Science and Practice in Farm Cultivation Part 26

CHAPTER x.x.xIV.

ON THE REARING AND PLANTING OF HEDGES.

The rearing of plants for hedges is a matter of so much importance that one can well understand how it has come to be a business of itself; and as it is better that it should be so, both landlords and tenants will do rightly to encourage its being done well. If, then, we take it for granted that the whitethorn is the best hedge-plant, it will be best to inquire-as a contribution to the science of the subject-whether there are not some important varieties of this plant; if so, we should determine which is the best, and encourage its cultivation. As the case at present stands, nurserymen take no pains in the matter; they usually employ children to collect the "haws"-the name by which the fruits are known-and it is a matter of perfect indifference where or how they obtain them.

Now, as regards the common hawthorn, experience has taught us that seeds obtained from trees in cold, wild, stony places, such as have established themselves about old quarries on the Cotteswold-hills, more quickly make good plants than those from the pampered hedge-row in the deep vale-lands.

But, in addition to this, having some years ago observed that certain whitethorn-trees came into flower a full fortnight before others, and this on the cold forest-marble clays in the exposed country of North Wilts and south of Cirencester, we were induced to examine this tree more closely; and the result of the inquiry was to induce a belief that this is a much hardier, quicker, and more certain growing plant for hedge-rows than the commoner form.

With these views established in our mind, we were not a little pleased to find that in the beautiful new edition of "English Botany," by the accomplished editor, J. T. Syme, Esq., F.L.S., &c., figures and descriptions are given of the two forms; and we here reproduce in opposite columns the descriptions referred to with a figure of the early form we have mentioned, that our readers may compare it with the common whitethorn:-

_Crataegus oxyacantha._ /-----------------^------------------ _Crataegus oxyacanthoides_ _Crataegus monogyna_ (_Glabrous Whitethorn_). (_Common Whitethorn_).

Plate CCCCLXXIX. (E.B.) Plate CCCCLx.x.x. (E.B.)

Leaves obovate or rhomboid- Leaves rhomboidal or rhomboidal- obovate, with 3 to 5 lobes, ovate, with 3 to 5 lobes, margins margins slightly convex from the straight or concave from the base base to the apex of the first to the apex of the first lobe, lobe, usually serrated; lobes usually entire, except at the scarcely longer than broad, tips of the lobes; lobes longer generally rounded. Peduncles than broad, and acute at the commonly glabrous. Calyx-tube apex. Peduncles generally downy.

glabrous; segments glabrous, Calyx-tube more or less downy; ovate-deltoid, ac.u.minate, segments slightly downy, ovate- spreading-reflexed, with recurved triangular, ac.u.minate, suddenly points. Styles usually 2 or 3. reflexed. Style 1. Fruit with Fruit with 2 or 3 stones. 1 stone. (See plate.)

That the glabrous whitethorn would make the best hedge-row form we have no doubt, as its free growth and early leafing particularly recommend it; and besides, though not the commonest, we cannot help thinking it to be the hardiest variety, and one that would be likely to succeed in soils where the ordinary one would be very slow in growth.

We have occasionally met with it in nursery-plantations, as well as in hedge-rows, where it is distinguished at a glance by its more freely growing twigs and brighter coloured, quite smooth leaves; so also, but more rarely, we have met with the Glas...o...b..ry thorn in the hedge-row, which we look upon as a variety of the glabrous thorn, a specimen of which is now before us (January, 1865), with both leaves and flowers well in bud, in the midst of a deep snow and a severe frost.

This variety is fabled to have sprung from Joseph of Arimathaea's staff, which he is supposed to have planted in the soil at Glas...o...b..ry, on Christmas-day, prior to the foundation of the abbey at that interesting place; and we have found some natives, both here and in Herefordshire-whither perhaps the thorn had spread with sorts of apples,-who adduce the budding of this thorn, which is usually after our present Christmas-tide, as an evidence that Old Christmas is the right day.

But we must not be too far led away by the legendary lore, much less the poetry connected with the whitethorn.

We come now to a description of the methods to be observed in planting fences, having taken for granted that quicks be employed for the purpose, and that we encourage the production of the sort best adapted to our purpose,-an end which, we conceive, will be well attained by offering prizes to nurserymen for good and well-grown quicks.

In planting hedges, then, our first care should be to prepare the ground. This must be done according to the soil; and here it may be noted that there are two plans of doing this most commonly used, namely, raising a mound, on which the quicks are to be planted without a ditch; and the making a ditch and planting the quicks on the top of the elevated soil. Now, curiously enough, the first method is the one usually adopted in light, porous soils, as on the sands of Dorsetshire; the second, in porous stones, where ditches are not required, as in the oolitic districts; or else in clay soils, where alone the ditch is at all advisable.

We advise that in light soils, as sandy loams, where drainage is not required, the ground be well dug on the flat before the planting of the quicks; that in thin soils on brashes the brash be loosened; and then that some soil be carted on this surface, making an additional thickness of not more than six inches of soil. As regards the preparation for a fence, by previously making a ditch, we object to it on account of the loss of ground; the ditch, again, if forming part of the system of drainage, is always liable to become choked by weeds, brambles, and the like, with water-plants growing in it. Had we to begin the laying-out of ground, we should make our drainage-system independent of the fences; and so, however stiff our clays if well drained, we should as a rule only raise the soil where a fence was to be planted, by a few inches.

We speak the more strongly on this matter, because on our own farm we have fences attempted to be grown on the top of mounds five feet high, and which are made out of some of the lightest agricultural soil in England, so light, indeed, as at first to appear to be a nearly pure sand. On the same farm, again, we have yawning ditches in oolitic limestone, which never carried water; and Mr. Parkes made ditches of this kind on the College-farm at Cirencester, which have ever been equally dry. These banks and ditches are worse than useless in our own case: quicks will not grow at all; and so the bank is covered with all kinds of shrubs, mixed with weeds, neither sufficient to keep in cattle, nor prevent the workmen trespa.s.sing in every direction.

The next subject for consideration is that of the planting of the quicks. To this end we should choose our plants to be of about four or five years old; and in all cases, if possible, should personally superintend their removal from the nursery. Old bundles of quicks, that have stood it may be two or three weekly markets, will be sure to cause disappointment. They should be removed so as to secure as many of the rootlets-not merely the larger roots-as possible.

In planting, which should be done as quickly as may be after removal, avoid the dibble, or anything which would tend to combine the roots in a small compa.s.s. The best plan is to use the spade and to spread the roots carefully; then cover them up, and tread the plants firmly into the ground, taking care, if it be in a retentive soil, not to leave holes in which water could stagnate.

When so planted, at about from six to nine inches, they should annually, or twice a year if necessary, be hoed and weeded and have the surface-soil tolerably well stirred, and, usually at the end of about the third or fourth year, be carefully cut down within six or eight inches of the ground, and the soil well stirred and manured. This would appear to be a waste of time; but a single year will restore the plants to even a greater height than before, and with all the elements for a thick impervious bottom, from which time annual careful tr.i.m.m.i.n.g-always when the leaves have performed their functions and fall off-will be sufficient to keep the hedge in an improving state.

We have here advocated planting in single lines. Some, however, prefer double rows of quicks; but the latter are more difficult to keep clean and to cultivate; and we have ever seen that it is not the quant.i.ty, but the quality and the after-treatment of the plants which result in the compact and repellant hedge.

Of course, all young hedges must be protected by a dead fence; and for this purpose we prefer posts and rails of wood, or, if to keep back sheep, mixed with a line or two of hoop-iron: this, according to the situation of the fence, will be required on only one or on both sides.

In planting young beech, or hornbeam, or any non-spinous plant, for hedges, it is advisable to cross the sets like a series of x.x.x's, overlapping each other at about ten or twelve inches apart; by this means the branches interlace, and a compact fence, difficult to penetrate, will be formed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _E.B. 2504._

Crataegus monogyna. Common White-thorn.]

Maple may be used in the same way; but it never makes a strong fence, and it has not the advantage of the two former, as its leaves fall off at the approach of cold weather, which is not the case with either beech or hornbeam, whose leaves are eminently persistent, especially in the earlier part of their lives.

If furze hedges be required for any position, they may easily be grown, either by taking up young plants from the waste and planting them where wanted, or by sowing seed, which can readily be obtained from any seedsman.

Before sowing, the ground should be lightly dug, and the seeds, after being soaked for a few hours in water, be thinly sown, and be only just covered up by the soil. This operation may be done in February; and when the seeds come up, if they are covered over by branches of cut furze, or these be stuck here and there in, or on, either side of the rows, the young plants will be protected from cattle and sheep, which are fond of nibbling the tender furze shoots.

CHAPTER x.x.xV.

WEEDS OF HEDGE-ROW FENCES.

As the hawthorn is usually recognized as the best plant for living fences for farm purposes, it will be expected that this has been almost exclusively employed; but, seeing that this is so, and has been so for many years past, it is not a little interesting to trace in all hedges a predilection to grow anything else rather than that originally planted.

Of course, with anything else we wished to grow, such interlopers would be eradicated as weeds; but with hedges it would seem that all kinds of rubbish are left to acc.u.mulate, until a hedge originally all hawthorn has become made up of extraneous matters, with occasional "gaps," which are sure to occur where other plants are allowed, to the prejudice of the quicks. As examples, we append the following:-

Ex. 1. a.n.a.lYSIS OF A HEDGE-ROW ON THE GREAT OOLITE COLLEGE FARM, CIRENCESTER.

ft. in.

Whitethorn 2 6 Maple 4 0 Elder 2 0 Maple and whitethorn confused 4 6 Elder 3 0 Maple, whitethorn, and elder, confused 12 0 Elder 5 0 Maple, whitethorn, and elder, confused 21 0 Ash twigs 3 0 Maple 2 0 Ash 3 6 Quicks 12 0 Elm twigs 3 0 Elder 3 6 Maple 3 0 Elder 3 0 Whitethorn and maple 24 0 Gap 4 0 -------- Total 115 0

Ex. 2. a.n.a.lYSIS OF A HEDGE ON THE FOREST MARBLE, NEAR CIRENCESTER.

ft. in.

Whitethorn 3 0 Blackthorn 4 0 Brambles and briars (Rubus and Rosa) 4 6 Ash and gap 4 0 Crab 4 0 Gap and brambles 3 0 Whitethorn 2 6 Crab 2 0 Blackthorn 2 0 Whitethorn 4 0 Blackthorn 7 0 Gap and briars (Rosa canina) 4 0 Blackthorn 4 0 Whitethorn 3 0 Rose (briars) and brambles 4 6 Whitethorn 3 0 Gap and brambles 2 6 Whitethorn 2 0 Rose (briars) 3 0 Whitethorn 2 0 Rose 2 6 Blackthorn 2 6 -------- Total 73 0

Ex. 3. a.n.a.lYSIS OF A HEDGE ON THE INFERIOR OOLITE, BRADFORD ABBAS.

ft. in.

Traveller's Joy (clematis) 3 0 Gap 12 0 Whitethorn 4 0 Ash 3 6 Whitethorn, brambles, &c. 10 0 Clematis 18 0 Sycamore stump 4 0 Brambles, &c. 8 0 Maple brambles, with occasional whitethorn bush 33 0 Nut and gaps 11 0 Blackthorn and brambles 6 6 Guelder rose 3 0 Blackthorn, &c. 5 0 Elder 3 0 Blackthorn, maple, and others, with occasional whitethorn 20 0 The same, smothered with clematis 28 0 -------- Total 172 0

These three examples will be sufficient to show the fact that, in the lapse of years, a hedge originally planted either all or nearly all quicks, ultimately contains almost everything besides. How this comes about may be easily observed. Birds and other creatures are constantly taking fruits of various plants to the hedge-rows, the seeds of which being dropped there, soon vegetate; and if shrubs with heavier twigs and broader leaves once ascend into the hedge, they overshadow the smaller leaves of the quicks, and ultimately so discourage them that they all but die out, and it is not at all difficult to see that the success of the interlopers is only augmented by the injuries to the quicks.

A more minute inquiry into the natural history and mode of operation of hedge-row weeds will be best preceded by a list of such plants as may be considered to act as weeds in a properly planted whitethorn hedge.

In doing this we may premise that, if our object has been to plant quicks, interlopers of all kinds, whether trees or shrubs-in fact, all but the plant which we have purchased and planted-can scarcely be considered other than as weeds. To these interlopers, then, we may add the following list, as containing a series of plants that will be, perhaps, more generally recognized as weeds:-

LIST OF HEDGE-ROW WEEDS.

+---+---------------------+-----------------------+-------------------+ No. Botanical Name. Trivial Name. Remarks. +---+---------------------+-----------------------+-------------------+ 1 Salix species Willows, various 2 Berberis vulgaris Barberry }Spinous under- 3 Rosa species Wild Roses (briars), }shrubs. various } 4 Rubus species Brambles, various }Woody climbing 5 Clematis vitalba Traveller's Joy }plants. 6 Hedera helix Ivy } 7 Solanum dulcamara Bitter-sweet Nightshade }Climbing 8 Tamus communis Black Bryony }herbs,-mostly 9 Bryonia dioica White Bryony }twisting around 10 Humulus lupulus Wild Hop }the stems of the 11 Convolvulus sepium Larger Bindweed }stronger hedge- 12 Galium species Bedstraw, various }plants. {Weeds of the lower 13 Glechoma hederacea Ground Ivy {parts of hedges, 14 Geranium Robertianum Herb, Robert Cranesbill {which smother out 15 Carduus varieties Various Thistles {young quicks, and 16 Umbelliferae varieties Hedge Parsley, &c. {prevent the old 17 Graminaceae varieties Gra.s.ses {ones from being {thick at "bottom." +---+---------------------+-----------------------+-------------------+

As regards the plants of this list, it will only be necessary to refer to a few of them, in order the more fully to impress the principles we have laid down.

The roses (briars) and brambles, though spinous, are yet short-lived; so that their old wood is continually dying out, thus causing gaps, inasmuch as such heavily-foliaged plants necessarily prevent the growth of the whitethorn or any other tolerable hedge-plant. But, besides this, the bramble has the propensity to root at the ends of its long flexile branches, and so spreads the pest in every direction, not escaping the ditch when it forms part of the fence, that the whole becomes smothered up in a tangled, inextricable ma.s.s, always out of order and unsightly, making but a poor fence, though affording shelter to hares, rabbits, and other farm pests.

The clematis and ivy are large-foliaged plants, and their pliant stems interlace on the hedge in such a manner as most surely to kill out the quicks, and so to become the usurping tenants; but, no sooner have they attained the mastery than they begin to decay, whole branches die, and the result is a gap, which must either be patched up with thorns or be newly planted, and then fenced with post and rails. As regards mending gaps with thorns, we ought to state that we view it as decidedly injurious,-as dead matter in proximity with the living only prevents the growth of the latter: at best it is only a makeshift, which soon gets rotten, and tempts the petty wood-pilferer to pull the hedge further to pieces for the sake of a few dry sticks.