190 STATE OF ARBORICULTURE IN NORTH LANCASHIRE, 
The cut is sloped upwards to prevent water lodging, and good 
sloping cuts generally produce the best and strongest shoots, When 
an old hedge is thin this makes a good fence, as the layers fill up 
the thin places, but much depends upon how the work is done to 
prove a success. A very pernicious system termed ‘“ pricking” has 
been adopted on some estates, and unfortunately has been carried 
out to a considerable extent to the great injury of many good thorn 
fences. This is done by taking some of the stronger portions of 
underwood and driving it into the root of the hedge to fill up gaps 
or weak spots. This I consider most injurious to the health of 
thorn hedges, as they require light and air near the ground to keep 
them strong and healthy when a stable fence is required. Hedges 
are generally planted upon dykes, or what is termed here ‘copes ;” 
the dyke or cope is usually raised about 2 feet in height, with a 
breadth at base of 41 feet, and 3 feet wide at top, thus giving it a 
batter of 9 inches on each side. Generally, a ditch is made at one 
or both sides of the bank, very few hedges are planted upon the 
level ground. In the high-lying districts of the county the ordinary 
stone-dyke is common. 
Draining.—This is another important adjunct in arboriculture, 
but as a large portion of the woods in this division of Lancashire 
have been planted in glens and ravines between the hills, a great 
part of the ground has had little in the way of artificial drainage, 
the land having in most cases a free natural drainage. In 
flat and low-lying districts the ordinary system of open drains has 
been adopted. 
Planting.—In most of the older woods, and more especially about 
gentlemen’s residences, it is common to find the mixed system of 
plantation composed of oak, ash, beech, elm, Scots fir, etc. A good 
deal of oak is grown in some districts, but much of it is of a stunted 
nature, as in most cases the plantations have been laid out in narrow 
strips and belts. I have no doubt but at the time the plantations 
were formed an inducement was held out to plant oak in conse- 
quence of the demand for that class of wood, and the price it com- 
manded. The high price obtained for bark would also recommend 
the planting of oak. Some of the land is well adapted for growing 
oak ; other portions are not; but had the woods been planted in larger 
masses, better timber would have been grown, and the result been 
more satisfactory to the proprietors. On the slate formation in the 
neighbourhood of Coniston the larch thrives luxuriantly, and, when 
cut down from forty to fifty years of age, proves a very valuable 
