54 HEDGING AND DITCHING. 



boundary line therefore between us, I must 

 make the further side of my ditch ; the earth I 

 must lay on my own ground ; so that hedge and 

 ditch both belong to me. 



Good workmanship is very conspicuous in 

 hedging and ditching performed by a competent 

 hand. The sides, edges, and bottom, are ex- 

 pected to be as true to their proper form as if 

 wrought in a brick-mould. If they are not so, 

 the water hangs, where it ought to run, the 

 bank crumbles down, and the employer very 

 justly complains. The bank is plan tec with 

 young hedge-shrubs, or sown with furze or 

 broom, or else furnished with a dead fence of 

 bushes stuck in and wattled together. 



Old hedges are much improved by thinning, 

 topping, and laying. A quantity of the old 

 wood is taken out. The younger branches are 

 then chopped nearly off, close to the root, taking 



