HEDERA

HEDERA, Ivy, in botany: A genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the pentandria class of plants; and in the natural method giving name to the 46th order, Hederacea. There are five oblong petals; the berry is pentaspermous, girt by the calyx.

Species. 1. The helix, or common ivy, grows naturally in many parts of Britain; and, where it meets with any support, will rise to a great height, sending out roots on every side, which strike into the joints of walls or the bark of trees. If there is no support, they trail on the ground, and take root all their length, so that they closely cover the surface, and are difficult to eradicate.

Hedges. and in autumn to be well manured with dung or lime, or both (for it cannot be made too rich), and be neatly formed into a ridge before winter.

“Having prepared the ground in this manner, it will be in readiness to receive the hedge, which ought to be planted as early in winter as can be got conveniently done; as the willow is much hurt by being planted late in the spring. But before you begin to make a fence of this kind, it will be necessary to provide a sufficient number of plants: which will be best done by previously rearing them in a nursery of your own, as near the field to be inclosed as you can conveniently have it; for as they are very bulky, the carriage of them would be troublesome if they were brought from any considerable distance. The best kinds of willow for this use, are such as make the longest and strongest shoots, and are not of a brittle nature. All the large kinds of hoop-willows may be employed for this use; but there is another kind with stronger and more taper shoots, covered with a dark green bark when young, which, upon the older shoots, becomes of an ash-gray, of a firm texture, and a little rough to the touch. The leaves are not so long, and a great deal broader than those of the common hoop-willow, pretty thick, and of a dark-green colour. What name this species is usually known by, I cannot tell; but as it becomes very quickly of a large size at the root, and is strong and firm, it ought to be made choice of for this purpose in preference to all other kinds that I have seen. The shoots ought to be of two or three years growth before they can be properly used, and should never be less than eight or nine feet in length. These ought to be cut over close by the ground immediately before planting, and carried to the field at their whole length. The planter having stretched a line along the middle of the ridge which was prepared for their reception, begins at one end thereof, thrusting a row of these plants firmly into the ground, close by the side of the line, at the distance of 18 or 20 inches from one another; making them all stand a little to one side in a direction parallel to the line. This being finished, let him begin at the opposite end of the line, and plant another row in the intervals between the plants of the former row; making these incline as much as the others, but in a direction exactly contrary; and then, plaiting these basket-ways, work them into lozenges like a net, fastening the tops by plaiting the small twigs with one another, which with very little trouble may be made to bind together very firmly. The whole, when finished, assumes a very beautiful net-like appearance, and is even at first a tolerable good defence: and, as these plants immediately take root and quickly increase in size, it becomes, after a few years, a very strong fence which nothing can penetrate. This kind of hedge I myself have employed; and find that a man may plant and twist properly about a hundred yards in a day, if the plants be laid down to his hand: and, in a situation such as I have described, I know no kind of fence which could be reared at such a small expence, so quickly become a defence, and continue so long in good order. But it will be greatly improved by putting a plant of eglantine between each two plants of willow, which will quickly climb up and be supported by them; and, by its numerous prickles would effectu-

ally preserve the defenceless willow from being browsed upon by cattle. Hedges.

“As it will be necessary to keep the narrow ridge, upon which the hedge is planted, in culture for one year at least, that the plants of eglantine may not be choked by weeds, and that the roots of the willow may be allowed to spread with the greater ease in the tender mold produced by this means, it will be proper to stir the earth once or twice by a gentle horse-hoe in the beginning of summer; and, in the month of June, it may be fowed with turnips, or planted with coleworts, which will abundantly repay the expence of the fallow.”

The same author also gives the following useful directions for planting hedges in situations very much exposed to the weather, and recovering them when on the point of decaying. “Those who live in an open uncultivated country, have many difficulties to encounter, which others who inhabit more warm and sheltered regions never experience; and, among these difficulties, may be reckoned that of hardly getting hedges to grow with facility. For, where a young hedge is much exposed to violent and continued gusts of wind, no art will ever make it rise with so much freedom, or grow with such luxuriance, as it would do in a more sheltered situation and favourable exposure.

“But although it is impossible to rear hedges in this situation to so much perfection as in the others, yet they may be reared even there, with a little attention and pains, so as to become very fine fences.

“It is advisable in all cases, to plant the hedges upon the face of a bank; but it becomes absolutely necessary in such an exposed situation as that I have now described: for the bank, by breaking the force of the wind, screens the young hedge from the violence of the blast, and allows it to advance, for some time at first, with much greater luxuriance than it otherwise could have done.

“But as it may be expected soon to grow as high as the bank, it behoves the provident husbandman to prepare for that event, and guard, with a wise forecast, against the inconvenience that may be expected to arise from that circumstance.

“With this view, it will be proper for him, instead of making a single ditch, and planting one hedge, to raise a pretty high bank, with a ditch on each side of it, and a hedge on each face of the bank; in which situation, the bank will equally shelter each of the two hedges while they are lower than it; and, when they at length become as high as the bank, the one hedge will in a manner afford shelter to the other, so as to enable them to advance with much greater luxuriance than either of them would have done singly.

“To effectuate this still more perfectly, let a row of service-trees be planted along the top of the bank, at the distance of 18 inches from each other, with a plant of eglantine between each two services. This plant will advance, in some degree, even in this exposed situation; and by its numerous shoots, covered with large leaves, will effectually screen the hedge on each side of it, which, in its turn, will receive some support and shelter from them; so that they will be enabled to advance all together, and form, in time, a close, strong, and beautiful fence.

“The service is a tree but little known in Scotland; although

Hedges. Although it is one of those that ought perhaps to be often cultivated there in preference to any other tree whatever, as it is more hardy, and, in an exposed situation, affords more shelter to other plants than almost any other tree I know: for it sends out a great many strong branches from the under part of the stem, which, in time, assume an upright direction, and continue to advance with vigour, and carry many leaves to the very bottom, almost as long as the tree exists; so that if it is not pruned, it rises a large close bush, till it attains the height of a forest tree.

"It is of the same genus with the rawn-tree—and has a great resemblance to it both in flower and fruit; its branches are more waving and pliant—its leaves undivided, broad and round, somewhat resembling the elm, but white and mealy on the under side. It deserves to be better known than it is at present.

"But if, from the poorness of the soil in which your hedge is planted, or from any other cause, it should so happen, that, after a few years, the hedge becomes sickly, and the plants turn poor and stunted in appearance, the easiest and only effectual remedy for that disease, is to cut the stems of the plants clean over, at the height of an inch or two above the ground; after which they will send forth much stronger shoots than they ever would have done without this operation. And if the hedge be kept free of weeds, and trained afterwards in the manner above described, it will, in almost every case, be recovered, and rendered fresh and vigorous.

"This amputation ought to be performed in autumn, or the beginning of winter; and in the spring, when the young buds begin to show themselves, the stumps ought to be examined with care, and all the buds be rubbed off, excepting one or two of the strongest and best placed, which should be left for a stem. For if the numerous buds that spring forth round the stem are allowed to spring up undisturbed, they will become in a few years as weak and stunted as before; and the hedge will never afterwards be able to attain any considerable height, strength, or healthfulness.—I have seen many hedges, that have been repeatedly cut over, totally ruined by this circumstance not having been attended to in proper time.

"If the ground for 16 or 20 feet on each side of the hedge be fallowed at the time that this operation is performed, and get a thorough dressing with rich manures, and be kept in high order for some years afterwards by good culture and meliorating crops, the hedge will prosper much better than if this had been omitted, especially if it has been planted on the level ground, or on the bank of a shallow ditch."

Mr Miller greatly recommends the black alder as superior to any other that can be employed in moist soils. It may either be propagated by layers or truncheons about three feet long. The best time for planting these last is in February or the month of March. They ought to be sharpened at their largest end, and the ground well loosened before they are thrust into it, lest the bark should be torn off, which might occasion their miscarriage. They should be set at least two feet deep, to prevent their being blown out of the ground by violent winds after they have made strong shoots; and they should be kept clear of tall weeds until they have got good heads, after which

VOL. VIII. Part I.

they will require no farther care. When raised by laying down the branches, it ought to be done in the month of October; and by that time twelve months they will have roots sufficient for transplantation, which must be done by digging a hole and loosening the earth in the place where the plant is to stand. The young sets must be planted at least a foot and an half deep; and their top should be cut off to within about nine inches of the ground; by which means they will shoot out many branches. This tree may be trained into very thick and close hedges, to the height of 20 feet and upwards. It will thrive exceedingly on the sides of brooks; for it grows best when part of its roots are in water; and may, if planted there, as is usual for willows, be cut for poles every fifth or sixth year. Its wood makes excellent pipes and staves; for it will last a long time underground or in water; and it is likewise in great estimation among ploughwrights, turners, &c. as well as for making several of the utensils necessary for agriculture. Its bark also dies a good black.

The birch is another tree recommended by Mr Miller as proper for hedges; and in places where the birch, young plants can be easily procured, he says that the plantation of an acre will not cost 40 shillings, the after expence will not exceed 20 shillings: so that the whole will not come above three pounds. Ash-trees ought never to be permitted in hedges, both because they injure the corn and grass by their wide extended roots, and likewise on account of the property their leaves have of giving a rank taste to butter made from the milk of such cattle as feed upon the leaves. No ash-trees are permitted to grow in the good dairy-counties.

Where there are plenty of rough flat stones, the fences which bound an estate or farm are frequently raised on the top of these stones. In Devonshire and Cornwall it is common to build as it were two walls with these stones laid upon one another; first two and then one between: as the walls rise they fill the intermediate space with earth, beat the stones in flat to the sides, which makes them lie very firm, and so proceed till the whole is raised to the intended height. Quick hedges, and even large timber trees, are planted upon these walls, and thrive extremely well. Such inclosures are reckoned the best defence that can be had for the ground and cattle; though it can scarce be supposed but they must be disagreeable to the eye, and stand in need of frequent repairs by the stones being forced out of the way by cattle. The best way to prevent this is to build such wall in the bottom of a ditch made wide enough on purpose, and sloped down on each side. Thus the deformity will be hid; and as the cattle cannot stand to face the wall so as to attempt to leap over it, the stones of which it is composed will be less liable to be beaten down. The earth taken out of the ditch may be spread on the adjacent ground, and its sides planted with such trees or underwood as will best suit the soil. By leaving a space of several feet on the inside for timber, a supply of that valuable commodity may be had without doing any injury to the more valuable pasture.

The following is an excellent method of making a durable and beautiful fence in grassy places. Dig fence in pieces of turf four or five inches thick, the breadth of grassy places.

Hedges. the spade, and about a foot in length. Lay these turfs even by a line on one side, with the grass outward, at the distance of ten or twelve inches within the mark at which the ditch afterwards to be dug in the solid ground is to begin. Then lay, in the same manner, but with their grass sides turned out the contrary way, another row of turf, at such a distance as to make a breadth of foundation proportioned to the intended height of the bank. Thus, even though the ground should prove defective, the bank would be prevented from giving way. A ditch may then be dug of what depth and breadth you please; or the ground may be lowered with a slope on each side; and in this case there will be no loss of pasture by the fence; because it may be sowed with hay-seeds, and will bear grass on both sides. Part of the earth taken out of the ditches or slopes will fill the chasm between the rows of turf, and the rest may be scattered over the adjacent ground. Three, four, or more layers of turf, may be thus placed upon one another, and the interval between them filled up as before till the bank is brought to its desired height; only observing to give each side of it a gentle slope for greater strength. The top of this bank should be about two feet and a half wide, and the whole of it filled up with earth except a small hollow in the middle to retain some rain. Quicksets should then be planted along this top, and they will soon form an admirable hedge. By this means a bank four feet high, and a slope only two feet deep, will make, besides the hedge, a fence six feet high, through which no cattle will be able to force their way: for the roots of the grass will bind the turf so together, that in one year's time it will become entirely solid; and it will yet be much stronger when the roots of the quick shall have shot out among it. The only precautions necessary to be observed in making this bank are, 1. Not to make it when the ground is too dry; because, if a great deal of wet should suddenly follow, it will swell the earth so much as perhaps to endanger the falling of some of the outside; which, however, is easily remedied if it should happen. 2. If the slope be such as sheep can climb up, secure the young quicks, at the time of planting them, by a small dead hedge, either on or near the top, on both sides. If any of the quicks should die, which they will hardly be more apt to do in this than in any other situation, unless perhaps in extremely dry seasons, they may be renewed by some of the methods already mentioned.—Such fences will answer even for a park; especially if we place posts and rails, about two feet high, a little sloping over the side of the bank, on or near its top: no deer can creep through this, nor even be able to jump over it. It is likewise one of the best fences for securing cattle; and if the quicks on the bank be kept clipped, it will form a kind of green wall pleasing to the eye.

Elms recommended. In the first volume of the Bath Papers we find elms recommended for fences; and the following method of raising them for this purpose is said to be the best. When elm timber is felled in the spring, sow the chips made in trimming or hewing them green, on a piece of ground newly ploughed, as you would corn, and harrow them in. Every chip which has an eye, or bud-knot, or some bark on it, will immediately shoot like the cuttings of potatoes; and the plants thus

raised having no tap-roots, but shooting their fibres horizontally in the richest part of the soil, will be more vigorous, and may be more safely and easily transplanted, than when raised from seeds, or in any other method. The plants thus raised for elm fences have greatly the advantage of others; as five, six, and sometimes more, stems will arise from the same chip; and such plants, if cut down within three inches of the ground, will multiply their side shoots in proportion, and make a hedge thicker, without running to naked wood, than by any other method yet practised. If kept clipped for three or four years, they will be almost impenetrable.

16 In the second volume of the same work, we meet with several observations on quick-hedges by a gentleman near Bridgewater. He prefers the white and black thorns to all other plants for this purpose; but is of opinion, that planting timber-trees in them at proper intervals is a very eligible and proper method. He raised some of his plants from haws in a nursery; others he drew up in the woods, or wherever they could be found. His banks were made flat, and three feet wide at the top, with a sloping side next the ditches, which last were dug only two feet below the surface, and one foot wide at bottom. The turfs were regularly laid, with the grass downwards, on that side of the ditch on which the hedge was to be raised, and the best of the mould laid at top. The sets were straight, long, smooth, and even growing ones, planted as soon as possible after taking up. They were planted at a foot distance; and about every 40 feet young fruit-trees or those of other kinds, such as ash, oak, elm, beech, as the soil suited them. A second row of quicksets were then laid on another bed of fresh earth at the same time, and covered with good mould; after which the bank was finished and secured properly from injuries by a dead hedge well wrought together, and fastened by stakes of oak-trees on the top of the bank at three feet distance. Wherever any of the quicksets had failed or were of a dwindling appearance, he had them replaced with fresh ones from the nursery; as well as such of the young trees as had been planted on the top of the bank, and cleared the whole from weeds. Those most destructive to young hedges are the white and black bryony, bindweed, and the traveller's joy. The root of white bryony is as big as a man's leg, and runs very deep: that of black bryony often grows to 30 feet long, and with a kind of tendrils takes hold of the root of the young quick, and chokes it. This root must be dug very deep in order to destroy it. The third is still more destructive to young quicks than the other two, overshadowing the hedge like an arbour. Its root is smaller than that of the two former, but must be dug out very clean, as the least piece left will send up fresh shoots. It is very destructive to hedges to allow cattle to browse upon them, which they are very apt to do; but where cattle of some kind must be allowed access to them, horses will do by far the least mischief.

17 With regard to the advantage arising from hedges, our author observes, that "if they were of no further use than as mere fences, it would be the farmer's interest to keep them up carefully; for the better they are, the more secure are his cattle and crops. But if a judicious mixture of cider fruit-trees were planted in hedges,

Hedges. hedges, the profit arising from them only would abundantly repay the cost of the whole without any loss of ground. It may possibly be objected by some, that the hedges would often be hurt by the boys climbing up to get the fruit: but those who make it should remember, or be told, that the best kinds of cider-fruit are so hard and austere at the time of their being gathered, that nobody can eat them, and even hogs will hardly touch them. But the greatest benefit, where no fruit trees are planted, arises from the thorns and wood which quick hedges yield for the fire and other purposes."

The author of the Essays on Husbandry recommends the hornbeam plant as one of the best yet known for making fences, according to the method practised in Germany, where such fences are common. "When the German husbandman (says he) erects a fence of this nature, he throws up a parapet of earth, with a ditch on each side, and plants his hornbeam sets in such a manner, that every two plants may be brought to intersect each other in the form of St Andrew's cross. In that part where the two plants cross each other, he gently scrapes off the bark, and binds them with straw thwart-wise. Here the two plants consolidate in a kind of indissoluble knot, and push from thence horizontal slanting shoots, which form a sort of living palisade or Obervaux de frise; so that such a protection may be called a rural fortification. The hedges being pruned annually, and with discretion, will in a few years render the fence impenetrable in every part.

"It sometimes happens (says Dr Anderson) that a hedge may have been long neglected, and be in general in a healthy state, but full of gaps and openings, or so thin and straggling, as to form but a very imperfect sort of fence. On these occasions, it is in vain to hope to fill up the gaps by planting young quicks; for these would always be outgrown, choked, and starved; by the old plants: nor could it be recovered by cutting clear over by the roots, as the gaps would still continue where they formerly were. The only methods that I know of rendering this a fence are, either to mend up the gaps with dead wood, or to plash the hedge; which last operation is always the most eligible where the gaps are not too large to admit of being cured by this means.

"The operation I here call plashing, may be defined, 'a wattling made of living wood.' To form this, some stems are first selected, to be left as stakes at proper distances, the tops of which are all cut over at the height of four feet from the root. The straggling side-branches of the other part of the hedge are also lopped away. Several of the remaining plants are then cut over, close by the ground, at convenient distances; and the remaining plants are cut perhaps half through, so as to permit them to be bent to one side. They are then bent down almost to a horizontal position, and interwoven with the upright stakes, so as to retain them in that position. Care ought to be taken, that these be laid very low at those places where there were formerly gaps; which ought to be further strengthened by some dead stakes or truncheons of willows, which will frequently take root in this case, and continue to live. And sometimes a plant of eglantine will be able to overcome the difficulties it there meets with, strike

root, and grow up so as to strengthen the hedge in a most effectual manner.

"The operator begins at one end of the field, and proceeds regularly forward, bending all the stems in one direction, so that the points rise above the roots of the others, till the whole wattling is completed to the same height as the uprights.

"An expert operator will perform this work with much greater expedition than one who has not seen it done could easily imagine. And as all the diagonal wattlings continue to live and send out shoots from many parts of their stems, and as the upright shoots that rise from the flumps of those plants that have been cut over quickly rush up through the whole hedge, these serve to unite the whole into one entire mass, that forms a strong, durable, and beautiful fence.

"This is the best method of recovering an old neglected hedge that hath as yet come to my knowledge.

"In some cases it happens that the young shoots of a hedge are killed every winter; in which case it soon becomes dead and unsightly, and can never rise to any considerable height. A remedy for this disease may therefore be wished for.

"Young hedges are observed to be chiefly affected with this disorder; and it is almost always occasioned by an injudicious management of the hedge, by means of which it has been forced to send out too great a number of shoots in summer, that are thus rendered so small and weakly as to be unable to resist the severe weather in winter.

"It often happens that the owner of a young hedge, with a view to render it very thick and close, cuts it over with the shears a few inches above the ground the first winter after planting; in consequence of which, many small shoots spring out from each of the stems that has been cut over:—Each of which, being afterwards cut over in the same manner, sends forth a still greater number of shoots, which are smaller and smaller in proportion to their number.

"If the soil in which the hedge has been planted is poor, in consequence of this management, the branches, after a few years, become so numerous, that the hedge is unable to send out any shoots at all, and the utmost exertion of the vegetative powers enables it only to put forth leaves. These leaves are renewed in a sickly state for some years, and at last cease to grow at all—the branches become covered with fog, and the hedge perishes entirely.

"But if the soil be very rich, notwithstanding this great multiplication of the stems, the roots will still have sufficient vigour to force out a great many small shoots, which advance to a great length, but never attain a proportional thickness. And as the vigour of the hedge makes them continue to vegetate very late in autumn, the frosts come on before the tops of these dangling shoots have attained any degree of woody firmness, so that they are killed almost entirely by it: the whole hedge becomes covered with these long dead shoots, which are always disagreeable to look at, and usually indicate the approaching end of the hedge.

"The causes of the disorder being thus explained, it will readily occur, that the only radical cure is amputation; which, by giving an opportunity to begin

Hedges. with training the hedge anew, gives also an opportunity of avoiding the errors that occasioned it. In this case, care ought to be taken to cut the plants as close to the ground as possible, as there the stems will be less numerous than at any greater height. And particular attention ought to be had to allow very few shoots to arise from the stems that have been cut over, and to guard carefully against shortening them.

“ But as the roots, in the case here supposed, will be very strong, the shoots that are allowed to spring from the stems will be very vigorous, and there will be some danger of their continuing to grow later in the season than they ought in safety to do; in which case, some part of the top of the shoot may perhaps be killed the first winter, which ought if possible to be prevented. This can only be effectually done by giving a check to the vegetation in autumn, so as to allow the young shoots to harden in the points before the winter approaches. If any of the leaves or branches of a tree are cut away while it is in the state of vegetation, the whole plant feels the loss, and it suffers a temporary check in its growth in proportion to the loss that it thus sustains. To check, therefore, the vigorous vegetation at the end of autumn, it will be prudent to choose the beginning of September for the time of lopping off all the superfluous branches from the young hedge, and for clipping off the side-branches that have sprung out from it; which will, in general, be sufficient to give it such a check in its growth at that season, as will prevent any of the shoots from advancing afterwards. If the hedge is extremely vigorous, a few buds may be allowed to grow upon the large flumps in the spring, with a view to be cut off at this season, which will tend to stop the vegetation of the hedge still more effectually.

“ By this mode of management, the hedge may be preserved entire through the first winter. And as the shoots become less vigorous every successive season, there will be less difficulty in preserving them at any future period. It will always be proper, however, to trim the sides of a very vigorous hedge for some years while it is young, about the same season of the year, which will tend powerfully to prevent this malady. But when the hedge has advanced to any considerable height, it will be equally proper to clip it during any of the winter-months, before Candlemas.”

Lord Kames, in his work intitled the Gentleman Farmer, gives several directions for the raising and mending of hedges considerably different from those above related. For a deer-park he recommends a wall of stone coped with turf, having laburnums planted close to it. The heads of the plants are to be lopped off, in order to make the branches extend laterally, and interweave in the form of a hedge. The wall will prevent the deer from breaking through; and if the hedge be trained eight feet high, they will not attempt to leap over. He prefers the laburnum plant, because no beast will feed upon it except a hare, and that only when young and the bush tender. Therefore, no extraordinary care is necessary except to preserve them from the hare for four or five years. A row of alders may be planted in front of the laburnums, which no hare nor any other beast will touch. The wall he recommends to be built in the following manner, as being both cheaper and more durable than one construc-

ted entirely of stone. Raise it of stone to the height of two feet and a half from the ground, after which it is to be coped with sod as follows. First, lay on the wall, with the grassy side under, sod cut with the spade four or five inches deep, and of a length equal to the thickness of the wall. Next, cover this sod with loose earth rounded like a ridge. Third, prepare thin sod, cast with the paring spade, so long as to extend, beyond the thickness of the wall, two inches on each side. With these cover the loose earth, keeping the grassy side above; place them so much on the edge, that each sod shall cover part of another, leaving only about two inches without cover: when 20 or 30 yards are thus finished, let the sod be beat with mallets by two men, one on each side of the wall, striking both at the same time. By this operation the sod becomes a compact body that keeps in the moisture, and encourages the grass to grow. Lastly, cut off the ragged ends of the sod on each side of the wall, to make the covering neat and regular. The month of October is the proper season for this operation, because the sun and wind, during summer, dry the sod, and hinder the grass from vegetating. Moist soil affords the best sod. Wet soil is commonly too fat for binding; and, at any rate, the watery plants it produces will not thrive in a dry situation. Dry soil, on the other hand, being commonly ill bound with roots, shakes to pieces in handling. The ordinary way of coping with sod, which is to lay them flat and single, looks as if intended to dry the sod and kill the grass; not to mention that the sod is liable to be blown off the wall by every high wind.

Where the wall itself is to be used as a fence without any hedge, a ditch is to be made on each side, beginning a foot from the root of the wall, and sloping outward to the depth of three feet, or at least two and an half. The ditch should be equally sloped on the other side, so as to be four feet wide. A rood of this fence, including every article, may be done for three shillings or thereabouts; and a field of 10 acres thus inclosed, for about 30l. which by a stone wall would cost upwards of 50l. It will also stand many years without any need of reparation; while stone walls require no less than 2s. per cent. of the original cost expended annually to keep them up.

The advantages of a thorn hedge, according to our author, are, that it is a very quick grower, when planted in a proper soil; shooting up six or seven feet in a season. Though tender, and apt to be hurt by weeds when young, it turns strong, and may be cut into any shape. Even when old, it is more disposed than other trees to lateral shoots; and lastly, its prickles make it the most proper of all for a fence. None of these thorns ought to be planted in a hedge till five years of age, and it is of the utmost importance that they be properly trained in the nursery. The best foil for a nursery, his Lordship observes, is between rich and poor. In the latter the plants are dwarfish: in the former, being luxuriant and tender, they are apt to be hurt during the severity of the weather; and these imperfections are incapable of any remedy. An essential requisite in a nursery is free ventilation.

“ How common (says his Lordship) is it to find nurseries in hollow sheltered places, surrounded with walls and high plantations, more fit for pine-apples than the plants harren.

Hedges. barren trees! The plants thrust out long shoots, but feeble and tender: when exposed in a cold situation, they decay, and sometimes die. But there is a reason for every thing: the nurseryman's view is to make profit by saving ground, and by imposing on the purchaser tall plants, for which he pretends to demand double price. It is so difficult to purchase wholesome and well nursed plants, that every gentleman farmer ought to raise plants for himself.

25
Of raising them from the roots of old hedges.

"As thorns will grow pleasantly from roots, I have long practised a frugal and expeditious method of raising them from the wounded roots that must be cut off when thorns are to be set in a hedge. These roots, cut into small parts, and put in a bed of fresh earth, will produce plants the next spring no less vigorous than what are produced from seed; and thus a perpetual succession of plants may be obtained without any more seed. It ought to be a rule, never to admit into a hedge plants under five years old: they deserve all the additional sum that can be demanded for them. Young and feeble plants in a hedge are of slow growth; and, besides the loss of time, the paling necessary to secure them from cattle must be renewed more than once before they become a fence. A thorn hedge may be planted in every month of winter and spring unless it be frost. But I have always observed, that thorns planted in October are more healthy, push more vigorously, and fewer decay, than at any other time. In preparing the thorns for planting, the roots ought to be left as entire as possible, and nothing cut away but the ragged parts.

26
Proper method of planting.

"As a thorn hedge suffers greatly by weeds, the ground where they are planted ought to be made perfectly clean. The common method of planting, is to leave eight or nine inches along a side of the intended ditch, termed a scarfement; and behind the scarfement to lay the surface soil of the intended ditch, cut into square sods two or three inches deep, its grassy surface under. Upon that sod, whether clean or dirty, the thorns are laid, and the earth of the ditch above them. The grass in the scarfement, with what weeds are in the moved earth, soon grow up, and require double diligence to prevent the young thorns from being choked. The following method deserves all the additional trouble it requires. Leaving a scarfement as above of 10 inches, and also a border for the thorns, broad or narrow according to their size; lay behind the border all the surface of the intended ditch, champed small with the spade, and upon it lay the mouldery earth that fell from the spade in cutting the said surface. Cover the scarfement and border with the under earth, three inches thick at least; laying a little more on the border to raise it higher than the scarfement, in order to give room for weeding. After the thorns are prepared by smoothing their ragged roots with a knife, and lopping off their heads to make them grow bushy, they are laid fronting the ditch, with their roots on the border, the head a little higher than the root. Care must be taken to spread the roots among the surface-earth taken out of the ditch, and to cover them with the mouldery earth that lay immediately below. This article is of importance, because the mouldery earth is the finest of all. Cover the stems of the thorns with the next stratum of the ditch, leaving always an inch at the top free. It is no matter how poor this

stratum be, as the plants draw no nourishment from it. Go on to finish the ditch, pressing down carefully every row of earth thrown up behind the hedge, which makes a good solid mound impervious to rain. It is a safeguard to the young hedge to raise this mound as perpendicular as possible; and for that reason, it may be proper, in loose soil, when the mound is raised a foot or so, to bind it with a row of the tough sod, which will support the earth above till it become solid by lying. In poor soil more care is necessary. Behind the line of the ditch the ground intended for the scarfement and border should be summer fallowed, manured, and cleared of all grass roots; and this culture will make up for the inferiority of the soil. In very poor soil, it is vain to think of planting a thorn hedge. In such ground there is a necessity for a stone fence.

"The only reason that can be given for laying thorns as above described, is to give the roots space to push in all directions; even upward into the mound of earth. There may be some advantages in this; but, in my apprehension, the disadvantage is much greater of heaping so much earth upon the roots as to exclude not only the sun, but the rain which runs down the sloping bank, and has no access to the roots. Instead of laying the thorns fronting the ditch, would it not do better to lay them parallel to it; covering the roots with three or four inches of the best earth, which would make a hollow between the plants and the sloping bank? This hollow would intercept every drop of rain that falls on the bank, to sink gradually among the roots. Why at any rate should a thorn be put into the ground sloping? This is not the practice with regard to any other tree; and I have heard of no experiment to persuade me that a thorn thrives better sloping than erect. There occurs, indeed, one objection against planting thorns erect, that the roots have no room to extend themselves on that side where the ditch is. But does it not hold, that when, in their progress, roots meet with a ditch, they do not push onward; but, changing their direction, push downward at the side of the ditch? If so, these downward roots will support the ditch, and prevent it from being mouldered down by frost. One thing is evident without experiments, that thorns planted erect may sooner be made a complete fence than when laid sloping as usual. In the latter case, the operator is confined to thorns that do not exceed a foot or 15 inches; but thorns five or six feet high may be planted erect; and a hedge of such thorns, well cultivated in the nursery, will in three years arrive to greater perfection than a hedge managed in the ordinary way will do in twice that time."

27
After the hedge is finished, it is absolutely necessary to secure it for some time from the depredations of an hedge cattle; and this is by no means an easy matter. "The after it is ordinary method of a paling (says his lordship) is no planted sufficient defence against cattle: the most gentle make it a rubbing post, and the vicious wantonly break it down with their horns. The only effectual remedy is expensive; viz. two ditches and two hedges, with a mound of earth between them. If this remedy, however, be not palatable, the paling ought at least to be of the strongest kind. I recommend the following as the best I am acquainted with: Drive into the ground strong stakes three feet and an half long, with intervals of

from eight to twelve inches, according to the size of the cattle that are to be inclosed; and all precisely of the same height. Prepare plates of wood sawed out of logs, every plate three inches broad and half an inch thick. Fix them on the head of the stakes with a nail driven down into each. The stakes will be united so firmly, that one cannot be moved without the whole; and will be proof accordingly against the rubbing of cattle. But, after all, it is no fence against vicious cattle. The only proper place for it is the side of a high road, or to fence a plantation of trees. It will indeed be a sufficient fence against sheep, and endure till the hedge itself becomes a fence. A fence thus completed, including thorns, ditching, wood, nails, &c. will not much exceed two shillings every six yards."

His lordship discommends the ordinary method of training hedges by cutting off the top and shortening the lateral branches in order to make it thick and bushy. This, as well as the method of cutting off the stems two or three inches above the ground, indeed produces a great number of shoots, and makes a very thick fence, but which becomes so weak when bare of leaves, that cattle break through it in every part. To determine the best method of proceeding in this case, his lordship made an experiment on three hedges, which were twelve years old at the time he wrote. The first was annually pruned at the top and sides; the sides of the second were pruned, but not the top; and the third was allowed to grow without any pruning. The first, at the time of writing, was about four feet broad, and thick from top to bottom; but weak in the stems, and unable to resist any horned beast: the second was strong in its stems, and close from top to bottom: the third was also strong in its stems, but bare of branches for two feet from the ground; the lower ones having been deprived of air and rain by the thick shade of those above them. Hence he directs that hedges should be allowed to grow till the stems be five or six inches in circumference, which will be in ten or twelve years; at which time the hedge will be fifteen feet or more in height. The lateral branches next the ground must be pruned within two feet of the stem; those above must be made shorter and shorter in proportion to their distance from the ground; and at five feet high they must be cut close to the stem, leaving all above full freedom of growth. By this dressing the hedge takes on the appearance of a very steep roof; and it ought to be kept in that form by pruning. This form gives free access to rain, sun, and air: every twig has its share, and the whole is preserved in vigour. When the stems have arrived at their proper bulk, cut them over at five feet from the ground, where the lateral branches end. This answers two excellent purposes: the first is to strengthen the hedge, the sap that formerly ascended to the top being now distributed to the branches; the next is, that a tall hedge stagnates the air, and poisons both corn and grass near it. A hedge trained in this manner is impenetrable even by a bull.

With regard to the practice of plashing an old hedge recommended by Dr Anderson, his lordship observes that "it makes a good interim fence, but at the long-run is destructive to the plants; and accordingly there is scarcely to be met with a complete good hedge

where plashing has been long practised. A thorn is a tree of long life. If, instead of being massacred by plashing, it were raised and dressed in the way here described, it would continue a firm hedge perhaps 500 years.

"A hedge ought never to be planted on the top of the mound of earth thrown up from the ditch. It ought to be planted on the side of the bank, and no trees allowed in them. It has indeed the advantage of an awful situation; but being planted in bad soil, and destitute of moisture, it cannot thrive: it is at best dwarfish, and frequently decays and dies. To plant trees in the line of the hedge, or within a few feet of it, ought to be absolutely prohibited as a pernicious practice. It is amazing that people should fall into this error, when they ought to know that there never was a good thorn-hedge with trees in it. And how should it be otherwise? An oak, a beech, an elm, grows faster than a thorn. When suffered to grow in the midst of a thorn-hedge, it spreads its roots every where, and robs the thorns of their nourishment. Nor is this all: the tree, overshadowing the thorns, keeps the sun and air from them. At the same time, no tree takes worse with being overshadowed than a thorn.

"It is scarce necessary to mention gaps in a hedge, because they will seldom happen where a hedge is trained as above recommended. But in the ordinary method of training, gaps are frequent, partly by the failure of plants, and partly by the trespassing of cattle. The ordinary method of filling up gaps is to plant sweet briar where the gap is small, and a crab where it is large. This method I cannot approve for an obvious reason: a hedge ought never to be composed of plants which grow unequally. Those that grow fast, overtop and hurt the slow growers; and with respect, in particular, to a crab and sweet briar, neither of them thrive under the shade. It is a better method to remove all the withered earth in the gap, and to substitute fresh sappy mould mixed with some lime or dung. Plant upon it a vigorous thorn of equal height with the hedge, which in its growth will equal the thorns it is mixed with. In that view there should be a nursery of thorns of all sizes, even to five feet high, ready to fill up gaps. The best season for this operation is the month of October. A gap filled with sweet briar, or a crab lower than the hedge, invites the cattle to break through and trample the young plants under foot; to prevent which, a paling raised on both sides is not sufficient, unless it be raised as high as the hedge.

"Where a field is too poor to admit of a thorn-hedge, if there be no quantity of stones easily procurable, whins are the only resource. These are commonly placed on the top of a dry earth-dyke, in which situation they seldom thrive well. The following seems preferable. Two parallel ditches three feet wide and two deep, border a space of twelve feet. Within this space raise a bank at the side of each ditch with the earth that comes out of it, leaving an interval between the two banks. Sow the banks with whin seed, and plant a row of trees in the interval. When the whins are pretty well grown, the hedge on one of the banks may be cut down, then the other as soon as it becomes a fence, and so on alternately. While the whins are young, they will not be disturbed by cattle, if passages be left to go out and in. These passages

Hedges. may be closed up when the hedge is sufficiently strong to be a fence. A whin-hedge, thus managed, will last many years, even in strong frost, unless very severe. There are many whin-hedges in the shire of Kincardine not so skilfully managed, and yet the possessors appear not to be afraid of frost. Such fences ought to be extremely welcome in the sandy grounds of the shire of Moray, where there is scarce a stone to be found. The few earth-fences that are there raised, composed mostly of sand, very soon crumble down."

Annals of Agriculture, vol. vi. P. 357. In the fourth volume of Mr Young's Northern Tour, the author recommends the transplanting of old hedges, which his correspondent Mr Beverly says he has tried with prodigious success.

Mr Bakewell, we are told, is very curious in his fences, and plants his quicks in a different manner from what is common in various parts of the kingdom. He plants one row at a foot from set to set, and making his ditch, lays the earth which comes out of it to form a bank on the side opposite to the quick. In the common method the bank is made on the quick side above it. Reasons are not wanting to induce a preference of this method. The plants grow only in the surface the earth uncovered from the atmosphere, which must necessarily be a great advantage; whereas, in the usual way of planting, that earth, which is always the best, is loaded by a thick covering obliquely of the earth out of the ditch. If the roots shoot in the best soil, they will be out of the reach of the influences of the air; the consequence of which is, that they cannot have so large a space of that earth as if set on the flat. The way to have a tree or a quick thrive in the best manner possible, is to set it on the surface, without any ditch or trench, that cuts off half its pasture. But if a ditch is necessary, the next best way must of course be still to keep it on the flat surface; and the worst way to cover up that surface, by loading it with the dead earth out of a trench. To say that there are good hedges in the common method is not a conclusive argument, unless both were tried on the same soil and exposure.

34. Of hedges in stony and gravelly soils. In the 7th volume of the same work, a correspondent, who signs himself M. M. observes, that notwithstanding all the improvements that have been made in the construction of hedges and fences, there are many soils in England, which, from their sandy and gravelly natures, are little adapted to any of the plants in common use, and are therefore subject to all the inconveniences of dead hedges and gaps. Of this kind are all the sandy and gravelly inclosures, which constitute so large a part of many districts in the island. For these our author recommends a triple row of furze; though, notwithstanding its advantages, he says it is liable to be destroyed by severe winters, contrary to the assertion of Lord Kames above-related. "It is liable (says he) to be so completely cut off by a severe winter, that I have seen tracks of many hundred acres laid open in the space of a few weeks, and reduced to as defenceless a state as the surrounding wastes. On such soils therefore he recommends the holly; the only disadvantage of which, he says, is its slow growth. On most of these soils also the black thorn will rise spontaneously; and even the quick, though slowly, will advance to a sufficient degree of perfection. The

birch, however, he particularly recommends, as growing equally on the driest and on the wettest soils, propagating itself in such numbers, that were they not destroyed, all the sandy wastes of this kingdom would be quickly covered with them. He recommends particularly the keeping of a nursery for such plants as are commonly used for hedges. "I generally (says he) pick out a bit of barren land, and after ploughing it three or four times to bury and destroy the heath, I find it answer extremely well for a nursery. Into this spot I transplant quick, hollies, and every tree which I used for fences or plantations. By establishing such a nursery, a gentleman will always be able to command a sufficiency of strong and hardy plants which will not deceive his expectations. I look upon thorns of five or six years old, which have been twice transplanted from the seed-bed, to be the best of all; but as it may be necessary to fill up casual gaps in hedges that have been planted several years, a provision should be made of plants of every age, to 12 or 14 years old. All plants which are intended to be moved, should be transplanted every two or at most three years; without this attention, they attach themselves so firmly to the soil as renders a subsequent operation dangerous. All who transplant quicks or hollies ought to begin their labours as early as convenient in the autumn; for I have found by repeated experience that neither of these plants succeed so well in the spring."

Where the fences of a track of ground are in a very ruinous condition, it is absolutely necessary to scower the ditches, throw up the banks, and secure the whole immediately by the firmest dead fences we can procure. If there is a total want of living plants, the cultivator can do nothing but plant new hedges; but if, as is generally the case, the banks are furnished with a multitude of old stems, though totally unconnected as a fence, the time and labour requisite for the intended improvement will be considerably abridged. All the straggling branches which add no solidity to the fence are to be cut off; after which the rest of the stems must be shortened to the height of three or four feet. The method of cutting down every thing to the ground, which is now so general, our author highly condemns. "Such a fence (says he) has within it no principle of strength and connection; it is equally exposed in every part to depredations of cattle and sportsmen; and even should it escape these, the first fall of snow will nearly demolish it. On the contrary, wherever these vegetable palisades can be left, they are impenetrable either for man or horse, and form so many points of union which support the rest."

Another method of strengthening defective fences, is to bend down some of the lateral shoots in a horizontal direction, and to spread them along the line of the farm like espalier trees in a garden. A single stem, when it rises perpendicularly, will not secure a space of more than two or three feet, but when bent longitudinally, they will form a barrier at least sufficient to repel all cattle but hogs for 12 or 14 feet on each side. By bending down, our author does not mean plashing of the common plashing method, which is very injurious to the plants; but the spreading two or three of the most convenient branches along the hedge, and fastening them down either by pegs or tying, without injury.

Thistles jury to the stem, until they habitually take the proposed direction. Those who make the experiment for the first time will be astonished how small a number of plants may be made to fill a bank, with only trifling intervals. The birch is particularly useful for this purpose; being of so flexible a nature, that shoots of 10 or 12 feet in length may be easily forced into a horizontal direction; and if the other shoots are pruned away, all the juices of the plant will be applied to nourish the selected few: by which means they will in a few years acquire all the advantages of posts and rails, with this material difference, that instead of decaying, they become annually better. It is besides the property of all inclined branches to send up a multitude of perpendicular shoots; so that by this horizontal inclination, if judiciously made, you may acquire almost all the advantages of the thickest fence; but when the stems are too old and brittle to bear this operation, it will be advisable to cut off all the useless ones close to the ground, and next spring they will be succeeded by a number of young and vigorous ones. Select the best of these to be trained in the manner already directed, and extirpate all the rest, to increase their vigour. The shoots of such old stems as have been just now described will attain a greater size in three or four years than any young ones that can be planted will do in twelve.

Another method which our author has practised with the greatest success is the following. The tender shoots of most trees, if bended downwards and covered with earth, will put forth roots, and being divided from the parent stem at a proper time become fresh plants; an operation well known to gardeners, under the name of laying. This may be as advantageous to the farmer, if he will take the very moderate trouble of laying down the young and flexible branches in his fences. Most species of trees, probably all, will be propagated by this method; but particularly the withy, the birch, the holly, the white thorn, and the crab, will also take root in this method, though more slowly; the latter being an excellent plant for fences, and not at all nice in the soil on which it grows. The advantage of laying down branches in this manner over the planting of young ones is, that when you endeavour to fill up a gap by the latter method, they advance very slowly, and are in danger of being filled by the shade of the large trees; whereas, if you fortify a gap by spreading the branches along it in the manner just mentioned, and at the same time insert some of the most thriving shoots in the ground, they will advance with all the vigour of the parent plant, and you may allow them to grow until they are so fully rooted as to be free from danger of suffocation.

It frequently happens, that the fences of an estate have been neglected for many years, and exhibit nothing but ragged and deformed stems at great intervals. In this case it will be proper to cut them all off level with the ground: the consequence of this is, that next year they will put forth a great number of shoots, which may be laid down in every direction, and trained for the improvement of the fence. When this operation is performed, however, it ought always to be done with an ax, and not with a saw; it being found that the latter instrument generally prevents the vege-

tation of the plant. All the shoots laid down in this manner should be allowed to remain for several years, that they may be firmly rooted. Thus they will make prodigious advances; and it is to be observed, that the more the parent plant is divided of all superfluous branches, the greater will be the nourishment transmitted to the scions.

Our author, however, is inclined to suspect that the most perfect form of a hedge, at least in all but those composed of thorns and prickly plants, is to train up as many stems as will nearly touch each other. The force of every fence consists chiefly in the upright stems: where these are sufficiently near and strong, the hedge resists all opposition, and will equally repel the violence of the bull, and the insidious attacks of the hogs. It is absolutely proper that all hedges should be inspected once a year; when not only the ditch ought to be thrown out, and the bank supported, but the straggling shoots of all the live plants ought to be pruned. By these are meant all such as project over the ditch beyond the line of the hedge, and which add nothing to its strength, though they deprive the useful stems of part of their nourishment. Where a hedge is composed of plants of inferior value, it will be proper to train those in the manner just now recommended, and to plant the bank with quick or holly. When these last have attained a sufficient size, the others may be extirpated; which is best done by cutting down all the shoots repeatedly in the summer, and leaving the roots to rot in the hedge.

In the 13th volume of the Annals, W. Erskine, Esq; gives an account of a method of fencing very much resembling that recommended by Lord Kames, and which has been already described. That gentleman is of opinion, that in some cases dead stone walls, as they are called, are more advantageous than hedges. "That hedges (says he) are more ornamental, cannot be denied; and they are generally allowed to afford more shelter: but the length of time, the constant attention, and continual expense of defending them until they bear even the resemblance of a fence, induces many people in those places where the materials are easily procured, to prefer the dry stone walls; for though the first cost is considerable, yet as the farmer reaps the immediate benefit of the fence (which is undoubtedly the most secure one), they are thought on the whole to be the least expensive; besides, the cattle in exposed situations, and especially in these northern parts, are so impatient of confinement at the commencement of the long, cold, wet nights, that no hedges I have ever yet seen, in any part of this island, are sufficient to keep them in."

From considerations of this kind, the late Sir George Suttie of East Lothian was induced to think of a fence which might join the strength of the wall to the ornament of the hedge. His thorns were planted in the usual manner on the side of the ditch: but instead of putting behind them a post and rail or paling on the top of the bank, he erected a wall two feet and a half high; and being well situated for procuring lime, he used it in the construction of these walls which Mr Erskine greatly recommends; "as the satisfaction they afford, by requiring no repairs, and the duration of them, more than repay the expense: but where the price

Hedges. price of lime is high they may be built without any cement, and answer the purpose very well if the work is properly executed."

In making a new fence of this kind, the surface of the ground should be pared off the breadth of the ditch, and likewise for two feet more, in order to prevent as much as possible the thorns from being injured by the growth of grass and weeds. The ditch should be five feet broad, two and an half in depth, and one foot broad at the bottom. Leave one foot for an edging or scarcement, then dig the earth one spit of a spade for about one foot, and put about three inches of good earth below the thorn, which should be laid nearly horizontal, but the point rather inclining upwards, in order to let the rain drip to the roots; then add a foot of good earth above it: leave three or four inches of a scarcement before another thorn is planted; it must not be directly over the lower one, but about nine inches or a foot to one side of it: then throw a foot of good earth on the thorn, and trample it well down, and level the top of the bank for about three feet and an half for the base of the wall to rest on. This base should be about nine or ten inches, but must not exceed one foot from the thorn. The wall ought to be about two feet thick at the bottom and one foot at the top; the cope to be a single stone laid flat; then covered with two fods of turf, the grass of the undermost to be next the wall, and the other fod must have the grass side uppermost: the fods should be of some thickness, in order to retain moisture; so that they may adhere together, and not be easily displaced by the wind: the height of the wall to be two feet and an half, exclusive of the fods; which together should be from four to six inches, by which means the wall would be near to three feet altogether. The expence of the fences cannot so easily be counted, on account of the difference of the prices of labour in different parts. Mr Erskine had them done with lime, every thing included, from 10s. d. to 13d. per ell (which is equal to 37 inches 2 parts), according to the ease or difficulty of working the quarry, and the distance of it from the place where the fence is erected. The lime costs about 6d. per boll of about 4.0872667 bushels; and from 15 to 16 bolls of lime are used to the rood, of 36 square ells Scots measure; and there are upwards of 43 Scotch ells, or 44 English yards. When the common round or flint stones are made use of, as they require more lime, it is necessary to use 30 or 35 bolls of lime to the rood. The thorns are sold from five to ten shillings per thousand, according to their age, reckoning six score to the hundred. Making the ditch, laying the thorns, and preparing the top of the wall, generally cost from 7d. to 8d. every six ells. About 50 carts of stones, each cart carrying from 7 to 9 cwt. will build a rood; the carriage at 2d. per cart for half a mile's distance.

Warmth is undoubtedly as beneficial to hedges as trees; and the walls give an effectual shelter, which in exposed situations is absolutely necessary for rearing young hedges; and they likewise preserve a proper degree of moisture about the roots. If the hedges have been planted for six or seven years before the wall is built, cut them over to two or three inches above the ground with a sharp tool, either in October or November, or early in the spring; and erect the

VOL. VIII. Part I.

wall as quickly in that season as possible (the spring in this country can scarcely be said to begin till the end of March). It is almost impossible to imagine the rapidity with which hedges grow in favourable situations. Mr Erskine had one cut over in the spring, and by the end of the year it was almost as high as the wall. In three years he supposed, that not even the Highland sheep, who easily overleap a wall of four feet and an half in height, would have been able to break through it.

Notwithstanding the reasons that have been given already against the planting of timber trees in hedges, we find the practice recommended by some authors as one of the best situations for raising ship-timber. The reasons are, that the roots have free range in the adjoining inclosures, and the top is exposed to the exercise of the winds; by which means the trees are at once enabled to throw out strong arms, and have a large spreading head at the same time; so that we thus at once obtain quickness of growth, with strength and crookedness of timber. Well trained timber trees it is alleged are not prejudicial to hedges, though pollards and low spreading trees are destructive to the hedge-wood which grows under them; neither are high trees prejudicial to corn-fields like high hedges and pollards, which prevent a proper circulation of air; and in Norfolk, where the cultivation of grain is carried on in great perfection, such lands are said to be wood-bound. But when an hedge is trimmed down to four or five feet high, with oaks interspersed, a circulation of air is rather promoted than retarded by it; and a trimmed hedge will thrive quite well under tall stemmed trees, particularly oaks. For arable inclosures, therefore, hedges are recommended of four or five feet high, with oak-timbers from 15 to 25 feet stem. Higher hedges are more eligible for grass lands: the grasses affect warmth, by which their growth is promoted, and consequently their quantity is increased, though perhaps their quality may suffer some injury. A tall fence likewise affords shelter to cattle, provided it be thick and close at the bottom; but otherwise, by admitting the air in currents, it does rather harm than good. The shade of trees is equally friendly to cattle in summer: for which reason it is recommended in grass inclosures to allow the hedge to make its natural shoots, and at the same time to have oak-trees planted in it at proper intervals. Upon bleak hills, and in exposed situations, it will be proper to have two or even three rows of hedgewood, about four feet distant from each other; the middle row being permitted to reach, and always to remain at, its natural height: whilst the side rows are cut down alternately to give perpetual security to the bottom, and afford a constant supply of materials for dead hedges and other purposes of underwood.

Much has been said of the excellency of the holly ⁴³ as a material for hedges; and indeed the beauty of the plant, with its extreme closeness, and continuing green throughout the winter, evidently give it the preference to all others; and could it be raised with equal ease, there is no doubt that it would come into universal practice. Besides the above properties, the holly will thrive almost upon any soil; but thin-soiled stony heights seem to be its natural situation: and it may properly enough be said, that holly will grow

wherever corn will. Its longevity is likewise excessive; and being of slow growth, it does not suck the land, as the farmers express it, or deprive the crop of its nourishment, as other hedges do. The difficulty of raising holly may be obviated by planting it under crabs, which have a tendency to grow more upright than hawthorns, and consequently affording more air, will not impede its progress though they afford shelter. It may even be raised alone without any great difficulty; only in this case the dead fence, to secure it, must be kept up at least ten or twelve years, instead of six or seven, as in the other case; and indeed, considering the advantages to be derived from fences of this kind, they seem to merit all the additional trouble requisite.

The holly may be raised either under the crab or hawthorn in two ways, viz. by sowing the berries when the quick is planted, or by inserting the plants themselves the ensuing midsummer. The former is by much the more simple, and perhaps upon the whole the better method. The seeds may either be scattered among the roots of the deciduous plants, or be sown in a drill in front; and if plants of holly be put in, they may either be planted between those of the crab, or otherwise in front in the quincunx manner.

Where furze or whins are to be used either as a fence by themselves or an assistant to another, it is better to use the French feed than that produced in this country, as the former seldom ripens in this country, and consequently cannot like the latter over-run the adjacent inclosure. It may be had at the feed-shops in London for about 15d. per pound, and one pound will sow 40 statute rods. When used as an assistant to a hedge, it is more proper to sow it on the back of the bank than on the top of it; as in this case it is more apt to overhang the young plants in the face of the bank; whilst in the other it is better situated for guarding the bank, and preventing it from being torn down by cattle. The method of sowing is as follows: Chop a drill with a sharp spade about two-thirds of the way up the back of the bank, making the cleft gape as wide as may be without breaking off the lip; and having the feed in a quart bottle, stop with a cork and goose quill, or with a perforated wooden stopper, trickle it along the drill, covering it by means of a broom drawn gently above and over the mouth of the drill. Closing the drill with the back of the spade, shuts up the feeds too much from the air, and thus keeps them too long from rising.