538 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XLIII. 



fended on one or both sides until it can defend itself; and this must either be 

 done by a dead hedge on each side, formed of stakes and brushwood inter- 

 laced, or by hurdles wlien necessary. Dead hedges, if kept in repair, are 

 the least trouble and perhaps the most secure ; but if enclosure postt-and- 

 rail fencing cannot be aft'orded, the next best protection are hurdles, 

 which, as they must be had for other purposes of the farm, may be cheapest 

 in the end. The business of protecting the young hedge is the most 

 onerous part of the improvement; but one thing is perfectly clear — the 

 man who cannot afford to rear, or neglects to defend his young hedge, 

 ought never to be at the trouble and expense of planting one. 



The great advaniaqe of raising a liealthy and quicJdi/ effective fence 

 is so important a circumstance to the tanner, that he should not be 

 penny-wise on the occasion of planting one. If the soil be not naturally 

 good, some expense should certainly be incurred to avoid a defeat. Not 

 only should the site of the new hedge be well cleaned, digged, or 

 trenched, by increasing the depth of mould for the plants to grow in ; but 

 also, if the soil be naturally poor, it should have a sprinkling of good 

 manure bestowed — an extra expense which will not be thrown away, 

 as the additional vigour imparted to the sets will amply repay the cost. 

 In order then that a planter may choose the most eligible plan of forming 

 a hedge which shall be not only a boundary but an efficient fence, it is 

 necessary to state that it should occupy the least possible space. It is an old 

 rule in estimating the crops on an arable or even a grazing farm, to deduct 

 one acre in every ten for fences ; so that a farm of one hundred acres can only 

 be charged by the tithe-owner for ninety acres. A hedge and ditch of the 

 usual form occupies about six feet — that is, three feet for the ditch and 

 balk (as the plough cannot work close to the edge of the ditch), and three 

 feet for the spread of the hedge. Now if a sufficient fence can be made to 

 occupy only half this space, the farmer is every year a gainer ; and such a 

 fence may be had on every farm not particularly wet. Land which is 

 springy, or liable to retain surface-water, requires ditches to carry it off; 

 and in such cases the ditch is as serviceable as the hedge, and therefore 

 indispensable. 



A hedge should be an effectual barrier against every kind of live 

 stock ; and to be so, it must be thick and close at bottom, rigidly stiff, 

 and, including the bank, at least Jive feet high. This, while it gives 

 perfect security against all trespassers, neither shades the land, nor 

 checks the drying currents of air ; and whatever may be the manner in 

 which it is made, it should be brought and kept as near to this standard as 

 possible, 



CUTTING OR RE-MAKING HEDGES. 



In former times, when no other fuel save wood and peat was used in 

 farm-houses, the hedges being re-made periodically, were, with the lop- 

 pings of pollard trees, a principal source of supplies of faggots for baking 

 and brewing, and other purposes of the homestead. On this account wide 

 " brows," or " shaws," covered with coppice and bushes were allowed to en- 

 croach on the arable land without regret ; because when felled, not only a 

 stock of fire-wood was obtained, but also poles for hurdle-making, and 

 stakes, and headers for re-making the hedge and gapping. 



In proceeding to remake such a hedge as this, the hedger begins by first 

 " ridding" the ditch and hedge of every kind of growth which will be in 

 his way of " scouring'' the ditch, or of that which does not grow conve- 



