436 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II 



out after every clipping, ami the great qixantlty of nourishment necessary to support such additional 

 numbers, the lateral shoot at the bottom, upon the strength and numl)ers of which the value of the hedge 

 in a great measure depends, are stinted in their growth, and soon die; the hedge, of course, becomes 

 open and naked at the bottom, and consequently useless as a fence. 



2793. From the first year of planting, till the hedge has risen to the height of five or six 

 feet, the main stems ought to be left untouched, and the pruning confined solely to the 



side branches, leaving those next the root pretty long, and gradually tapering towards 

 the top ; this pruning of the side branches will make them send out many new shoots 

 from their extremities, which, by repeated trimmings, will become so thick as to fill up 

 every interstice from top to bottom of the hedge ; while the main stems, by being left un- 

 touched, continue their growth upward, till they arrive at the necessary height, when they 

 may have their extremities cut off with perfect safety. When a hedge has attained the 

 wished for height, all that is requisite afterwards is cutting the sides regular with a hedge- 

 bill, preserving it pretty broad at bottom, and drawing it gradually to a point at top ; 

 this form of a hedge is pleasant to the eye, is well calculated to stand the weather, and 

 becomes every year stronger and thicker. A hedge of this sort in full leaf has the ap- 

 pearance of a solid wall ; and, when viewed after the leaves are shed, presents to the eye 

 a. set of massy growing piles, so strong and formidable as to bid defiance to any attempts 

 that may be made to break through them. 



2794. In the management of old hedges, the above directions and observations apply, 

 with strict propriety only to such as have been regularly attended to from the time of their 

 being planted ; as there are, however, innumerable hedges in the kingdom, which, by 

 being neglected, have grown up to a great height, have become open and naked below, 

 and bushy and unmanageable at top, it is of consequence to point out the means of re- 

 ducing such hedges to a moderate scale, and rendering them useful. 



2795. This purpose can only be effected bi/ cutting them down, and procuring from 

 their stumps a growth of new shoots, which, with proper management, will soon make a 

 perfect fence. If the fields enclosed by such hedges are alternately in pasture and tillage, 

 the period most proper for cutting them down is when the field is to be ploughed. 

 Under a corn-crop, the confinement of the stock is no longer an object ; and by the time 

 the field is again brought under pasture, the hedge, if properly treated, will have acquired 

 Strength enough to become a good fence. This operation is performed in several dif- 

 ferent ways ; in the first, the hedge is cut over, about a 333 



yard above the surface (fig. 383.), and is left in that state 

 without any other pains being taken with it ; if it has 

 originally been good, and the plants thick enough at 

 bottom, this kind of cutting will answer the purpose per- 

 fectly well, and in a few years the hedge will, with proper 

 dressing, become both a neat and an useful fence. But 

 in this mode, when there has been a deficiency of plants, 

 and the hedge is cut over in the manner above mentioned, innumerable gaps will appear, 

 which, without some art, it will be impossible to fill up. It has also this farther disadvan- 

 tage, that if either horses or cattle attempt to leap into, or out of the enclosure, the 

 sharp points of the stakes are apt to run into their bellies ; this accordingly often happens, 

 and many valuable horses and cattle are killed or greatly injured by such means. 



2796. A i)referable mode of cutting doivn old hedges is, to cut a fourth part of the plants 

 over, to the height which the fence is intended to be made ; another fourth about six 

 inches high, and to bend down and o^,^ 



warp the remainder with the upright 

 stems (fig. 384.). This method 

 very effectually cures the gaps and 

 . openness below, and with sliglit at- 

 tention soon makes a good fence. 



2797. A third way of cutting over old hedges is that of cutting them close by the sur- 

 face ; this practice, wlien the plants are numerous, and tliere are no gaps in the hedge, 

 answers very well ; but when tliere is a deficiency of plants in any part of the hedge, the 

 want will be very apparent. This last mode, though much inferior to the one immedi- 

 ately preceding, is nevertheless greatly preferable to that first described, as the young 

 shoots sent out from the stumps, by being so near the ground, will in some measure 

 remedy the defects occasioned by the want of original plants ; whereas, when the old 

 plants are cut at the distance of about a yard or four feet above the surface, the young 

 shoots produced by the cutting will be so high, as to leave the hedge open at the bottom. 



2798. The last method of cutting down old hedges, and which is yet but very little prac- 

 tised, is first to cut them down even with the surface, and afterwards to cover the stumps 

 completely over, with the earth taken out of the ditch, or from the road-side. When 

 this is carefully done, it is asserted that every single stamp sends out a great num- 

 ber of young vigorous shoots, each of which, by branching out from below the sur- 

 face, sends out roots, and acquires an establishment for itself j by that means the bottom 



