686 The yournal of Forcsiry. 



a year or two previous to the other, a good fence is preserved, and a 

 better chance of getting up a good supply of young wood from the 

 bottom. In planting two rows, the line should l)e stretched along and 

 a trench taken out the required depth ; care being taken to insert 

 the plants as deep in the soil as they have been before, the one row 

 should he planted and finished off'. A good distance to put the 

 plants in the row is eight inches apart. The line is then run along 

 six inches from the row of plants already put in, at the opposite 

 side to which the roots are laid ; the other row is then planted, 

 care Ijeing taken to have the plants in the one row opposite 

 the sjKiccs in the other. Another and more expeditious method of 

 planting is to run the line along where one row of quicks is to be 

 planted, and make a slight mark with the spade as a guide to the 

 planter, who with a boy to put in the plants proceeds in a somewhat 

 similar manner to notching with the L notch ; the ground l)eing 

 previously prepared admits of the spade being got deep enough to 

 suit the requirements of the plants. 



In situations where rabbits and hares are not too plentiful, it is a 

 good plan to cut the plants over three or four inches from tlie surface 

 of the ground, which causes them to throw out strong shoots the first 

 season following, and forms a thick compact fence close to the 

 ground. 



The next point is to keep the ground clean by forking it over two 

 or three times during the season ; but where game is plentiful this 

 requires to be done cautiously, otherwise the plants will get all eaten 

 off", or the bark gnawed off" so as to render them useless. In such 

 cases it is best to fork the ground over and clean the plants thoroughly 

 in May, and then let them remain till next spring; even if there is 

 not much grass or rubbish grown up by September to hide the plants, 

 rabbits are not so liable to interfere witli them as when the ground 

 is newly forked over, as a large amount of the mischief done by them 

 seems to originate in their sporting propensities, and newly turned- 

 up soil has a great attraction for them. 



Unless the plants grow extra strong they will not require anything 

 in the way of switching for the first three years, after M'hich they 

 should be switched up at the sides so as to bring them to the desired 

 shape, but the tops of the plants should not be interfered with till 

 they attain the height the fence is required, which, if for cattle, should 

 be four feet ; if round fields under a rotation of crops, or a fence for 

 sheep only, the fence will be high enough at three feet. But what- 

 ever the height is, the fence will be sooner formed by leaving the 

 plants uncut at the top till that height is attained. The hedge will 

 have done very well if able to stand alone as a fence in from eight to 

 ten years after being planted. I have not said anything about fences 



