1. Where a hedge is properly made and carefully trimmed, it is the
most beautiful fence that can be made; and, as an _object of beauty_,
it may be well to form hedges in a wood country; but as a mode of
general fencing we deem it totally inappropriate to the condition of a
country abounding in timber. The labor of setting and tending it until
it is established, is tenfold more than is required for a timber
fence; a hedge requires from five to eight years for its
establishment; and every year of this time it must be _well_ tended;
when grown, it requires annual shearing; which, on a long line of
fence, is a labor to which few farmers will submit for the sake of
_appearances_. It is liable to get out of order by disease, or the
death of particular parts; and, if neglected a few years, it becomes
ragged, a covert for vermin and mischievous animals. In yards,
gardens, and lawns, hedges should be grown for ornament, and to serve
as screens, and backgrounds.
Upon the estates of the affluent where money is less valuable to the
owner than decorations, hedges should be established. Hedges may also
be economical in a prairie country; the labor and expense of making
and keeping may be less than would be the cost of timber; but on farms
in a woodland district they are to be regarded as a _luxury_; and like
all luxuries, they are expensive.
2. The white thorn will do very well for hedges if carefully tended.
The usual materials for hedges, at the East, are the English white
thorn (_cratægus oxycantha_), the buckthorn (_rhamnus catharticus_),
Newcastle thorn (_cratægas crus-galli_), honey locust (_gleditschia
triacanthos_), red cedar (_juniperus Virginiana_), the Washington or
Virginia thorn (_cratægus cordata_).
The Osage orange (_maclura aurantiaca_) has been highly recommended;
it is eminently beautiful, and if proved to be good for hedging,
should be employed. Privet makes a sightly hedge, but is thornless.
The Washington thorn is employed in this neighborhood by Aaron
Aldredge; it is very beautiful; will require eight or ten years to
give it maturity.
3. When the thorn is used, the berries should be gathered and mashed,
in the fall, and the seed exposed, mixed with moist sand, to the frost
of winter. In the spring they should be sown in nursery rows, and at a
year old, they should be transplanted. A reserve of plants should be
kept in the nursery to supply vacancies which may occur.
The ground should be thoroughly and deeply pulverized by plowing
(spading would be much better) and the plants set about six inches
apart. The ground should be kept entirely free from weeds; this may be
done in a profitable manner by planting bush beans on each side, the
tending of which will keep the hedge clean, the ground mellow, besides
the profit of the crop. Dr. Shurtliff, of Boston, gives the following
brief but excellent directions:
“Prepare your land in the best manner; use suitable plants of thrifty
growth, the older the better; assort and accommodate to the different
kinds of soil; preserve all the roots, but crop the tops, leaving only
few buds; keep a few in your nursery; set them sloping to the north,
and leave the ground a little concave about the roots; keep them clear
of grass and weeds, and add a little earth to the roots at each
hoeing; clear away the leaves at autumn; trim the side branches
carefully, and leave the main stems to nature till they are six feet
high, then crop of the tops to the height you mean to have your hedge.
It will look like a wedge with the sharp end upwards, and will exhibit
a most beautiful appearance.”