Once upon a time it would have been one man with a bill-hook and a packet of sandwiches. He’d spend the day outside in a pair of stout boots and thorn-proof clothing and probably a flat cap, and he didn’t need a manual because he’d have learned his craft from a master and he took pride in doing the job right. He would work his way from one end of the hedge to the other, trimming off the unwanted top growth, leaving carefully selected ‘pleachers’ which would be cut halfway through near to the ground and pushed over at forty-five degrees. To keep them in place, he’d bend them around stakes which would be driven into the ground as he worked. Sometimes he would use supple hazel whips to bind the stakes together and keep the work tight and tidy. By the next spring, there’d be new growth sprouting upwards from the rootstock and the hedge would come alive again.
This method of field maintenance would thicken and strengthen the hedge without causing too much damage, making a barrier plenty good enough to keep stock in – and without the use of barbed wire or electric fencing.
The farmer over the road cut his hedge yesterday, and the pictures here show the results. Brutal, isn’t it?
It’s been done by machine, and it doesn’t look to me as if the blades have been sharpened lately, because most of the growth has been absolutely shredded. And what’s more, it is the wrong time of year to be cutting a hedge back that hard – particularly when there are fruiting plants involved which provide winter food for birds and other wildlife – like the bountiful tangle of brambles and elder which made this hedgerow bright with berries only a few days ago.
The old time hedge layer would also have cleaned out the suckers and young saplings from the ditch to keep it clear running – in fact, he’d probably have done that first to give himself enough room to work safely. Machine cutting does not touch the stuff growing down low – it just adds to it. You end up with whole piles of dead twigs falling into the ditch, which pack down on top of the weeds and junk already down there and it clogs things up, but good.
So, OK, I’ve never layed a hedge in my life, and I’ve probably got the details and the order of work all wrong, but I understand the general idea. And I knew someone once who took the top off one of her fingers with a bill-hook while doing it, if that counts. The nail never did grow back right.
And actually, I lied. It is still possible to find a hedge-layer to do the work for you today, but the sad reality is that the art is effectively lost in many places because the tractor with the flail cutter is so much quicker and cheaper.
There is nothing quite so tidy looking as a well pruned hedgerow…we had a love one at our home in Beaconsfield and a hedge layer to care for it…the entire house was surrounded by this beautiful fence of green…and it stayed green…with his help and expertise! Jay, I’m just so glad I found your site…your knowledge shines through!
Sandi
Sandi McBrides last blog post..Is It really Wednesday?
The hedges were a constant source of fascination to me on my last trip to the UK. They just seemed to add so much to the landscape. I had no idea they were so complex, though.
That’s the beauty of the web, though– so much to learn.
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Quite the little hedge-hog aren’t you. Never knew so much work needed to go into creating a decent hedge which is probably why mine looks worse than the one in your photo.
Silverbacks last blog post..We’re All The Same.
I wonder sometimes if we (ever so slightly) more mature people, with all these beautiful memories of days gone by, when men took pride in their work, and…. oh so many things, should have some kind of lobotomy so we had nothing to compare the trashy work of today by. Would we be happier? Nah! I like my memories.
I told you I liked long sentences ;O)
Babs – beetles last blog post..Career change was life changing!
Sandi – Aw, thanks, Sandi! You had a layed hedge in your garden? Excellent! We have privet and I don’t think it responds well to laying. I could ask though, huh? It’s either that or grub it out and replace it I think, because it’s gone rather thin.
Jenn – It was Enclosure that made our countryside what it is today. Basically, the landed gentry apportioned out the land, mostly to themselves, but since it was now enclosed, there had to be boundaries. Hedges were the obvious choice, together with ditches. They’re useful for all kinds of reasons, and these days they’re important for wildlife. Pretty, too! Mostly…
Silverback – Depends what the hedgerow plants are, I think. And really, if you don’t mind the hedge not forming a livestock-proof barrier, you don’t need to lay it. It’s a shame to see these things dying out though, especially when they’re replaced by a form of ecological vandalism.
Babs – I know exactly what you mean, my dear. But no, I’d rather have the memories, too!
Nothing wrong with a long sentence, written well!
So true so true – but I learned a lot from this post..sk
sandy ks last blog post..Gotta Run !! whee !!!
I’m afraid this technological age brings good and bad too.
Time saved by the use of machinery also puts people out of work. I’m glad I remember the old ways but amazed how far we have come in my lifetime.
I’m sorry about some things but so impressed by others!!!
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Oh yes, a layered hedge that went all the way round a rather large front garden and huge back garden…an Old English Sheepdog to keep me in fine fettle and no need for a wire fence to keep her in…had a lovely 3 posted gate to enclose all…God I miss our house in England!
hugs
Sandi
Sandi McBrides last blog post..Is It really Wednesday?
well now that is just a MESS.
meleah rebeccahs last blog post..Conversations With Writers
how cool to know there was a person to do hedge laying! the hedges in all the photos of the europe along with the rock walls are fascinating to me. Of course we have hedges and rock walls here, but they are not the same.
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Oh dear. As soon as I saw the photo I thought…noooo! Our hedges are FULL of blackberries – already ripe as well. No blackberry and apple jam for you this year, then? Boo
This is the world we live in now. Not much is left for perservation or even a job done right, environment be d*mned. Reads like the farmer doesn’t have the know how of hedge cutting and only wants them cut…not really caring how.
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Oh Jay, those large green leafed plants are elephant ears…they’re on their third year so I hope they come back next year…I put them under the house to winter over and it usually works…
Sandi
Sandi McBrides last blog post..Is It really Wednesday?
I’ve never read such a piece of sexual innuendo in all my life! Hmph! Really now, you expect us to believe that this post was about landscaping, with lines like:
“So, OK, I’ve never layed a hedge in my life,”
Oh come now. Do you really expect us to believe that you have never been layed before? Give us a break will you? Oh, and what about this doozy:
“It is still possible to find a hedge-layer to do the work for you today,”
Do those come with batteries, or are they the manual type?
Please Jay, do better next time you want to give us insights as to your sex life. Take a tip from Claudia, and just let it all out in the open…
(with tongue firmly bolted in cheek.)
Mr. Nighttimes last blog post..The Road Well Travelled – Pt. 1 – The View From Here.
Sandy – Well, some things make me mad, you know? And then I have to blog about them.
Kate – That’s very true, things have changed enormously in our lifetime, some for the better, some for the worse. I guess that’s the way life goes, but it’s a shame when corners are cut and we end up with merely adequate results, especially when it’s not so good for wildlife.
Sandi – That does sound SO nice! No wonder you miss it!
Meleah – Indeed it is. I find it quite depressing.
Dawn – It’s easy for us to take our countryside for granted, but when I travel and see the way other people do it, I realise that what we have is unique. It’s all grown up so gradually and over such a long time, and for so many different reasons.
EM – Well, I wouldn’t have gathered them from there anyway, it’s right next to a busy road, but I feel bad for the birds and mice. And also, it’s just ugly.
Valerie – Part of the reason may be that it isn’t his own land. He rents that little collection of fields from some guy about twenty miles away, and has done for years. Seems people don’t look after other people’s property quite the same as they do their own.
Sandi – Wow – those are Elephant Ears? As in ‘a type of Begonia’? They are HUGE!
Mr N – I am surprised at you. I thought you had more elegance of mind! Then again, you do frequent my blog, so maybe not. LOL!
And I’m mildly insulted – you think I can’t spell and I miss words out of sentences!! I am quite capable of writing ‘I have never been laid under a hedge in my life’ if I really want to!
As it is, I’m just a little old grey-haired lady underneath this brash exterior, so I wouldn’t understand that sentence even if I did write it. My children sprang into life as a result of spontaneous generation.
And if you believe that, you’ll believe anything.
Oh, and BTW, Mr N, batteries are very seldom included.
Ah, hedges! Loved them as a kid cos we had them in our garden and if the ball went over into the neighbours’ you could sort of squeeze through them to get it back… and smell that dry hedgy-woody smell on the way through (I’m part dog btw).
In later years my dad dug them out because they were getting too much for him to cut and put up a fence – so I find myself still loving those long-gone hedges as THEY never blew over in the hurricane-force west wind which now regularly flattens the fence panels every time I go over to check on the house…grrr
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Neutron – Ah yes – hedges are much better at weathering the .. um .. weather, aren’t they? Must be something to do with those gaps.
You’re part dog? Interesting. LOL!
Gawd, late as usual! I love the English hedgerows but he’s managed to butcher that one. You’re right about timing though. We have a flowering hedge out the front but I’ve resorted to petrol clippers. It looks shite for a couple of months but by September, it’ll be all green and full of purple flowers. Shame about the fruit! (Blackberries are noxious weeds out here so we only get the things in punnets!)
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Hi Baino! – Yes, we have electric hedge-clippers for our garden. They’re OK, if you only want to keep ornamental stuff tidy and take care when and how you use them. And some shrubs need severe pruning, it’s true.
Lots of things are noxious weeds, but weeds are only plants in the wrong place, huh?
Jay, I’d really like to know which part of the world do you live in. Every day we see the wonderful pictures; places with so much greenery are decreasing very single day but there seems to be a lot of scenic beauty around your part of the world.
[btw forgive me if I am not able to visit your blog daily, I'll be tad busy for next 15-20 days. Although I'll keep hopping on and off in between.:)]
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Scratch – I agree! Areas of natural beauty are vanishing far too fast, including around here, sadly. I live in the East Midlands of England, on the edge of the fens, which is a very flat area of reclaimed land. Much of it was actually under the sea until the Dutch engineers drained it in the 1800s. Our house is about 25 miles from the sea ‘as the crow flies’, but is only about 5 feet above sea level!
If you look at Google maps, and find The Wash, that’s our nearest bit of sea.
Have fun with whatever you’re doing!
Visual proof that faster isn’t necessarily better. Since the dawn of the Industrial Age we’ve managed to cause more poisoning of and damage to the environment than all humans from all previous eras combined. At what price progress? This time it is the loss of beauty, health, and food for little creatures in the winter; what will happen next time? Will he kill the hedges altogether?
Sorry…you got me off on a tangent!!!
Peace – D
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River Poet – Oh, I know, and I do agree … but he won’t kill the hedge altogether. You see, it’s not his land, and he keeps bullocks in there for part of the year. If he killed the hedge altogether, he’d have to replace it with something and that would cost him a lot of money.
The good thing is that there are plenty of brambles inside the field system – it’s so old that the fields run into each other these days, but there are old lines of trees and ancient neglected hedges within them. But small creatures like mice live in a very small territory and might not roam far enough to find the new supply.