iro 



they may be said to be in harmony, particularly in woods, and more especially 

 when, here and there, clusters of whins, blackthorns, rambling roses, honey- 

 suckles, ferns, &c., are found growing out of them, with other shrubs scattered 

 in advance. If hedges are used, they should be frequently well cut, in order 

 to prevent their growing thin, as well as to prevent their interfering with the 

 natural outline of the trees. At the best, from the overhanging of the trees, 

 the hedge is liable, in the course of time, to be so injured as no longer to 

 constitute a sufficient fence. In any case, it must never be allowed to grow too 

 high, and thus to lessen the expansion and beauty of the trees for the sake of 

 the hedge appearing wild or natural. Examples of this are too frequent. 



Single trees may be cheaply and neatly protected from horses and cows 

 by driving strong larch and other stakes into the ground, from two to three 

 feet apart, all round the tree, about three feet six inches from it, and four 

 and a half feet high, a half-round larch coping being nailed on the tops of 

 the stakes, to bind them together. They will require a second rail on the 

 outside of the stakes, about a foot below, in order to prevent the cattle getting 

 their heads under the top bar or coping. A still better fence may be formed 

 of the above stakes and coping, with the addition of three lines of wire nailed a 

 foot apart, tight and firm, to them. A still more lasting fence would be made 

 with iron uprights, and two or three horizontal wires stretched firm round the 



uprights. When plants are small, to keep 

 off sheep, four or five lines of wire may be 

 employed. But, perhaps, the cheapest and 

 readiest mode of guarding a single tree, and 

 one which is recommended by its simple 

 neatness, is to chive four strong larch stakes 

 firmly into the ground, each stake being fifteen 

 inches from the tree, four feet six inches 

 high, and so placed, as regards the tree, that 

 when two rods are nailed on the top of the 

 stakes they may just clear its stem, as repre- 

 sented at figure 39, a. These two rods, which 

 may be about two inches in diameter, must 

 be cut down the middle, and be six feet six 

 inches in length, that they may each project 



Figure 39. 



