[TheForge] Setting up shop (more or less)

[PlumDon at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/30/2008 3:07:17 PM Eastern Daylight Time,  
wmullett at bright.net writes:
Meanwhile, dig a bunch of saplings and transplant  them along the
fence.  Next year, start a hedge from these.  The  fence will rot away,
but the hedge is forever.  Hedges are woven living  brush & trees, so
expect a little  work.
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Yea .... do a hedgerow.  Louis  Bromfield, author and founder of Malabar Farm 
in Ohio, re-discovered those in  Europe and convinced Ohio Governor Davey 
(Davey Tree) to import stock for hedge  rows.


Sounds really smart except what he brought to Ohio was Multiflora  Rose.
 
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In  Europe, mainly England, Wales  and Scotland the now nearly defunct craft 
of  hedging and ditching was done with hawthorne. I tried a bit of it myself 
but  hawthorne are prone to much disease in the states. If successful it makes 
a  virtually impenetrable, thorny hedge atop the residue from the dug ditch. 
With  care it may go a century. There is this epitaph:
 
    Here lies Tom Ingrey
    A good hedger and ditcher
    He was born poor
    And never grew richer. 
 



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