On Hedges. 25 



piled up in a sloping bank to support them — having 

 first ploughed a narrow stripe at a little distance from, 

 the hedge-course, the more easily to procure mould for 

 the purpose." 



" This mound would rather be of benefit than detri- 

 ment to the hedge, although if both its sides were to 

 be banked up to any considerable height, it • might kill 

 it entirely ; for there are few plants that can bear to be 

 set much deeper in the ground than they grow natural- 

 ly, but w hen the earth is elevated on one side only, the 

 hedge will suffer no injury therefrom, and will thus ap- 

 pear planted on the side of .a bank without any ditch." 



Mode of Plashing Hedges. From Anderson's Rural Es- 

 says. See also American Edition of the Domestic En- 

 cyclop cedia, Vol. III. page 277. 



" When a hedge has been neglected, and gaps are 

 formed, they must be filled by plashing. To do this, 

 stems are selected, to be left at proper distances," the 

 tops of which are all cut over at the height of four feet 

 from the root. Straggling side branches of the other 

 parts 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. 

 The operator begins at one end of the field, and pro- 

 ceeds regularly forward, bending all the stems in one 



direction, so as that the points rise above the roots of 



d* 



