24: PLANTING. 



I am against charring the posts as a means of 

 making them last longer, but prefer simply heating the 

 wood, and tarring or pitching it when in the heated 

 state. It is a common opinion that charring posts 

 improves the wood, by rendering it more durable. It 

 certainly does not ; but, on the contrary, assists in 

 opening the layers, and admitting air and water to its 

 destruction. Oil of tar or creosote is, however, an 

 excellent preservative, and much preferable to tar or 

 paint. 



TURF DYKES 



are not unfrequently erected as plantation fences, in 

 preference to others, chiefly on account of the material 

 of which they are composed being convenient and at 

 hand. 



It is very commonly believed that the best and 

 most durable turf for dykes is that which contains 

 least solid earth and most vegetable matter, but just 

 the opposite of this is the case. Gardeners, as is well 

 known, in preparing earth for potting their plants, 

 select that which contains most vegetable fibre and 

 least solid earth, and after laying it together for a 

 time, it becomes a decomposed soft and pulpy mass. 

 A corresponding change takes place with turf for a 

 dyke, especially if laid in a horizontal position, one 

 layer above another, as in common practice. 



Of two respective dykes built with the same de- 

 scription of turf, the one laid flat and the other set on 

 edge, the latter will be found good and substantial 

 years after the former has fallen down, and perhaps 

 been several times rebuilt. 



