130 AGRIcyLTUBAL ESSAYS. 



themselves ; especially as they are accompanied by ditches, 

 out of which the earth which formed them had been takea. 

 In many instances, and especially in the vicinity of gentle- 

 men's houses, these mounds, or dykes, are sodded with great 

 neatness, so that the verdure is as perfect as their almost 

 perpendicular sides are in the field ; and when upon the top of 

 these rural parapets, the fine hedge row rises, trimmed with 

 perfect precision, and forming the most elegant green fringe, it 

 is scarcely possible to imagine any thing of the kind more grat- 

 ifying. Around some plantations, the mound and hedge row 

 together, estimating from the bottom of the ditch, form a fenfce 

 of ten or twelve feet in height. 



The length of time, and attention to make hedges, or live 

 fence, is a discouraging circumstance. The expense of trim- 

 ming and keeping a live fence in order, is thought by some 

 who have used them in this country, to exceed that of keeping 

 an ordinary rail or board fence in repair. Should a very unru- 

 ly animal break through a good live fence, or an evil disposed 

 person cut their way through, a gap is left, which must be filled 

 by a dead fence of some sort, until a new growth. 



Notwithstanding the good properties of this kind offence, it 

 is not to be supposed that the farmer who has a plenty of tlirifty 

 growing timber, or a suitable quantity of loose stones within a 

 reasonable distance, will undertake the cultivation of live 

 fences. But there are farms, and even extensive tracts of 

 lanu in our country, in which there are no stones suitable for 

 walling : and where fencing timber too has become scarce. 

 In such places live fences and ditches are the last and only 

 resort. And when live fences have become indispensable, or 

 are likely soon to become so, they ought to be set about before 

 the old stock of fencing timber is gone entirely; and by mak- 

 ing a short piece every year, a knowledge of their usefulness 

 may be acquired, as well as the manner of making and taking 

 care of them. 



A good fence may be made by running a ditch around the 

 field, whether it be a dry or wet soil, and on the top of the 

 mound which is raised by the excavations of the ditch, to set 

 pickets of some durable timber, about three or four inches 

 apart, the height of the pickets need only be about three feet 

 above the top of the mound, and if.it is four or five inches in 

 diameter, it wuU be of sufficient strength to guard against or- 

 dinary animals of any description. Such a fence would, per- 

 haps,"rQquire less timber than any other wooden fence, 



