lyo TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



habit of rubbing themselves on the wires, and frequently get 

 their legs cut by getting entangled in them. 



Plantation Fences. — In this case again I advocate thorn 

 hedges as being the best kind of fence ; but plantation hedges 

 have several very deadly enemies, such as rabbits and 

 hares and overshadowing by trees. All these help to spoil a 

 hedge, and frequently kill it outright ; other plants sometimes 

 take the place of the thorn, such as elm and ash saplings, 

 bourtree, hazel and briers. These are sometimes allowed to grow 

 as a makeshift, but they never make a good fence. Rabbits do 

 a great deal of harm to plantation hedges by nibbling the young 

 shoots, and in frost by barking the stems, which frequently die 

 off afterwards. Where rabbits are abundant the hedge is 

 generally very open at the bottom, often allowing sheep to get 

 inside it. 



The overshadowing of trees frequently does damage to hedges. 

 This can be remedied if, when forming young plantations, no 

 young trees are planted nearer to a hedge than 8 feet for conifers, 

 and farther off for hardwoods. Should this plan be adopted, 

 very little lopping of trees would be required alongside a wood. 



Holly makes a good hedge for plantations ; it does well in the 

 shade. Rabbits hardly ever touch it, at any rate not so much as 

 they do thorns. The only objections are its slow growth, and 

 that the plants are more expensive than thorns. In planting 

 a young hedge round a plantation, it is a very good plan to mix 

 thorn with holly where the land is suitable for its growth, so that 

 the two together might form a better fence, the hollies taking 

 the place of the thorns should they be damaged in any way. 



Where no hedge exists, a post and rail fence with upright 

 pales is best for a plantation fence. In this part of the country 

 they are usually erected with oak posts, squared with an axe 

 and morticed for two rails lo feet long, with hardwood pales 

 2,\ feet high and about 3 J, inches broad. A fence of this 

 material will last a very long time. 



Where plenty of larch thinnings can be got, a very nice rustic 

 fence can be made with them in the following manner : — A line 

 of posts is driven into the ground just as for a wire fence, with 

 straining posts where required ; two good strong wires are fixed 

 to these to take the place of rails, one near the top of the posts 

 and the other about 12 inches from the ground ; these should be 

 drawn very tight. Then take good larch thinnings, split up the 



