fantastic forms. The 
common Laurel forms a good hedge, but is not sufficiently hardy 
to be relied upon. The Colchican is the hardiest. Laurels and 
Yews transplant readily and nearly at any time, and good-sized 
plants may safely be planted where immediate effect is desired. 
I recommend planting in a single row, and close enough to touch 
on each side. Berberis Darwinii forms a most beautiful hedge, 
while Berberis aquifolium is suitable for a dwarf and broad hedge, 
such, for instance, as may with advantage fringe a coach road. 
Tree Box also is well adapted for a hedge, and this mixed with 
common Arbor Vitas is very neat and ornamental. 
For surrounding pleasure grounds and plantations, these often¬ 
times being also game preserves, I prefer a hedge formed with a 
mixture of Quick Thorn and Beech ; they may be planted in a 
single row, the latter being 15 inches asunder with two Thorns 
between them. The Beeches eventually nearly or quite overgrow 
the Thorns, the latter, which perhaps manage to form the point of 
the hedge, being only required to fill up till such times as the 
Beeches are sufficiently spread. Beeches unfortunately do not grow 
well on heavy soils, but under favourable circumstances a good 
hedge and a good screen is formed by them, as in this position they 
retain their leaves till the following spring. Thorn alone grows 
into a good hedge ; or mixed with Privet, as it very frequently is, 
it largely contributes to the formation of a neat if not quite so 
impenetrable a hedge. 
If it is necessary to lay a good foundation at the roots it is 
equally so with regard to the bottom of the hedge. Here is where 
the greatest strength should lie, and this is principally secured by 
frequent stoppings, the required height being gained in a few years. 
Hollies, Yews, and Box being naturally pyramidal, if well fur¬ 
nished at the bottom need not be stopped in the earlier stages of 
growth ; but Laurels, Privets, Thorns, and Beeches, especially the 
three latter, should be cut down to near the ground the second 
season after planting, and be cut back to within 8 or 9 inches of 
their last starting point for the next two years. Even later on 
they should not be allowed to run up too rapidly. The ground on 
each side should for the first few years be annually lightly dug, 
and the hedges kept perfectly clear of weeds. The common 
method of training hedges with a wide and either flat or rounded 
top is quite a mistake, thus rendering them ugly, besides greatly 
weakening them. The plan adopted, or at all events was some 
years ago, on the Duke of Hamilton’s and other noblemen’s Scotch 
estates, is much the best. There the hedges are wide at the 
bottom and pointed at the top—that is to say, are wedge-shaped. 
This hard cutting at the point induces a strong growth at the 
bottom where most required. There are hedgerows on this estate 
composed of Beeches and Thorns and trimmed in the Scotch fashion 
which are about 5 feet through at the bottom and 5 feet in height, 
and a very creditable appearance they present. They prove im¬ 
penetrable by either man or cattle, while dogs and game find it 
no easy matter to get through. Those elsewhere cut to a wide or 
rounded head are frequently bare at the bottom, and the thickest 
part is easily split open. Another advantage wedge-shaped hedges 
have, they smother or prevent any undergrowth of weeds, which 
in the case of the narrow hedges require to be frequently cleared 
out, or the hedge is soon injured, besides being unsightly. 
Hedges to remain vigorous should not be cut but once during 
the year, and then in the case of Thorns and other deciduous 
plants during the winter, completing before the sap begins to 
rise. If Hollies, Yews, and Laurels are cut before the end of 
March or early in April there is the danger of the young growth 
being injured by the spring frosts. Where midsummer trimming 
is considered necessary in order to insure general neatness, this 
should be done not later than July, or it is probable the second 
growth will not be matured. In an unmatured state it is easily 
injured by frosts, and failing to break strongly the following 
spring the consequence will be the commencement of the ruin of 
the hedge. When only cut once healthy growth invariably results, 
and the hedge continues to strengthen. Where gaps have been 
by some means made, after the ground has been cleared, manured, 
and dug they should be repaired with young plants, these being 
protected from cattle and other enemies with post and rails or 
hurdles on each side. Many an old hedgerow would, if cut 
down to near the ground and protected, break afresh and soon 
attain a much improved appearance. Since farmers have em¬ 
ployed fewer hands the hedges and ditches have been allowed to 
go to ruin, and along the roads instead of well-trimmed hedges 
we now see baDks formed by the annual ditch clearings and 
covered with weeds. Not a few hedges have been spoilt in this 
manner on gentlemen’s estates. It is an easy method of getting 
rid of the mud, but it rapidly destroys the hedges.—W. IGG-ULDEN. 
HISTORICAL JOTTINGS ON VEGETABLES.—2. 
THE PEA. 
Wise old Gerard, no mean botanist, herbalist, and gardener—a 
man who in various things had much more knowledge than his 
contemporaries generally—spells the name of a familiar esculent 
“ peason,” a word which in the crabbed handwriting of some of 
our ancestors bears a suspicious resemblance to “ poison.” Not 
long after Gerard’s time it got abbreviated to “ pease,” then in 
ordinary usage it lost the final e. Evidently the English name 
was a corruption or modification of the Latin pisum. Mr. H. G. 
Glasspoole remarks that the Pea, like the Bean and probably the 
Lentil, has an antiquity which we cannot calculate with certainty. 
One proof of this is that decided remnants of Beans and Peas, not 
differing greatly from our well-known species, have been dis¬ 
covered in the lake habitations of Switzerland belonging to the 
pre-historic ages. The Greek nam e,pison, almost the same as the 
Italian, seems to have had its origin in a word meaning to “beat” 
or to “thrash,” suggesting that these ancient peoples—as, indeed, 
other facts imply—only used Peas dried and removed from their 
pods. Many allusions are to be found of the cookery of this 
vegetable by a process of parching or frying. Perhaps the French 
(for we can but conjecture) were the first to appreciate Green 
Peas, about the period of the Norman conquest. 
It appears the early consumers of Green Peas, with a taste 
somewhat unrefined, devoured the entire pod, or “ peas-codde,” 
as they called it. Poor Lackpenny, self-styled, in his wanderings 
about London while the sixth Henry was king, heard this dish 
cried along the city streets. The next improvement was cooking 
the pods whole, and then at the table people dipped them in 
butter, licked out the peas, and threw away the shells. An un¬ 
complimentary reference to the fair sex is made by another of the 
strolling poets of the olden time :— 
“ Were women as little as they are good. 
A peascod would make them a gown and hood.” 
Yet even in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, centuries later, young 
Peas were esteemed a rarity and fetched high prices. The monks, 
it is true—diligent experimenters in their convent gardens—to 
occupy their spare hours would compete to see who could bring 
the earliest dish of Peas upon the table. Thus at Barking in 
Essex they could raise Green Peas by the Easter festival when it 
fell late. How the monks managed to force them is not explained 
to us. Doubtless they sowed in autumn, and one old author in¬ 
sists this ought to be done while the moon is on the wane. And 
as far back as the days of Pliny the Greeks sowed Peas in Novem¬ 
ber, but the Romans considered it better to plant after the coldest 
months of the year had passed away. Evidently the Pea was 
little cultivated by us English folks until about two centuries 
ago, though the country people were accustomed to go out and 
search for the wild Peas, formerly abundant on waste places. 
This species, P. arvense, still occurs here and there, and is pre¬ 
sumably a native. A rarer species now, the Seaside Pea (Laihy- 
rus maritimus), a perennial, also supplied food of an indigestible 
nature in the seasons of scarcity once frequent in Britain. 
“ Dig garden, ’stroy Mallow, now may ye at ease, 
And set, as a daintie, thy Runcival Peas.” 
So writes Thomas Tusser, giving his versified items of advice 
for the month of January ; and whether it was that the old- 
fashioned gardeners thought an autumn sowing of Peas served 
chiefly to furnish food to insects and the irrepressible London 
sparrow I cannot say ; but when market gardens began to increase 
around London their proprietors for a good while adhered to the 
plan of Tusser. They sowed their Peas on mild days in January 
or February, and if these suffered from some early frosts, the crop 
had the advantage of an April and May more propitious than we 
now look for in average years. Abercrombie, in his handbooks 
for gardeners in the reign of George III., recommends the sowing 
of a few Peas—Hotspurs by preference—in the autumn ; the 
“ Marrowfats ” and “ Runcivals,” with other varieties he specifies, 
were to be sown on “ warm plots ” not before the new year. It 
is to be observed that this author distinguishes these, mentioning 
“Runcivals” as white, green, and grey, although some have 
hastily surmised this was merely the original name for the 
Marrowfat Peas, and rather odd explanations have been given 
