Delaware journal. [volume] (Wilmington [Del.]) 1827-1832, 1827-05-18
COMMUNICATIONS.
For the Delaware Journal
ESSAY ON HEDGING.--CHAP. !.

On the utility and advantage Of hue fences compar-
cd acith dead ones
The various opinions of men on the subject of in
closing their land is remarkable. But it may, i'll
great measure, be ascrbed to prejudice or prepos-
Session in favour of the practice to which they have
been long accustomed and which they hold in vene-
ration for its antiquity. These reason in this
wav: the practice of their orefathers has long been
tested by experience; and, if there any better,
they would have adopted it. and it is folly to swerye
from a practice so we'll tested. But it ought to be
observed that, when ancestors came into pos
session of this country, 1t was forest OF timber.
which was the only obstacle to the culture and inn
provement of the land, and had to be removed be-
fore they could enjoy the benefit OF raising their
food and clothing. The of this timber for tenc-
ing was then judicious plan. But that time and
state of things have passed away, and we, in the
Atlantic States, find ourselves in very different cir
cumstances at the present period. Many large cities
and towns have been, and are yet consuming timber
in immense quantities, as fuel, and both for vessels
of war and of commerce. Our manufactures, also,
use it daily in various operations, besides tor the
purpose Of erecting their buildings AS an article
of fuel, not hearth can be warmed without it,
cept in coal districts to say nothing of the consump
ton of it in steamboat navigation, and the pack
ages of our agricultural products. My belief is that
the reason why the live fence system has not been
adopted in places where timber has become so val
liable, is the want of knowledge on the subject. 1t
has been a common thing for timber land to be sold
for one hundred dollars per in the neighbour
hood Of the writer yet it is cut down and applied
to certain destruction by fencing in the same mani
ner as in former times whenit was nuisance. Now,
let it no longer be applied to the wasteful practice
of fencing, when so cheap and durable substitute
is at hand as the living materal--the thorn. The
idea of being annoyed by the puncture of its defen
sive armour. is another obstacle in the way; but
pair of buckskin gloves mittens removes all diff
Guilty ON that head, and the thorn becomes quite in
offensive to the hand as every days experience de-
monstrates. in the training OF hedges All farms IN
the vicinity of towns, villages, and manufactures,
may be efectually secured against intruders with
less expense than by any kind OF wooden fence.
Neither does it afford loose rail as temptation to
the cottager for his fire.
In the making and maintaining of hedges, no part
of the work is aborious. Even the FLASHING, which
is considered the most rugged of any part OF the
business, was performed on the writer's hedges by
man of seventy years old, who followed the BUSH
ness for living for himself and family. On the
other hand the cutting and splitting Of rails and
posts, handling and hauling them, is lab 'rious
work and requires man Of strength, as likewise
the putting them up. All this must be done at the
highest wages for labourers hire. Now, hedging can
be done by such hands as would be unable to split
and handle heavy timber. .
lately passed through district of excellent land
where some of the were drawing rails twenty
miles for the purpose of fencing, and expressed my
astonshmentt to one of them who had began to hedge
little, and was then getting his hedges trimmed
by person from hedging ,neighboarhood. He
replied that hedger of his talents and knowledge
in the business, night make an ample fortune by To-
eating himself in this county, on small piece of
land and raise his quicks and hedge for the farmers
who destitute OF information on this SUBJECT.
was convinced of the correctness of his observa-
ton more fully, when Iconversed with some of these
farmers, who found had never turned their atten-
ton to any other mode Of fencing than by timber,
either split or sawed This convinced me of the ne
cessty Of treatise on this subject, in order to diff
fuse the information obtained by experimental know
ledge The advantages Of its adoption must appear,
at one view, when we see andholders OF the same