The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1889-08-02
A Scientific Hodge Fence.

owing, as their articles snow, 10 tnCir
unacquaintance with the Usage orange
hedge when brought to that condition
which science, directing and guiding
nature, has produced. | had in COM
mon with this class Of hedge haters,
concluded that very little permanent
good could be got out of an Usage hedge
without Infinite care and labor. My
opinions underwent radical change
when brought face to face with hedge.
and-wire fence, constructed on scientific
principles by specialists. (If you wish
to have the very best article Of any
kind you must 60 to specials and
you will get the best and cheapest in
the long run)
The hedge .and.wire fence is made in
this way: The row in which the hedge
is to be set is we'll prepared as for set
ting any other plart or tree The
young plants from the beds are care
fully selected, trimmed and set in the
row at an angle of As degrees, as near
as possible, and 8 inches apart. The
row is kept clean by cultivation till the
hedge is ready to 'plash.' which will
be in three or four years, varied by
the stregth of the soil, The second
and third seasons after planting, the
stalks are trimmed up-not cut off
and made to grew stout canes. like
nursery trees. The fourth year they
are ready to splash - when they are
trimmed to bare poles about 5 or 81 feet
high. The earth is removed from each
side of the hedge about inches from
the canes, and all the side roots cut off,
The canes are then bent to an angle Of
As degree, corresponding to that Of
the roots when FIRST set. But before the
bending is commenced four fencing
wires are stretched along the hedge
two bottom wires barbed and two top
ones smooth, the bottom wire about
eight or nine inches from the ground,
and the top wire little lower than the
height the hedge is to be.
Now we are ready to commence bend
ing the canes and "plashing." For
this work special tools are provided,
and men taught to use them properly.
Each cane is stapled to the wires in
four places, after being bent to the
proper angle. Two men are required
to do this "plashiug' One of the men
is provided with driver, which | will
not attempt to describe here. The
second man is on the opposite side of
the hedge furnished with a cast: iron
anvil with an inch hole In the centre
of the face. This anvil is held against
the stalk opposite the wire, while his
help with the driver, which is loaded
with staples, places the concave point Of
his machine against the wire where it
crosses the cane, and with a firm stroke
of the steel-rod driver staples the wire
fast to the cane. The staple is driven
nearest the lower surface of the cane,
and as the greatest future growth will
be on the upper side of the stalk or
cane it will be away from the wire and
staple, which will not become imbed-
dcd. The next stalk is then bent by
one Of the men to the proper angle and
stapled. The men soon become expert,
and do the work very raidly. The
canes all being bent to uniform angle
and distance apart, and permanently
fastened to the strained wires, the
branches which start all along the
canes from the root to top grow straight
up from the upper side of the main
stalk where the largest portion of the
sap flows, forming almost network of
twigs from the ground to the top.
This hedge.and-wire fence is as stiff
and firm as post,and rail or a plank
fence, as straight as a taut line, and,
when properly trimmed, is as plumb as
stone wall from bottom to top and
about as thick-twelve to sixteen
in ,hes. The hedge is so firm that it
can be trimmed perfectly straight and
plumb without fficulty-a green wall,
twelve to sixteen inches thick and four
feet high, SO thick and matted to the
ground that chicken or pig cannot go
through, and so straight and strong
that bull cannot break through or'hOrse
jump over. This is the perfection of a
hedge, where science and nature COM
tiue to link beauty with utility. The
side roots being cut off and the stalk
bent and secured at an angle of 450 !,
and the side branches kept trimmed
the roots do not incline to spread later
ally, but follow the inclination of the