54 PLANTING. 



crumble by the effects of the weather, banks are thrown up four feet wide 

 at bottom, tour loot and a half high, and eighteen inches wide at the top. 

 On the top a double row of fur/.e should be sown, and the lace of the bank 

 defended from eattle by driving in stakes of forked larch or thorns, from 

 bd t\\o feet and a half in length. These stakes may be fixed in the 

 bank about a fourth of the whole height of the bank from the furze, and 

 point! 1112,- obliquely upwards. Where these stakes could be conveniently 

 procured about the thickness of an inch and a half or upwards, we have 

 found them to answer the purposes of a protection to the furze remarkably 

 well: these are the cheapest modes of fencing 1 a plantation. Where 

 stones fit for building' a dry stone wall prevail on the site, they may be 

 used with great advantage for constructing the fence. In building a dry 

 stone wall, i. e., without mortar or cement of any kind, it is of importance 

 that occasional courses of stones of a size to reach across the thickness of 

 the wall should be laid in ; these act as ties, and render the wall strong and 

 lasting. The coping is another point of importance to be attended to : 

 the best coping is that composed of flat stones placed edgeways, and 

 made compact and immovable by driving in wedges of stone at such dis- 

 tances from each other in the coping as will produce the desired effect, 

 and a very little experience or practice will teach the workman to place 

 these wedges in their proper points. The expense of constructing this 

 kind offence varies according to Iccal circumstances. The cost of fences 

 of this description is stated by Sir John Sinclair in his highly valuable 

 work, the Code of Agriculture, to vary from 4s. 6d. to 6s. the perch, which 

 agrees with the results of our inquiries and experience on the subject. 



When neither of the above simple fences can be conveniently adopted, a 

 quirk or thorn hedge is the most generally used, and in fact is the best and 

 cheapest. There are several kinds of quick fences, which differ merely in 

 the mode of planting the thorns (Crateegus oxycanlhus). The white thorn 

 is a plant much checked in growth by every other, whether herbace- 

 ous weed or shub, that mingles with it in the soil. It delights in a 

 strong loam, on poor sands, or damp clay ; its growth is much slower, 

 and requires great attention in the preparation of the soil, in the selection 

 of the plants, and in the mode of planting. It must be carefully protected 

 from cattle and rabbits, which, by nipping off the tender first shoots of the 

 spring, seriously injure its growth, and defeat the intention of raising an 

 Live fence at the least cost, and in the shortest space of time. 



On poor sandy soils, the depth of earth for the reception of the plants 

 should be made as great as possible, and they should be placed on the top 

 of the bank*. Manure of rotten leaves, compost of marl or clay, and dung, 

 ashes, or any substance that will enrich the line of planting, should be dug 

 in if possible for the encouragement of the roots of the young quick. 

 Where the soil is damp and clayey, planting the thorns on the lace of the 

 bank is the best practice. The ground should be perfectly clean, or the 

 ng it afterwards will be considerable, and the fence will make 

 little progress, if it do not fail altogether. 



The cost of the manure above alluded to will be amply repaid by the 



id growth of the quirk, saving much of the expense of weeding, 



and of tilling up blanks and gaps in ihe hedge, which a:\\ a\ s accompanies 



the rearing of this kind of fence on poor or badly prepared ungenial land. 



<f the plants de-em-- particular attention, for by planting strong 



three yar old transplanted thorns, the the fence is secured, 



and the distance of time for iK completion shortened by three years. To 



* Thr - r /. /.,,/,-,.,/ si>r,-i,-x // md hardy ftucts if Mtt 



in t In form of stakes, nn-l >/,,>, ,, t ,, tf, r //> l,iiln;:f n i-ni. .y/,/,?,/ fail to strike root, and 

 in the mean time firm an cjfwtual barrier. Mr, Kingston. j 



