Science and Practice in Farm Cultivation Part 29

With regard to tr.i.m.m.i.n.g by the piece: if it be really a well-grown quick-set hedge, the keeping it to a certain standard may be easily accomplished; but if it be a weakly growth of all kinds of shrubs, the labourer slashes as close to the ground as he can with the hook, in order to "have something to cut against"-a process which only makes the hedges weaker the oftener it is performed.

CHAPTER x.x.xIX.

COVENANTS WITH REGARD TO FENCES, ETC.

From what has been already advanced, it will be seen that the matter of fences is most important in connection with the arrangements between landlord and tenant.

The landlord for the most part gets the same rent for the land occupied by fences as for the whole of the field, such land being calculated with the acreage; and, further, with the tenant-at-will he insists upon their being kept in order-that is, if he cares for or knows anything about order-at the expense of the tenant. In leases there are usually inserted covenants obliging annual tr.i.m.m.i.n.g of fences and scouring of ditches; but, generally speaking, the tenant does just as much as he likes, and the landlord knows but little about it. At the same time, annual tr.i.m.m.i.n.g of hedges would often be mischievous; and again, as some hedges would be well to be let grow tall, on account of the shelter they might afford, there will be so many circ.u.mstances to be considered in coming to a right conclusion about what should be done to fences, that it is no wonder that covenants are only insisted upon in a very partial manner, and the careless farmer, instead of repairing hedges in a permanent manner, is content to mend gaps-or "shards," as they are called in the midland counties-only when he wants to keep his beasts in any particular meadow or field.

We shall shortly discuss these views under the following heads:-

1. Fences should not be kept up to a greater extent than is required.

2. A tenant-at-will should not be expected to plant or take charge of fences.

3. Evils of bad fences.

1. The curtailment and removal of fences is, as already shown, a matter of great moment, not only as providing more available land for cultivation, but as exposing a greater surface even of the cultivated portions of fields to the influence of light and air. But on any estate where this has been deemed advisable, we have usually seen that as the work has been, as it were, divided amongst the tenants, it has either been done without judgment, or, if performed well, yet by men of different views, as having different requirements, so that it has resulted in a patchy and anything rather than an uniform improvement.

We would advise that the landlord or his agent take charge of this matter, with a view to that uniform improvement which would affect the whole estate. In this case it would be to the interest of the proprietor to make the run of the fences as straight as possible, to plant quicks, to mend gaps, and properly to fence them with rails. Were this the case, we should hardly see gaps filled up with dead materials, only to widen them as time advances by killing more of the living wood, or, what is even worse, left as roadways to tempt the trespa.s.ser. In fine, as the estate would be improved by having perfect fences, and therefore would fetch a better rent, it would appear to be the landlord's duty to see it attended to, and not to expect to charge a tenant for bad fences, and to insist upon his constantly mending them into the bargain, or it will naturally follow that they will seldom be up to a high standard of perfection.

2. A tenant-at-will, or even a leaseholder, should not be expected to plant new fences, or to cultivate those already planted, when it involves expenses from which he cannot reap the benefit. In the first place, it is not only the planting, but weeding and pruning-not merely slashing-that is required, all involving time, expense, and judgment, which no man would be justified in expending upon a precarious holding.

But take the case of a leaseholder for seven years. In our own parish, on the light oolite sands, is a quick-set hedge, which has been badly planted-now entering upon the fourth year since-upon the top of a thin mound of sandy soil, from four to five feet high. The quicks are not so good as when they were planted; it can _never_ make a good hedge. Briars and brambles, and various shrubs common to oolite soils, will smother out the quicks, and altogether it will result in failure. Here the landlord should not expect his tenant to weed, and it is not worth his while to even find "rough timber" for forming a defence of such a hedge from the cattle, nor will it pay the tenant to employ a carpenter to work it. In this case the landlord should level the soil and re-plant the hedge-not on a mound of sand, but in the well-dug surface soil-efficiently fence it, and see to its annual weeding. In this way, instead of his having to find rough timber for fences for all time, one set of rails should be enough, and so he would ultimately save money for time by a present judicious expenditure; and, besides, as he would give his tenant more available land for his acreage, and this better secured, so that trespa.s.sers are kept from without and his cattle prevented straying from within, the holding would certainly be more valuable.

3. With bad fences the land is not at command. There has to be superintendence and mending whenever a field is wanted to be used. We recollect a farmer who, having bought some pigs, on being asked by his man where he was to put 'em, replied, "Oh, put 'em in the garden, for if you don't they'll very soon get there."

Here was a case of bad fences about the homestead, and we may be sure everywhere else too. And here we would controvert the a.s.sertion that is too often made, that "the farmer who is a careful gardener will be a bad farmer." We have ever seen that attention to neatness and order, at home and in the fields, will mark the good farmer, though it may not always a.s.sure us of the prosperous one. The truth is, that neatness is sometimes expensive; and as it does not always yield any greater reward than gratification to the tenant, it should at all times be encouraged by the landlord with every possible a.s.sistance, as he can never be a loser thereby, but must be the gainer.

The truth is, that there is nothing about estates or farms which so much requires remodelling as the system of fences. They want lessening, as the land is cut up into far too many awkward little pieces. They want straightening and paralleling, if we may so express it. They should, too, be kept within due compa.s.s, both as to breadth and height, so that altogether, as to material, mode of planting, position, and general supervision, the hedge-row really is in want of that kind of treatment which only a far-seeing, comprehensive overseer can direct, and which, were we to come into the possession of a large estate, would be the first process for its amelioration and improvement that we should attend to.

In fact, it may be said that this subject is daily receiving a greater share of attention, and that for a reason at first little suspected; but the truth is, steam is a.s.serting its power on the farm as on the road, and as the engine marches into our fields, fences will be levelled before his mightiness-all sorts of crooked corners and queer-shaped angles will be removed, and the whole will a.s.sume a more regular outline.

There are moral evils connected with bad fences which we think have hardly been duly considered. We have hinted at their encouragement of trespa.s.sers and fostering of idle habits.

In our own parish are gaps leading from one field and from one farm to another. This encourages idle vagabonds to go anywhere-everywhere-on pretence of shooting small birds, many of which are often of more value than themselves; and if there is no gap already, how easy to push through twigs of cornel, ash, guelder rose, &c. &c.

Such hedges, again, are mended with dead thorns and stakes and rails of wood, which soon decay and become a prey to all the old women and idle children in the parish, the latter of whom hasten the period when they may claim them by climbing through and over them, and so prematurely despoil what they soon take home as of right.

In conclusion, then, we hazard the a.s.sertion that well-grown and well-kept fences are a boon to all. They benefit the landlord, by enabling him to give well-secured acres in exchange for his rent. Like good "buildings," fences benefit the farmer by affording him protection for his property. They benefit the poor, by removing a great source of lawless habits, and that commencement of petty larceny which too often leads to a complete negation of conscience.

They benefit all, inasmuch as Order, which "is Heaven's first law," is Man's best friend.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate I.

J.E. Sowerby, sc.

W. West, imp.

Quercus Robur Pedunculata]

HOW TO GROW GOOD TIMBER.

CHAPTER XL.

ON THE VALUE OF TIMBER FOR ORNAMENT AND PROFIT.

Among all the varied productions (says Strutt[26]) with which nature has adorned the surface of the earth, none awakens our sympathies, or interests our imagination, so powerfully as those venerable trees which seem to have stood the lapse of ages-silent witnesses of the successive generations of man, to whose destiny they bear so touching a resemblance, alike in their budding, their pride, and their decay.

[26] Introduction to "Sylva Britannica."

Hence, in all ages, the earliest dawn of civilization has been marked by a reverence of woods and groves; devotion has fled to their recesses for the performance of her most solemn rites; princes have chosen the embowering shade of some wide-spreading tree, under which to receive the deputations of the neighbouring "great ones of the earth;" and angels themselves, it is recorded, have not disdained to deliver their celestial messages beneath the same verdant canopy. To sit under the shadow of his own fig-tree, and drink of the fruit of his own vine, is the reward promised, in Holy Writ, to the righteous man; and the gratification arising from the site of a favoured and long-remembered tree is one enjoyed in common by the peer, whom it reminds, as its branches wave over his head whilst wandering in his hereditary domains, of the ill.u.s.trious ancestors who may have seen it planted; and by the peasant, who recalls, as he looks on it in his way to his daily labours, the sports of his infancy round its venerable trunk, and regards it at once as his chronicler and landmark.

Who indeed amongst us, in whatever position of life he may be, or in what land soever his lot may be cast, does not often find his mind's eye resting upon some favourite tree; it may be some huge elm on his village green, where, in the dim twilight, he either told or listened to the fairy tale or exciting ghost story; or the spreading oak, beneath whose shade he has picnicked; or the haunted grove, where his tale, though only whispered, yet spoke loudly to a willing listener.

Now shift the scene to moonlight glade, Where dapper elves beneath the shade Of oak or elm their revels keep, What time we plodding mortals sleep.

Next lead me to some haunted grove, Such as the Fauns and Dryads love; Or seat me by some brook, whose swell Makes music like a Naiad's sh.e.l.l; Then touch the tree 'neath which I lie, Till it unclose to ear and eye Whate'er it may have heard or seen Since spring first clothed its stems with green.

_Spirit of the Woods._

But we must not be led astray by the poetical emotions which are sure to rise up within us at the contemplation of forest trees; we shall therefore confine ourself, in this treatise, more particularly to a general description of the genera and species of trees usually grown in Great Britain for timber, with an explanation of some of the principles connected with the growth of timber.

Timber in a country where trees are almost, if not wholly, planted, affords a subject for consideration very different from that of wild aboriginal forests; in the former we have to consider our subjects as objects for cultivation, and that with a view of yielding profit or pleasure, or both, whilst the study of trees in the forest would naturally resolve itself into a botanical and physiological inquiry into specific forms. While, therefore, we would not here neglect the latter, our arrangement of trees and their history will have more particular reference to their cultivation, a subject which will probably address itself more especially to the landlord than to the tenant farmer.

In the main, then, the primary object of growing trees is that of profit, whilst a secondary-or with some even primary-consideration will be that of ornamentation; and we admit that, apart from any other consideration, a landed estate without timber would be as bare, cold, and comfortless as a house without furniture; at the same time, too many trees, and these in themselves awkwardly grown and stuck about in all sorts of awkward positions, would be like an over-furnished and ill-regulated mansion.

We would, then, have that kind of thought exercised in planting which should result, if not in profit, at least in providing ornament without loss, either to the tenant on the one hand, or the proprietor on the other. To this end we would advocate setting apart portions of the estate for the cultivation of timber in belt plantations, or even in woods, having reference to the nature of the soil and general position, and this in preference to hedge-row planting, as long lines of ash or elm can never look ornamental however well-grown; but, inasmuch as this mode of growth necessitates lopping, the timber is so long in growing and then is never good, that it seldom pays even the expenses attendant upon its utilization.

In plantations, again, you can adopt such a system of growing nurses that some return for the outlay will not be many years in commencing, and so profit by way of rent is not delayed as in hedge-row growth.[27]

[27] We are aware that the landlord too often considers hedge-row timber as costless; but the injury which it entails upon the farm, and its nearly useless character, leads us to view the matter in a different light.

In order to understand what we would call a forest nurse, let us suppose that in a certain position our object is to grow a plantation of oak: we might in this case mix beech, elm, larch, Scotch firs, and spruce with the oak; these, by growing together, would increase an upward development; they would "pull each other up," as usually expressed. Soon this lateral growth would cause them to approach each other too closely, and then the larch would be first cut out, perhaps for hop-poles; next the spruce and Scotch firs for fencing and other purposes; then the beech and elm as they became useful; and at last, all the nurses gone, the oak would be sufficient to occupy the s.p.a.ce, and, though many years have pa.s.sed in the process, the wood has all the time yielded something towards rent and expenses.

In planting, of course, the kinds to be planted will depend upon circ.u.mstances, and so to a great extent will the methods to be adopted in planting; it may, however, be here stated that three plans of preparing the soil have been recommended:-1. _Trenching_; 2. _Pitting_; and 3. _Ploughing_.

1. _Trenching_ is a very expensive process, and, upon the whole, is scarcely worth the cost. It is true that digging and turning over the soil will cause a number of weeds to die, but, on the other hand, it encourages the growth of greater numbers than it destroys, and it is doubtful whether weeding can be done so well in the loosened ground as it could before. Supposing, then, the young trees to be planted in old turf, we consider trenching to be quite unnecessary; but, as the plants will flourish best when weeds and gra.s.s are kept under, we should advise the skinning of the turf round them annually for about three years with a common mattock, and at the same time advantage to be taken of the opportunity to tread in the trees more firmly when they may have become loosened; to remove any broken or decayed matter, as in the case of conifers, to see to the training of a single leader, rather than two or more; and in all cases where young conifers show an increasing disposition to grow a great quant.i.ty of fruits (cones), we should either dig around it, and, perhaps, apply a portion of manure, or sacrifice the plant and put a fresh one in its stead.