128 AttRiC^t^URAL ESSAYS. 



and weaving them together, trimming off the superffuouW 

 branches, early in the spring. 



Mr. L. Hommedieu says, that apple seeds in the pomace, 

 strewed along and buried in the top of the banks of ditches 

 made for hedges, and kept from the cattle until they have at- 

 tained sufficient strength, will answer very well for this pur- 

 pose : and as the cattle will be continually biting off the young 

 shoots, it will make the hedge grow more bushy, thick, and 

 strong. 



Hedges, in dry land, may do well without ditches. Where 

 no ditch is used, the hedge perhaps may be better set in two 

 rows, about a foot apart. The young hedge should be protect- 

 ed from cattle. But to save the expense of making a fence for 

 the purpose of protecting the young hedge, it would be best, 

 when circumstances will admit, tocommenc^ the setting of the 

 hedge around a field which is intended for such improvements- 

 as to exclude cattle the most of the time which may be necessa- 

 ry to raise the hedge above the reach 6f their ravages. 

 Where, for instance, a rotation of crops is intended, of potatoes, 

 pease, wheat, and clover, it will be no inconvenience to keep 

 cattle from such a field a sufficient time for the hedge to arrive 

 to maturity. If a hedge is intended around a moadow, cattle 

 will not be likely to injure it, if they are turned in to feed only 

 when there is plenty of grass. 



One objection to hedges for fence is, that in a eountry s6 

 young as the United States^ the system of improving particular 

 tractJof land, is not so settled and matured, as to render it suf- 

 ficiently certain what may be the permanent dimensions of 

 particular inclosures, and where a durable fence may be expe- 

 dient. But the better the science of agriculture is understood, 

 the more practicable it will be to fix durable dimensions to cer- 

 tain fields. For it is very certain that the scientific farmer can 

 BO direct his labors as to render the same field permanently 

 productive, and the culture of it profitable, without removing 

 any part oi the fence which incloses it. 



Hedges are believed, by some who have used them, to be 

 cheaper than any wooden fences. And v/hen once they are 

 mad*^, it is certain they are more durable, and need but little 

 repairs. It is believed,' too, that they are a much better protec- 

 tion to crops than wooden fences, as they are usually made* 

 They are insufficient only against hogs ; and they should al- 

 ways be kept in inclosures made for the purpose. 



Where the land is very wet, a ditch two feet or two and a 

 half, and about two feet deep, with a steep bank, may answer 

 well without a hedge on the top. But a small hedge, in such 



