294 SKETCHES OF RURAL AFFAIRS. 



the hedge is simply planted on the common surface 



of the field. 



But the plan most generally approved is 

 the union of hedge and ditch, which affords a 

 secure fence, and at the same time carries off 

 the superabundant moisture of the field. For 

 this purpose a ditch is prepared, and the earth 

 from it is thrown up to form a mound for the 

 protection of the plants. But it must ever be 

 remembered that cold, heavy, unprepared soil, 

 such as might be dug up from an ordinary 

 ditch, is not proper for these plants. No won- 

 der that fences planted in such soil seldom 

 prosper. It is on well-manured and well-pre- 

 pared earth alone that thorn-plants should be 

 cultivated, for these plants require quite as 

 much nourishment to ensure their healthy 



DITCHER'S growth, as would be necessary for the most 

 SHOVEL. j m p 0r tant grain-crop. This was known in 



the time of Tusser, for he recommends ploughing and 



delving as the needful preparation for a hedge. 



" Go plough or delve up, advised with skill, 

 The breadth of a ridge, and in length as you will ; 

 Where speedy quickset for a fence you will draw, 

 To sow in the seed of the bramble and haw." 



When the line of the fence has been properly marked 

 out with a cord, and poles or pegs at certain distances, 

 the digging commences. In preparing the ditch, it is 

 necessary to keep it of not more than a spade-breadth 

 at bottom, with the sides sloping at an angle of forty-five 

 degrees. The earth which forms the mound on one side 

 of the ditch is shaped and beaten with the spade, and 

 a little ledge of scarcement is formed at the foot of the 

 mound as the bed of the young plants. Some persons 

 reatly object to this scarcement, and prefer planting 

 the thorns immediately in the slope of the bank, with- 

 out any protecting ledge. They think that the scarce- 



