FENCING. 283 



that one might say, " there's a good fence, 

 it may finally be scoured up ; and cleaning 

 with the hoe may be withheld. But at no 

 time whatever, if we look for close bottomed 

 fences, should we desist from cutting with 

 the hook, every noxious weed which may 

 present itself in front ; and which, if left 

 standing, would not fail to weaken the breast- 

 work. 



The method of final scouring, is this : 

 rutt, with the spade, in the face of the ditch, 

 about half way down, and so as to form a 

 shelf or scarcement between this rutt and 

 the root of the hedge, two feet broad ; point 

 up the surface of the shelf or bench with the 

 spade, that the mould to be laid on may mix 

 intimately with that of the shelf ; line off 

 the opposite side or lip of the ditch, placing 

 the line so far from the brink as, with the 

 stuff now in the bottom, to afford a suffi- 

 ciency of earth to make up the shelf to a 

 level with the original thorn-bed ; observing 

 to give it a gentle slope from the bottom of 

 the ditch, so as that its upper surface may 

 be about eighteen or twenty inches broad, 

 and that, when the hedge is full-grown and 



