542 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch.XLIII. 



or cattle. As they rise above the hedge tlieir lower twigs should be pruned 

 off, to prevent them tempting- tlie cattle to browse. Tlie closer the trees 

 stand to the line of the hedge the better, as they are there out of the way 

 of the whipping-trees of tlie teams when at plough or harrow. 



Pruning hedge-roiv trees as they grow up is abso- 

 lutely necessary, as well for the interest of the land- 

 lord in growing straight timber, as for that of the 

 tenant, in not being overshaded by the spread of 

 the lower boughs. To accomplish this, a pruner 

 should be employed every second or third year to 

 look over the trees, and foreshorten, that is, cut back 

 every brancli springing from the bole which shows 

 a tendency to advance laterally, and thereby divert 

 a current of the sap out of the main chaimel. A 

 tree so pruned for ten or twelve years will present a 

 figure resembling the annexed sketch ; and when 

 no longer within reach of the pruner, the head may 

 spread without fear of its overshading the land inju- 

 riously.or at least nut so much so as if the lower branches had been allowed 

 to extend. This is the only way of reconciling the interests of both land- 

 lord and tenant in such cases ; nor is the scheme liable to the objection of 

 disfiguring tall trees bv shredding from top to bottom, so commonly prac- 

 tised in some parts of Middlesex, and so much disliked by those who 

 admire the natural form of trees. 



With resjiect to the distance at which hedge-row trees should stand 

 from each other, we would say, that thirty, or from that to forty feet is not 

 so near as that their heads will ever meet so as to damage the crops, nor 

 so far apart as to give a naked look to the farm. 



The oak should be planted on the most loamy or richest parts of the 

 farm, and tlie elm on the lightest soils. 



GATES. 



Wlierever there are fences and inclosed fielns tliere must also be stout 

 and convenient gates for ingress and egress. The old-fasliioned Jive-har 

 gate is, perhaps, as good a form as can be contrived ; provided it be made 

 of the best clear-grained heart of oak. 'I'he gate here described is nine feet 

 wide, and consists of a " thur" or " heel," and a " head," into both of which 

 the bars and top-rail are mortised and pinned. The thur is substantial, seven 

 inches wide, by four and a half inches thick, and about four feet long. The 

 head is of the same length, but only four inches wide by three in thickness. 

 The top-rail is cut four inches deep by three in thickness. The bars are 

 flat, four inches by one and a quarter, the three lower being closer together 

 than the upper two. These, together with the top-rail, are all more sub- 

 stantial next the thur than towards the head, they all being a little gradu- 



