The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1856-01-10
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"'rhe tide Of life, swift always in its course,
May run in cities with brskcr force,
But no where with current 50 serene,
Or half so clear, as in the rural scene"
From the Patent Office Report.
Planting and Management of Quickest
Hedges

Hedges
Hedging, in various parts of the Old
World, has been Il f,vorite mode of enclo-
sure from remote antiquity, and has neither
lost its interest nor its utility by tho tardy::.
lapse Of time. Indeed, it forms, up to the.
present, an essential feature in the European
landscape, particularly in Germany and
England, where the utmost attention is paid
to it in fencing their fields. 1t was prac-
tised Ivy the ancient Romans, as well as ty
the Greeks, as appears from Homer in his
"Odyssey:" When Ulysses returned from
Troy to his father Laertes, after many
years absence, the good old IN had sent
his servants into the woods to gather young
thorns for forming hedges, and while occu-
pying himself in preparing ground to re-,
ceive them, his son asked him, "Why, be- :
ing now so far advanced in years. lie would
put himself to the fatigue and labor of
planting that which he was never likely to
enjoy" Laertes, taking him for stranger,
gently replied: 81 plant against my son
Ulysses comes home.' The thorns, to
which the allusion is made, might have
been the common hawthorn, or some orr
entail species of crat;rgus or some other
thor'-bcaring plant. Varro calls thorn
hedge "a natural and living guardian ;"
and Columella prefers it before the con-
structed or "dead hedge" as being more
lasting and less expensive.
In more modern times, we find, from
Cresen'us, that hawthorn hedges were used
in Italy before the year 400. In England,
they appear TO have been in use from tho
time Of the Romans. In all the old works
on husbandry, directions occur for quick
setting bitches and forming helge.rows. i
StandslI, in his "Commons Complaint, !.
published in 1911, gives directions for 3
new method of pruning "quickwood sets
Of white therne," SO as to make them thick.
at bottom; and advises, in certain cases.
that "tlree rows of quickthornes" sha!l:b b.
set in each ridge, instead CT two, as ap-
pears to have been the ordinary practice.
In black-lctter tract called "An Oida
Thriftc newly revived" &C., published in
1912, very particular directions are given.
for enclosing young plantations "with a
good ditch and quickest Of white thornc,
crab-lree and hollin, mixed together, or else:
any one of:gshem (and by no means, if YOU
can chuse set any black thorne amongst it..
for that will grow into the fields ward, and
spoyle pasture, and teare tho wool of the
sheepes backer) In Tusser's " Five Hun
dred Points of Good Hushaudry," direc-,
lions are also given for making hedges: =.
go plough delve up, advised will, skilt (
The breadth of ridge, aud the length as you
will,
Where speedy quickest for fence you will
draw, ~:
To sow in the seed OF the bramble and haw"
Most of these hedges, however, appear
to have been made to enclose plantations
of trees, and hedges Of hawtborns for. :
fields probably were not in use in England.
before the establishment of nurseries, about.
the beginning Of the seventeenth eentarv. !.
LIE hhst planted he'lges in any country
would doubtless consist of shrubs, trans.
planted from the neighboring woods !; and. !
those which appeared the most formidable
from their thorns or&spines. But this.
doubtless, would give rise 10 hedges formed
Of different plants. For instance, in some
parts OF England, the sloe, or black thorn, Z
,Prunus Spinosa) might prevail; while. ::
m others, the hawthorn, C1ategus orya-:
'antda,) or the buckthorp, lahan,nus -eax
might lave had a preference. !
IN all of these hedges, there must necessa- s !
:lly have been a mixture Of species, from
he. difficulty Of obtaining sufficient. );
lumber Of one kind without sowing the
iced. Y >l5s ~
From the success attending the hawthorn
md buckthorn for hedgesAin Europe, early I
'ttempts were made to adopt them in tho. 4
'lder-settledi parts of the United States i j
'nt in most instances, they have proved inS..
'ificient, il, not an entire failure, sosfngt "a :
he excessive droughts which often prcsail; n
lere, as well asto; the intense Beats 81 our i
uinmcr sum, The buckihorn,t ingsevsrafs u
instances, when sufficient attention. vas paid Il
o the: selection preparations of the so;t 81
nd to the use ofS3het shears. .,hss aIee,i 81
ormed into beautiful hedges shich fbid fair 8;
resistaouT climate, and endure for man