HEDGING AND DITCHING 53 



purpose of hedges, as the English White-Thorn, 

 of which I have spoken. 



The manner of forming a hedge and ditch by 

 the English farmer is as follows: First, the 

 ground is carefully marked out, and a line 

 stretched along it, to guide the digger. Next, 

 he pares off the turf, if any, and rolls it on one 

 side. Then he proceeds to remove the earth, 

 to the width, perhaps, of about five feet at top, 

 and slopes the sides down to the depth, it may 

 be, of three feet, with a bottom of one foot 

 wide, throwing the soil up on one side, ready 

 to be formed into the bank. If the purpose be 

 merely to divide land occupied by the same 

 person, it may not signify on which side the 

 embankment is made. But if it is to be a par- 

 tition between, say my estate and my neigh- 

 bour's, I must not, of course, intrude upon his 

 ground at all, either for hedge or ditch. The 



