On the Nature and Advantages of Inclosures. 177 



laid upon a gentle slope, or inclined plane, pointing down- 

 wards, so as to favour the transmission of moisture to the 

 roots ; and they should not be cut, until they have been . 

 planted in the ground, when it can be done with more re- 

 gularity ; the age of the plants, (whether of one or two 

 years), is not so material, as that they should be healthy and 

 well grown ( 9l ). 



4. The cutting of hedge plants is an important operation. 

 They should always be cut upwards, and at irregular heights, 

 the strongest cut lowest. The best shape for them to be 

 formed into, is the hog mane of a horse, that is, narrow 

 at the top, and wide at the bottom. Every twig thus re- 

 ceives its full share of rain, sun, and air, and the lower 

 branches are not injured or destroyed, by the dropping of 

 water from those above ( 9 *). 



5. Besides preparing the ground for the young plants, by 

 a crop of potatoes or turnips, or by a fallow, and enriching 

 it, (if the soil is poor), by dung or compost, it is necessary, 

 to have the hedge regularly cleaned once, and when young, 

 twice in a season, that the young plants may be kept per- 

 fectly free from weeds ( 93 ). 



6. But the most important rule is, to plant the quicks, at 

 from nine to twelve inches apart, according to the fertility 

 of the soils in which they are placed ( 94 ), and some recom- 

 mend even a great distance; but at twelve inches, they make 

 more wood, and sooner become a strong and lasting fence. 

 The closer they are planted, the more difficult they must find 

 it to procure nourishment, and the greater number must die. 

 It is well known, that when a quick-hedge comes to be from 

 twenty to thirty years old, few of the thorns are nearer each 

 other than from twelve to eighteen inches ( 95 ). 



As hedges rarely thrive, after the roots of the thorns reach 

 the close impervious bottom on which clays are incumbent, 

 it has been found a useful practice, to cast a deep drain 

 where the hedge is to be planted, and to fill it with stones, 

 covered with good earth. The thorns will thrive as well by 

 this method, as upon soils of a different description ( 96 ). 



Thorns may be raised from the roots cut off, when the 

 plants are to be set in a hedge, as well as from seed. They 

 must be put into a bed of fresh earth, and thus a perpetual 

 succession of vigorous plants may be obtained ( 9 7). 



In making hedges, the plants should be assorted, and all 

 those of the same size put together. Where they cannot be 

 had of uniform strength, the most healthy should be put in 

 the poorest soils, and the weakly in the rich ones( 9 fy 



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