2QO abe (SarDen 



thistle, etc., though some admit not of this 

 work till after Michaelmas, for reasons that I 

 approve not. It has been the practice of Here- 

 fordshire, in the plantation of quickset hedges, 

 to plant a crab-stock at every twenty feet dis- 

 tance ; and this they observe so religiously, as 

 if they had been under some rigorous statute 

 requiring it. And by this means they were pro- 

 vided in a short time with all the advantages 

 for the graffing of fruit amongst them, which 

 does highly recompense their industry. Some 

 cut their sets at three years' growth, even to the 

 very ground, and find that in a year or two they 

 will have shot as much as in the seven, had 

 they been let alone. 



When your hedge is now of near six years' 

 stature, plash it about February or October ; 

 but this is the work of a very dexterous and 

 skilful husbandman, and for which our honest 

 countryman, Mr. Markham, gives excellent 

 directions ; only I approve not so well of his 

 deep cutting the stems, if it be possible to bend 

 them, having suffered in something of that 

 kind. It is almost incredible to what perfec- 

 tion some have laid these hedges by the rural 

 way of plashing, better than by clipping ; yet 

 may both be used for ornament, as where they 

 are planted about our garden fences, and fields 

 near the mansion. In Scotland, by tying the 



