in Gardening and Husbandry, a hedge, wall, ditch, bank, or other enclosure, made round gardens, fields, woods, &c.
In hot climates, where they have not occasion for walls to ripen their fruit, their gardens lie open, where they can have a water fence, and prospects; or else they bound their gardens with groves, in which are fountains, walks, &c., which are much more pleasing to the sight than a dead wall: but, in colder countries, we are obliged to have walls to shelter and ripen our fruit, although they take away much from the pleasant prospect of the garden. Brick walls are accounted the best and warmest for fruit: and these walls, being built panelwise, with pillars at equal distances, will save a great deal of charge, in that the walls may be built thinner than if they were made plane without these panels, for then it would be necessary to build them thicker everywhere; and, besides, these panels make the walls look the handsomer. Stone walls, however, on account of their durability, are to be preferred to those of brick, especially those of square hewn stones. Those that are made of rough stones, though though they are very dry and warm, yet, by reason of their unevenness, are inconvenient to nail up trees to, except pieces of timber be laid in them here and there for that purpose.
But, in large gardens, it is better to have the prospect open to the pleasure garden; which should be surrounded with a fosse, that from the garden the adjacent country may be viewed. But this must depend on the situation of the place: for, if the prospect from the garden is not good, it had better be shut out from the sight than be open. As also, when a garden lies near a populous town, and the adjoining grounds are open to the inhabitants; if the garden is open, there will be no walking there in good weather, without being exposed to the view of all passersby, which is very disagreeable.
Where the fosses are made round a garden which is situated in a park, they are extremely proper; because hereby the prospect of the park will be obtained in the garden, which renders those gardens much more agreeable than those that are confined.—In the making these fosses there have been many inventions; but, upon the whole, none seem preferable to those which have an upright wall next the garden, which (where the soil will admit of a deep trench) should be five or six feet high; and, from the foot of this wall, the ground on the outside should rise with a gradual easy slope, to the distance of 18 or 20 feet; and where it can be allowed, if it slopes much farther it will be easier, and less perceptible as a ditch, to the eye, when viewed at a distance; but, if the ground is naturally wet, so as not to admit a deep fosse, then, in order to make a fence against cattle, if the wall be four feet high, and slight posts of three feet high are placed just behind the wall, with a small chain carried on from post to post, no cattle or deer will ever attempt to jump against it; therefore it will be a secure fence against them; and if these are painted green, they will not be discerned at a distance, and at the same time the chain will secure persons walking in the garden from tumbling over.
In places where there are no good prospects to be obtained from a garden, it is common to make the enclosure of park paling; which, if well performed, will last many years, and has a much better appearance than a wall; and this pale may be hid from the sight within, by plantations of shrubs and evergreens; or there may be a quick hedge planted within the pale, which may be trained up, so as to be an excellent fence by the time the pales begin to decay.
Fences round parks are generally of paling; which, if well made of winter-fallen oak, will last many years. But a principal thing to be observed, in making these pales, is not to make them too heavy: for, when they are so, their own weight will cause them to decay: therefore the pales should be cleft thin; and the rails should be cut triangular, to prevent the wet lodging upon them; and the posts should be good, and not placed too far asunder. If these things are observed, one of these pales will last, with a little care, upwards of 40 years very well. The common way of making these fences is, to have every other pale nine or ten inches above the intermediate ones; so that the fence may be six feet and a half high, which is enough for fallow deer; but, where there are red deer, the fence should be one foot higher, otherwise they will leap over.
Some enclose their parks with brick walls; and in countries, where stone is cheap, the walls are built with this material; some with, and others without, mortar.
A kitchen garden, if rightly contrived, will contain walling enough to afford a supply of such fruits as require the assistance of walls, for any family; and this garden, being situated on one side, and quite out of sight of the house, may be surrounded with walls which will screen the kitchen garden from the sight of persons in the pleasure garden; and, being locked up, the fruit will be much better preserved than it can be in the public garden; and the having too great a quantity of walling is often the occasion that too many ill managed trees are frequently to be seen in large gardens.
The height of garden walls should be 12 feet, which is a moderate proportion; and, if the soil be good, it may in time be well furnished with bearing wood in every part, especially that part planted with pears, notwithstanding of the branches being trained horizontally from the bottom of the walls.
With regard to the different kinds of fences, see Agriculture Index.