200 OF FENCES. 



are managed there is no avoiding it) when 

 a hedge grows thin in the bottom, to draw 

 cut thorns into it to ftop the gap ; but in 

 reality it makes it larger, for the cut thorns 

 are drawn in very thick to ferve the prefent 

 purpofe, which kills the live wood, and in 

 a few years the whole bottom of the hedge 

 is ftuck with dead thorns, when the top is 

 thick, ftrong, and vigorous. 



THE cutting up of the fide- boughs that 

 hang down annually prevents all this ; but 

 if by any accident there mould be an open 

 in the bottom of an hedge, flick in a few 

 imall flakes and wind fome live branches 

 to them, and it will be clofe in a year's 

 time, as the flakes will make the gap 

 good in the mean time, and be no detri- 

 ment to the hedge. 



C HA P. 



