178 FENCING AND DRAINING 



a flat surface or on a bank. The advantage of using a bank 

 is that an effective fence is obtained within a few years, but 

 for all other reasons planting on the flat is best, as a hedge 

 thus formed lasts longer. The bed should be prepared with 

 care ; it should be dug to a width of 4| feet, of which the 

 middle ij feet should be 1 feet deep, and the rest i foot. 

 This work should be finished at least a month before planting 

 begins, at any time in open weather, from November to March. 

 Three-year-old plants may be used, and these can be placed 

 in single or double rows. The Midland Railway Company 

 plant two rows of quick, 4 inches apart, with the plants 8 inches 

 apart in the rows, the plants in one row being opposite the 

 spaces in the other row. There are thus about 190 plants 

 to the chain. On the Thorney estates, recently owned by 

 the Duke of Bedford, the plants are placed in single rows with 

 the quicks 4 inches apart, the number of plants to the chain 

 being the same as above. Others prefer to place the plants 

 8 inches apart in two rows with 8 inches between the rows, 

 as it is easier to weed the bed with a hoe. As all the above 

 systems give excellent hedges, if afterwards managed properly, 

 it is a matter of small importance which method is used. 

 When planted, the quicks are cut off to a uniform height, 

 about 2 or 3 inches above the ground, and this may be done 

 at once or in the first April after planting. They are then 

 left to grow on. 



When a new hedge is to be formed on the site of an old 

 one it is essential to renew the soil. This may be done by 

 making a wide deep trench which is then filled up with soil 

 from the adjoining field or wood. The soil may be obtained 

 by digging another trench within the wood at a spade's throw 

 away from the hedge, the soil from the first trench being 

 thrown back into the second one to fill it up. 



As soon as the hedge is planted it must be protected from 

 cattle by a temporary post-and-rail fence. 



After management. The bed must be kept clean of weeds, 



