252 



MR. FORSYTH ON GAME PRESERVES AND FENCES. 



pyramid, and the plants or scions prepared as directed in the first 

 part of this paper, should be placed in the bank, not on it; for 

 although this hedge is designed to shelter other crops, it requires 

 shelter in the first instance ; and it must be borne in mind that 

 it is almost impossible to get evergreens to thrive, even when 

 they have good roots, in an exposed situation ; therefore I repeat 

 the caution, that such material as branches of gorse or other 

 brushwood should be stuck in to shelter temporarily the young 

 hedge. With this precaution, and careful planting to an earthen 

 wall, success is certain even on the face of Snowdon. The line 

 on the top or ridge of the dyke requires to be sowed according 

 to a process presently to be detailed. The above description of 

 an evergreen hedge is intended only for bleak and exposed situa- 

 tions. Where the land is of little value it is merely a screen or 

 band to break the force of the prevailing winds. 



Where the land is of great value, the fences should be built of 

 some material that should not impoverish the soil : it is a griev- 

 ous mistake to build a turf wall, because the materials thus taken 

 reduce the productive powers of the soil. Stones are a first-rate 

 article for fences, and in the section Fig. B, which I have given 



Fig. B. 



Section of Fruit-trees by a Farm-road side, n, Trses, as Cherries, Apples, &c. ; m. Goose- 

 berries, &c. ; 0, Drain ; g g, showing the stony part of tlie roafl. 



of a farm-wall, it is represented as built of stone, and is taken 

 from a sample of walls on the estate of Cluny in Aberdeenshire ; 

 but the mud-wall which is common in many counties in England, 

 if it is built of clay or other subsoil, and thatched, as we see it 

 done near Exeter, will answer the purpose which I intend ad- 

 mirably, for it is not at all uncommon to see ripe peaches against 

 walls built of puddle. Hence the introduction of such fruit-walls 

 into localities where fruit is wanted, and where land produces only 

 weeds, cannot be regarded by the most sceptical as an idle theory. 

 In the year 1836 I employed much of my leisure time in collect- 

 ing fruits and all the information I could acquire respecting their 



