which they require, and which would very soon enable them to form a fence equal to that part occupied by the strongest plants.

2788. In regard to the dressing and pruning of hedge-plants before they are put into the earth, there is perhaps no part of the system of managing them, or forest trees, more hurtful and defective than that now pursued in the common nurseries. It is a very common practice with nurserymen, in the spring, when they wish to clear their ground for other purposes, to take up great quantities of thorns and other hedge-plants; and after pruning the tops, and cutting off nearly the whole of the roots, to tie them up in bundles, and lay these bundles in heaps till they are called for. In that mutilated state they often remain for many weeks, with the mangled roots naked and unprotected, exposed to every inclemency of the weather, before they are sold. In place of this treatment, the defects of which are so obvious, and the consequences resulting from it so hurtful, no hedge-plants should be lifted out of the nursery-ground till the day or at least a few days before that on which they are to be replanted, and in place of the severe pruning and dressing already mentioned, every root, even to the smallest fibre, should be carefully preserved, and the use of the knife confined entirely to the necessary curtailing of the tops. Where this care is taken, and the plants are put into the ground at a proper season, they will suffer no kind of check, and when the spring arrives grow luxuriantly and with vigor.

2789. In the after-management of the hedge, complete weeding, loosening, and laying new earth to the roots, for the first three or four years, are indispensable requisites; for, whatever pains may have been previously taken in dunging and summer-fallowing the soil, unless it is properly attended to and kept clean afterwards, this dunging and summer-fallow, in place of being useful, will prove hurtful to the fence; as the manure and tillage, by enriching and opening the soil, will encourage and promote the growth of weeds; which, under circumstances so peculiarly fortunate, will become so luxuriant, as either to destroy or materially injure the growth of the hedge, unless they are kept down by frequent and complete cleanings. In loosening the earth about the roots of hedges, whether old or young, it will be of advantage, if there is soil enough to admit of it, to lay up a few inches of it to the roots; doing this frequently encourages them to push out branches near the bottom, which prevent them from growing thin and open, a fault to which almost all hedges are liable, if due pains are not taken to prevent it.

2790. On the pruning and after-management of hedges will depend a very considerable part of their beauty and future value. There is, perhaps, no part of the subject upon which a greater contrariety of opinion at present prevails, than the age at which the pruning of hedges ought to commence, the manner of that pruning, or the season of the year at which it may be given with the greatest possible advantage and the least risk; the practice with some is, to prune, from the first year, not only the lateral branches, but the tops also; they give as a reason, that cutting off the extremities of the shoots contributes to thickening of the hedge, by making them push out a great number of new ones. The fallacy of this argument, and the mischief with which the practice is attended, we shall have occasion to notice afterwards. As to the manner of pruning, or the form of the hedge, these seem, with many, to be matters of indifference, no attention being paid to dressing them in such a way as to have them broad at bottom, and tapering gradually towards the top many of them being not only of one width from top to bottom, and not a few much heavier and broader above than they are below, it is obvious that such hedges can neither look well nor be useful.

2791. The season at which they are trimmed is in many instances an improper one; for in place of choosing that time when the plants are least in danger of suffering from an effusion of their juices, which is either at a late period in the autumn, very early in the spring, or about midsummer, the pruning is given late in the spring season, when the sap is flowing the check and injury they must receive from having the whole of their extremities cut off at that period may easily be conceived. In speaking of the treatment of hedge-plants before they are put into the ground, notice has been taken of the necessity of preserving the roots as much as possible, and at the same time shortening the tops: this last operation has two good effects; by curtailing the top and branches, the roots have less to nourish; and by leaving only two or three inches of the top above ground, in place of growing up with a single stem, it sends out two or three; and as these strike out from the plant so near the earth, each of them has the same effect, and strengthens the hedge as much as the original stem would have done by itself; with this addition, that, in place of one prop or support, the hedge will have three or four.

2792. After this first pruning, however, no hedge should be touched, or at least very gently, for some years; from an inattention to this circumstance, and the injudicious application of the knife or shears at an early period, many young hedges are rendered useless, which, under different treatment, would have made excellent fences, with one half the trouble that was required to destroy them. The practice of cutting over the tops yearly, which is done with a view to render the hedge thicker and more perfect, is one of those mistakes which we would naturally have supposed common sense and observation would have sooner corrected; the effect produced being, in almost every instance, the very reverse of what was intended: shortening the main stem of a thorn or any other plant makes it throw out a number of small stems immediately at the place where it has been cut; and if this operation is repeated once or twice ayear, every one of these is again subdivided, as it were, by sending out more branches: thus, in a course of years, during which the hedge makes very small progress upwards, if it be examined, instead of being found to consist of strong vigorous plants, with a good main trunk, each reaching from top to bottom of the hedge, and a sufficient number of lateral branches throughout the whole length of it, it will be found, by such repeated cuttings, in the same stunted situation as certain young trees and shrubs that are frequently cropped by sheep or cattle. From the repeated crops of young shoots which the tops send

out after every clipping, and the great quantity of nourishment necessary to support such additional numbers, the lateral shoot at the bottom, upon the strength and numbers of which the value of the hedge in a great measure depends, are stinted in their growth, and soon die; the hedge, of course, becomes open and naked at the bottom, and consequently useless as a fence.

2793. From the first year of planting, till the hedge has risen to the height of five or six feet, the main stems ought to be left untouched, and the pruning confined solely to the side branches, leaving those next the root pretty long, and gradually tapering towards the top; this pruning of the side branches will make them send out many new shoots from their extremities, which, by repeated trimmings, will become so thick as to fill up every interstice from top to bottom of the hedge; while the main stems, by being left untouched, continue their growth upward, till they arrive at the necessary height, when they may have their extremities cut off with perfect safety. When a hedge has attained the wished for height, all that is requisite afterwards is cutting the sides regular with a hedgebill, preserving it pretty broad at bottom, and drawing it gradually to a point at top; this form of a hedge is pleasant to the eye, is well calculated to stand the weather, and becomes every year stronger and thicker. A hedge of this sort in full leaf has the appearance of a solid wall; and, when viewed after the leaves are shed, presents to the eye a set of massy growing piles, so strong and formidable as to bid defiance to any attempts that may be made to break through them.

2794. In the management of old hedges, the above directions and observations apply, with strict propriety only to such as have been regularly attended to from the time of their being planted; as there are, however, innumerable hedges in the kingdom, which, by being neglected, have grown up to a great height, have become open and naked below, and bushy and unmanageable at top, it is of consequence to point out the means of reducing such hedges to a moderate scale, and rendering them useful.

383

2795. This purpose can only be effected by cutting them down, and procuring from their stumps a growth of new shoots, which, with proper management, will soon make a perfect fence. If the fields enclosed by such hedges are alternately in pasture and tillage, the period most proper for cutting them down is when the field is to be ploughed. Under a corn-crop, the confinement of the stock is no longer an object; and by the time the field is again brought under pasture, the hedge, if properly treated, will have acquired strength enough to become a good fence. This operation is performed in several different ways; in the first, the hedge is cut over, about a yard above the surface (fig. 383.), and is left in that state without any other pains being taken with it; if it has originally been good, and the plants thick enough at bottom, this kind of cutting will answer the purpose perfectly well, and in a few years the hedge will, with proper dressing, become both a neat and an useful fence. in this mode, when there has been a deficiency of plants, and the hedge is cut over in the manner above mentioned, innumerable gaps will appear, which, without some art, it will be impossible to fill up. It has also this farther disadvantage, that if either horses or cattle attempt to leap into, or out of the enclosure, the sharp points of the stakes are apt to run into their bellies; this accordingly often happens, and many valuable horses and cattle are killed or greatly injured by such means.

But

2796. A preferable mode of cutting down old hedges is, to cut a fourth part of the plants over, to the height which the fence is intended to be made; another fourth about six inches high, and to bend down and

384

2797. A third way of cutting over old hedges is that of cutting them close by the surface; this practice, when the plants are numerous, and there are no gaps in the hedge, answers very well; but when there is a deficiency of plants in any part of the hedge, the want will be very apparent. This last mode, though much inferior to the one immediately preceding, is nevertheless greatly preferable to that first described, as the young shoots sent out from the stumps, by being so near the ground, will in some measure remedy the defects occasioned by the want of original plants; whereas, when the old plants are cut at the distance of about a yard or four feet above the surface, the young shoots produced by the cutting will be so high, as to leave the hedge open at the bottom. 2798. The last method of cutting down old hedges, and which is yet but very little practised, is first to cut them down even with the surface, and afterwards to cover the stumps completely over, with the earth taken out of the ditch, or from the road-side. When this is carefully done, it is asserted that every single stump sends out a great number of young vigorous shoots, each of which, by branching out from below the surface, sends out roots, and acquires an establishment for itself; by that means the bottom

of the hedge becomes so thick, that neither sheep, cattle, or indeed any animal, can break through it.

2799. In whichever of these ways the hedge is cut down, the directions formerly given for the management of young hedges should be strictly attended to, as soon as the young shoots have made some progress; the side branches should be trimmed, and the hedge put into a proper shape, preserving it broad and full at bottom, and tapering gradually towards the top. The same caution is also to be observed with regard to the upright shoots, none of which should be shortened till the hedge has attained the wished-for height. It is surprising what close beautiful fences are raised in this way in a few years, from the stumps of some overgrown useless hedges; which, at the same time with their being naked below, and of course faulty as fences, occupied four times the space they ought to have done, to the great loss both of the proprietor and farmer.

2800. In respect to filling up gaps in hedges, when young hedges are planted, if the plants made use of are of a nature suited to the soil, the hedge may be kept free of gaps with very little trouble; for that purpose it is, however, necessary, about the end of the first autumn after the hedge has been planted, to examine it carefully throughout its whole extent, take out such plants as are either in a decaying sickly state, or those that are actually dead, and fill up the spaces they occupied with the strongest and most vigorous ones that can be found; where this care is taken for the first two or three years, there will be no defects in the hedge, which will be uniformly thick and strong throughout. Thus far of young hedges; but when old hedges are meant to be cut down, that have many gaps or open spaces in them, so wide as to prevent the possibility of the young shoots filling them up, some expedient must be had recourse to, in order to render the fence complete. This purpose may be answered in different ways; the easiest and indeed the most common method is, for the hedger, when he comes to a place where any of the plants are wanting, to take one of the strongest plants next to it, and after giving it a gentle stroke with the hedge-bill, to bend it across the opening, and entwine it with the thorns on the opposite side; indeed, as has been already stated, some have a custom of cutting down only a fourth part of the stems, and warping the remainder with these, which appear like stakes driven into the earth. Where the hedge is shortened to within three or four feet of the ground, both of these methods answer pretty well; and the openings, which would otherwise have been left, are in some degree filled up; but when the old hedge is cut close to the earth, other methods of supplying the defects become necessary. One very simple, and at the same time very effectual mode, consists in first digging the ground pretty deep with a spade, and taking one of the strongest plants on each side of the opening that have been purposely left uncut, removing the earth from their roots so much as to loosen them, and admit of their being bent down, and laid close to the earth in the opening; they should then be fastened down with wooden hooks or pins, and entirely covered throughout the whole of their length with earth. Where this is properly executed, the plants so laid down send up a great number of young shoots, which very soon fill up the vacancy; where it is practised upon a hedge that is cut over close by the surface, no other care is requisite; but when it is done with hedges that are cut at three or four feet above it, there will be a necessity for placing a temporary paling in the gap, to protect the young shoots from injury till they acquire a sufficient degree of strength. In cases of emergency the stronger roots of thorns and crabs will, if their extremities are brought up to the surface and then cut over an inch above it, throw up vigorous shoots and fill up gaps.

2801. To mend the defects of an old hedge with success, two things are absolutely necessary; the first is, that the whole of the roots of the old plants, which extend themselves into the opening, be entirely cut off; the next, that the hedge shall be cut down close to the earth, for at least a yard or more on each side of it. By cutting away the roots which extend themselves into the opening, the young plants are prevented from being robbed of their nourishment; and cutting down the old ones, for a little distance on each side, keeps them from being shaded, and allows them to enjoy the full benefit of the light and air; cutting down so much of the old hedge, no doubt, renders the opening larger, and of course requires more paling to supply the defect; but this extra expense will be more than compensated by the success with which it will be attended. In many instances, these vacancies are filled up with dead wood; indeed it is a common practice, after a hedge is dressed, to cram the greatest part of the prunings into these spaces, and under the bottom of the hedge, where it is any way open or naked. The most perverse imagination could hardly suppose any thing more absurd; for, if it is the wish of the owner that the plants on each side should send out new branches to fill up the openings, the purpose is completely defeated by cramming them full of dead brush-wood, which not only excludes light and air, and prevents the extension of the branches, but, from the violence and injury that is committed in thrusting in dead thorns, the plants are often materially hurt; and when this brush-wood decays, the opening, in place of being diminished, is considerably enlarged; the mischief is the same where they are thrust

under the hedge, the practice of which, when continued, never fails to render it naked at bottom. The use of stones for mending hedges is equally absurd and pernicious.

2802. In every operation of this kind, where old hedges are either cut over or bent down, the ground on each side, as soon as circumstances will admit of it, should be com pletely dug, cleared of weeds, and the earth laid up to the roots of the plants. It is surprising what numerous and luxuriant shoots the stumps send out, when managed in this way while, on the contrary, when these necessary operations are neglected, fewer shoots proceed from the old trunks; and, of these few, a considerable proportion are choaked and destroyed by the weeds and other rubbish in the bottom of the hedge. Of Compound Hedge-Fences.

SUBSECT. S.

2803. The single hedge and ditch, with or without paling, differs a little in different situations: the ditch varies in depth and width; the thorns are for the most part placed upon the common surface, upon what is termed a scarcement, or projection of six or seven inches, on which they lean, and which serves as a kind of bed, when they are cleaned. It is a practice in some parts of Norfolk, in planting hedges in this way, to coat the face of the bank and the projection with loamy earth from the bottom of the ditch, made into a puddle This acts for a year or two like a coat of plaster, and prevents the seeds of weeds, which may be in the soil under it, from germinating. It also retains moisture; but the difficulty is to meet with a clay or loam that, when puddled and thus applied, will not crack with the summer's drought and winter's frost. Some have applied common lime plaster for the same purpose; others road stuff; and some plant in the face of a wall of stones, or bricks, or between tiles.

2804. The hedge and bank consists of a hedge planted upon the plain surface, with a bank or mound of earth raised behind it by way of protection.

2805. The hedge in the face of a bank differs from the former, principally in having the hedge in the front of the bank considerably above the common surface, in place of having it at the bottom.

2806. The Devonshire fence is a sort of hedge and bank, as it consists of an earthen mound, seven feet wide at bottom, five feet in height, and four feet broad at top, upon the middle of which a row of quicks is planted; and on each side, at two feet distance, a row of willow-stakes, of about an inch in diameter each, and from eighteen inches to two feet long, are stuck in, sloping a little outwards; these stakes soon take root, and form a kind of live fence for the preservation of the quicks in the middle. This fence nearly resembles the hedge on the top of a bank, and is equally expensive in the erection: the formation of the bank deprives the adjoining surface of its best soil, and the plants made use of are liable to every injury that can possibly arise from drought, frost, and the gradual decay or crumbling down of the mound. The addition of the willows to this fence is certainly a disadvantage; if the quicks require protection, dead wood is equal to every purpose that could be wished or expected; and at the same time possesses the additional advantage of requiring no nourishment, and having no foliage to shade the thorns, or other plants.

2807. In the hedge with posts and rails, the railings are employed for the protection of hedges, as well those that are planted upon the plain surface, as for the hedge and ditch united. The addition of a paling is, however, more immediately necessary in cases where the hedge is planted upon the plain surface, especially when the fields so enclosed are in pasture.

The

2808. The hedge and dead hedge is a fence that consists of a row of quicks or other hedge-plants, set either upon the plain surface, or in the face of a ditch or bank. dead hedge answers a double purpose, namely, that of protecting the young plants from the injuries they may receive from cattle, or the inclemency of the weather; and at the same time forming a temporary enclosure, which lasts till the hedge is grown up.

2809. The hedge and wall fence is of two kinds, namely, a coarse open wall, built of loose stones, on the top of the bank formed by the earth taken out of the ditch; and when hedges are planted upon the plain surface, a thin and low wall regularly built alongside, answers the double purpose of sheltering and encouraging the growth of the plants while they are in a weak tender state, and afterwards prevents the possibility of the hedge becoming open below. Where gardens are entirely, or in part, surrounded by hedges, and in the enclosing of fields by the sides of highways, especially in the vicinity of great towns, where dogs and other destructive vermin are apt to creep into the enclosures, and annoy the stock, the low wall forms a valuable addition to the fence. 2810. The hedge in the middle, or in the face of a wall, is executed in the following manner: the face of the bank is first cut down with a spade, not quite perpendicular, but nearly so; a facing of stone is then begun at the bottom, and carried up regularly, in the manner that stone-walls are generally built: when it is raised about eighteen inches, or two feet high, according to circumstances, the space between the wall and the bank is filled up with good earth, well broken and mixed with lime or compost: the

thorns are laid upon this earth in such a manner, as that at least four inches of the root and stem shall rest upon the earth, and the extremity of the top shall project beyond the wall. When the plants are thus regularly laid, the roots are covered with earth, and the building of the wall continued upwards, filling up the space between the wall and the bank gradually, as the wall advances upwards: when completed, the wall is finished with a coping of sod, or stone and lime. When the plants begin to vegetate, the young shoots appear in the face of the wall, rising in a perpendicular manner.

2811. The hedge and ditch, with row of trees, differs from those which have been described only in having a row of trees planted in the line of the fence along with the hedge. The advocates for this practice say, that, by planting rows of trees in the direction of the fence, the country is at once sheltered, beautified, and improved; and that the interest of the proprietor is ultimately promoted by the increasing value of the timber raised in these hedge-rows. It is also said, that such trees produce more branches for stack-wood, knees for ship-builders, and bark for the tanners; and they sell at a higher price per load than trees grown in woods and groves. Besides, close pruning hedge-row trees, to the height of twelve or fifteen feet, prevents their damaging the hedge; the shelter which they afford is favorable to the vegetation both of grass and corn; it also tends to produce an equable temperature in the climate, which is favorable both to the production of and greater perfection and beauty in animals, and of longevity to man. Though the practice of planting hedge-rows of trees is very common, though its advocates are numerous, and though these arguments are urged in its favor, yet the objections are also entitled to very serious consideration. When trees are planted in the line of a fence, if that fence is a hedge, the plants of which it consists will not only be deprived of a great part of their nourishment by the trees, but will also be greatly injured by the shade they occasion, and the drop that falls from them during wet weather: upon this point little reasoning is necessary; for, if we appeal to facts, we shall find that no good hedge is to be met with where there is a row of trees planted along with it. The mischief is not, however, confined solely to hedges; the effects are equally bad, perhaps worse, where the fence is a stone wall; for though in this case the shade or drop of the trees are hardly if at all felt, yet, when they have attained a certain height, the working and straining of the roots during high winds is such, that the foundations of the wall are shaken and destroyed; accordingly, wherever large trees are found growing near stone walls, the fence is cracked and shaken by every gale of wind, is perpetually falling into large gaps, and costs ten times the expense to keep it in repair, that would otherwise be required if no trees were near it. Admitting, however, that the trees in hedge-rows were no way prejudicial to the fence, which we have already shown is by no means the case, another argument may be succesfully used against the practice. It is seldom, indeed, that trees planted in hedge-rows arrive at any great size; on the contrary, they are ge nerally low and stunted: and while they occasion a visible loss by the mischief they do the fence, their utmost worth, when they come to be sold, will seldom be found adequate to the loss and inconvenience they have occasioned.

2812. The hedge and ditch, or hedge and wall, with belt of planting, in exposed situations, is strikingly useful and ornamental, while upon the low grounds it is not only unnecessary, but in some instances absolutely hurtful. For instance, in deep and broad valleys surrounded by hills, and sheltered from severe blasts, belts of planting are not only unnecessary, but even hurtful and ruinous by the ground they occupy, which could certainly be employed to greater advantage, and the original expense of inclosing and planting saved.

2813. The hedge and ditch, or wall, with the corners planted, is employed upon some estates instead of the belt of planting. According to some, it has a good effect upon the scenery of the country, and answers the purpose of general shelter extremely well: it is, however, greatly inferior to the belt of planting, for the purpose of sheltering particular fields; but as in every field there is a space in each angle that cannot be ploughed, by planting these spaces, which would otherwise be left waste, many valuable trees are raised with little expense, and with scarce any waste of land.

2814. The furze fence may be had recourse to with advantage whenever such plants are found to grow vigorously in a soil. Fences of this sort are mostly made upon mounds or banks of earth, by sowing the seed of the plant. Sometimes the bank is only sloped on one side, but at others on both; in the former case the front is perpendicular, and faced with turf or stone. From these fences being raised so considerably above the common surface, they are very liable to injury from frost and other causes in severe winters.

SUBSECT. 4. Paling Fences.

2815. Paling fences are only to be considered in a secondary light; for, of whatever wood they are made, however substantially they may be executed, or in whatever situation they are placed, their decay commences the instant they are erected. Where permanent