AGRICULTURE. 



connected with the system of draining by 

 :i ditch on each ride, aboulthree feet wide 



ul top :ni<l four c|. t p. Tli.-. hank t or 

 border should be about the width of six 

 i'ci-t ;ii the bottom, lessening gradually to 



three ;it tin.- to]), :it whirhthe height from 

 tin- ground should he five or six feet. On 

 <-ach side ofthe bank should be planted a 

 .-ingle row of ({itick thorn. If the thorn 

 he bullace or damson kind, it will 

 luctive. :ind profitable. Onthe top 

 <;f the border filbert nuts may be planted 

 :ti the distance of three feet; and, in the 

 middle, apple trees at the distance of 

 i. This- fence would occupy about 

 1 ! feet, and in the neighbourhood of Lon- 

 don, particularly, would be found not only 

 i Hi dual for its main purpose, hut a source 

 ofincomc, us wcjl as the means of defence. 

 The hawthorn, the black thorn, and the 

 I. oily, the willow, the black alder, and the 

 birch, have all been recommended by ob- 

 servant and experienced men, as admira- 

 bly calculated to secure fields from the 

 irruptions of cattle, and will be employed 

 for the purpose, according as particular 

 circumstances of dryncss or moisture, or 

 other considerations recommend their ap- 

 plication. Where there is an abundance 

 of flat-stones, fences arc frequently com- 

 posed of them ; and, though notso agree- 

 able to the eye as the others, and requiring 

 frequent repair from the (tones being dis- 

 placed by cattle, when kept in order they 

 are the most effectual defence that can 

 he procured. With respect to hedges, 

 (which in this country arc more usual as 

 well as more pleasing than walls, and 

 \\liicli, perhaps, cannot in general be 

 formed of any thing preferable to the 

 thorn, considering the quickness of its 

 growth incongenisdsoil, in which it shoots 

 si\ <ir seven feetin a single season, and 

 that it is more disposed to lateral shoots 

 than all other trees, and by its prickles 

 is especially calculated for the object 

 in view, in the construction of IK 

 the proper method of reputing them is 

 unquestionably by plashing. This has 

 been defined u wattling made of living 

 wood. The old wood must, in the- first 

 instance, be all cleared from the hedge, 

 together with brambles and irregularly 

 growing stuff, and along the top of the 

 bank should be k-ft standing the straight- 

 < st and best grown stems of thorn, lia/.el, 

 1m, oak, or ash, about the number of six 

 in a yard. The next step is to repair the 

 ditch, which, in the driest soils, should 

 never be less than three feel \\ide at top, 

 li> two and a half deep, and six inches 

 wide at bottom ; and in all vcrv muist 



VOL. r. 



ones should be at least four feet by three, 

 and one at bottom. The earth removed 

 from the ditch should be thrown upon the 

 hank, after which the repair of the 1 

 commences, and those ofthe stems above 

 mentioned, left in cutting the old hedge, 

 which grow in the dircctionin which the 

 new hedge is to run, are cut off, to serve 

 as hedge stakesfor it, which being chosen 

 as much as possible of sallow' and willow 

 readily grow, and effectually preserve the 

 .rt from falling or leaning. The 

 remainder of the wood left standing is 

 then plashed down. One stroke is given 

 to the stick near the ground, and another 

 about ten or twelve inches higher, just 

 deep enough to slit out a part of the wood 

 between the two, leaving the stem sup- 

 ported by about a quarter of its original 

 size ; it is then laid along the top of tin- 

 hank, and weaved among the hedge- 

 stakes. Dead thorns are sometime* 

 woven among them, where there happens 

 to be a scarcity of living wood. After 

 this operation the hedge is edderedin the 

 usual manner. The greatest part of the; 

 hedge thus consists of living materials, 

 and the importance of this circumstance 

 cannot be too strongly insisted upon, as a 

 compact and lasting fence is thusformed, 

 while those hedges which are constructed 

 of dead materials speedily decay, and 

 crumble into the ditch. Itwouldbe end- 

 less to detail all the varieties offence which 

 peculiar circumstances may have render- 

 ed expedient, or human ingenuity may 

 have invented. The most usual and most 

 generally applicable are those which have 

 been mentioned. 



. i lion. 



Watering of meadows was used in Eng- 

 land even in the days of Queen Elizabeth, 

 and was carried on upon a large scale by 

 Rowland Vaughan, in the golden valley of 

 Herefordshire. He likewise published 

 a treatise on the subject After this pe- 

 riod, and about a century since, it was 

 introduced by Mr. Wclludvise into Glou- 

 cestershire, with abundant proofs Of its 

 efficacy and importance. So slow, how 

 ever, is the progress of improvement, tha'.. 

 it is only of laii 



flowing of grounds iu nearly all other 

 situations as well as in level or 

 been brought considerably into n 

 is a practice by which, in mild > 

 grass is produced in extreme abundance, 

 even so early as in March: ;.;T > 

 particularly nutritious as well :LS plen- 

 tiful, on which cattle which have win- 



