THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 205 



272. In order to make a thick, impenetrable hedge clear to the 

 ground, the quicks standing in three rows, as has been previously 

 stated, should all be cut off two or three inches from the ground, 

 when they are one or two years old. It is desirable that they 

 should be cut off with some instrument which gives a drawing 

 cut, as a crushing cut is very liable to injure the stems. If they 

 grow up again very soon, they should be cut off again, the 

 same season, in the latter part of July, some five or six inches 

 higher than the first cut. At every cutting a thick growth of 

 sprouts is produced, which interlace each other so closely that it 

 is difficult for a small bird to get through it. If any sprouts 

 shoot off laterally several inches beyond the majority of the side 

 sprouts, they should be clipped. The sprouts should all be cut 

 off at least once every year, six or eight inches higher every 

 year, until the hedge is four or five feet high, training the hedge 

 in the form of a pyramid. (See TOOLS FO]j PRUNING HEDGES, 

 Par. 360.) 



273. Another mode of training is, to have but a single row, and 

 not cut off the tops until they are all about two feet high, when 

 the limbs are all interlaced with each other, by hand, and the 

 ends of those which grow at right angles to the hedge row are 

 sheared off to an even length, making the body of the hedge 

 from two to three feet through. This interlacing the limbs is 

 continued, as the height of the hedge increases from year to 

 year, until it is five or six feet high, when the top is simply 

 pruned in the form of a pyramid. 



LAYING AND PLASHING. 



274. "The operation consists in first removing the thorns and 

 prickles, and cutting away all the needless branches and stems, 

 and leaving straight upright stems in the middle of the row. 

 The best and straightest of these are left for stakes, and their 

 tops are cut off at the height of about four feet. If possible 

 these should be at equal distances of about two feet apart ; but 

 as they cannot always be had so regularly distributed, stakes 

 may be driven in the ground to supply their places. The rough- 



