380 Ofi Hedges. 



thorn are not more than half as long as those of the New- 

 castle thorn : the leaves of some of the plants were be- 

 ginning to look red when I saw them, preparatory to 

 their dropping. Mr. Neill informed me, that about 

 this time last year, the plants were entirely leafless. I 

 have observed them in other years to keep their leaves 

 until August ; whereas the Newcastle thorn holds them 

 until even after frost : but they have the advantage in 

 the leaves coming out two weeks before the cockspur 

 thorn, in the spring, and while they last, the hedge has 

 a neat appearance. The Washington thorn [Cratagiis 

 cordata) grows straight, is thrifty, and the plants pre- 

 sent a singular uniformity in their appearance. Mice 

 and moles are very destructive of their roots. 



Upon inquiring of Mr. Neill how he supplied live 

 plants in place of those that die, (as they often do 

 in hedges,) without deranging the wail or bank, he 

 said, that in case of a plant dying, he plucks it out, 

 aiid thrusts in a dibble to enlarge the hole left by it, 

 then inserts a fresh thorn plant, pushing in some rich 

 earth after it, and finds that it takes root without diffi- 

 culty. In the hedges planted from four to six years, 

 I saw no gaps, but on the contrary, a uniformity of 

 growth, which was highly pleasing. In a hedge about 

 two years old, I saw only one vacancy. When a gap 

 takes place in an old hedge, he draws the bodies of the 

 two nearest plants as close together as possible, by 

 means of a cord, and in one season they take the de- 

 sired set, and fill up the vacant space. This method 

 he thinks preferable to plashing. He does not think 

 a double row, one above the other, (the upper plants 

 being placed in the spaces left by the first row,) so 



