Chapter XIX Hedges: Their Formation and Management
Strictly speaking, hedges are divided into two kinds—useful and ornamental—the former being employed for keeping farm stock in bounds, and the latter in the subdivision of private gardens and for lawn and park purposes generally. Where the fences are intended purely for protective purposes the thorn, beech, hornbeam or holly are the plants usually employed, while for ornamental garden subdivisions almost any shrub may be used, the choice of which will lie with the operator.
Amongst all the trees and shrubs that have been found suitable for the climate of Britain, none equals the common whitethorn, or Quick, for hedge-formation, where strength and shelter are points of first consideration. The beech and hornbeam certainly can thrive better on exposed and high-lying ground and where the soil is poor and thin, but neither forms so durable a protection against farm stock as the thorn.
When properly treated the thorn is a fast grower, and as a fence plant it is ornamental, smooth, stubborn, and long lived. It is also not at all subject to disease, and is very readily propagated. Few soils come amiss to the thorn—that is, if they are not overcharged with moisture, but it delights in a rich hazelly loam.
(1) Plantation Hedges—Preparation of the Ground and Planting.—Thorough preparation of the ground where live fences are formed should take precedence of all other operations—indeed, nothing can repay the planter more satisfactorily than the previous suiting of the land, in the way of draining and trenching, to the plants intended to be inserted.
In all cases we have found it well to have the ground along the line of fence trenched to a depth of 2 ft., and about 3 ft. in width, and a quantity of manure incorporated at the same time. If this can be done some months before planting the thorns or other fence plants, so much the better, as it gives time for the loosely upturned soil to get mellowed and sweetened, as also for the manure to get well decomposed. In all cases it may not be necessary to apply manure, but, where the soil is at all poor, the addition of a quantity of well-rotted manure has a wonderful effect in stimulating the quick into active and strong growth. The vigorous and rapid growth of a hedge, when the soil has been well worked and manured, is remarkable, and in all cases the labour and outlay expended on the fence is amply repaid.