Book IV. COMPOUND HEDGE FENCES. 489 



upwards, which would leave the standing and growing stem clean cut, they are made downwards, by 

 which the part of the stem which is taken away is cut clean, but the part whicli is left growing 

 IS hacked and split mto many rents. As to weeding, it is seldom thought of till the hedge is almost 

 choked to death ; but, indeed, the common practice which so much prevails, of leaving a broad scarce- 

 ment before the thorn-bed, renders weeding so irksome, laborious, and frequent a task, that one may 

 cease to wonder hat farmers will not incur the expense of it, though proprietors ought, rather than 

 ruin their fences. It is easier, however, to train up a hedge from infancy, in the proper manner (a 

 truth which many parents, as well as hedge planters, have bitterly experienced), than to renovate it 

 into a superlatively good fence after it has been mismanaged ; but even that difficulty is not insur- 

 mountable to those who will observe with common eyes, and be guided by common sense. 



3021. Cutting down or breasting over an old top-heavy hedge, (jig. 'ill.) When the hedge, which we 

 left to grow some time ago, gets heavy in the top, and begins to affect the density of the foliage at 



the roots, and by which period the stems be- 

 low will have acquired considerable strength, 

 it should be cut down with the breasting-bill, 

 in a sloping direction upwards, from the root 

 in the face of the bank, to the back of the hedge 

 on its top. This figure will illustrate the effect 

 of this operation. The liedger stands on the 

 face of the ditch, at the root of the hedge, with 

 his right hand to it. He carries the bill in his 

 'right hand, and his left is covered with a glove 

 of stout leather. After he has cleared away all 

 the small twigs about the main stem, that the 

 cutting process may not be in the least obstruct- 

 ed, he holds the bill with its edge inclined up- 

 wards, and gives the stem a cut upwards with 

 the whole length and swing of his right arm, a 

 stroke in a direction not unlike cut four in sword exercise, but much stronger. His left hand, the left 

 arm being half stretched out, is ready to receive the back of the bill, in order to steady it for a repeated 

 stroke ; and as the main stems are the thickest, they may require repeated blows before they are cut 

 through ; and even it may be necessary to give a cut downwards on the end of the stem that is cutting 

 away, that a wedge-shaped piece of wood may be removed, in order to allow the upward blows to take 

 more effect. If the main stems are strong, the cutting-bill should be used for them, and the breasting 

 one for the lighter stems. If the man is left-handed, he, of course, goes in an opposite direction to that 

 mentioned above. It is absolutely necessary to make the blows cut upwards, and not downwards, as parti- 

 ciilarly and properly insisted on by Mr. Blaikie, in his little work On Hedges^hose sentiments on that 

 subject, I shall here transcribe : " A moment's reflection," he says, " will show that it is impossible for 

 an edgetool to pass through a piece of timber, without causing a severe pressure against one or both of 

 the sides of the wood, because the tool occupies space. The teeth of a saw drag the chips out of the cut, 



and give the space requisite for the tool to pass, but an edgetool can only pass by pressure In cutting 



the stem of a bush or young tree which is growing upright, if the blow is struck down, nearly the whole 

 pressure falls on the stub (the growing stem), which is thereby shattered to pieces, while the stem cut off 

 IS left sound ; but when the blow is struck up (as it always should be), the effect is reversed, the slab is 

 then left sound and smooth (cut clean), and the stem cut off' is shattered ;" and when this practice obtains, 

 "the wet does not penetrate through the stub into the crown of the roots, canker is not encouraged, and 

 the young shoots grow up strong and healthy, and able to contend against the vicissitudes of the weather. 

 The branches which grow out of the stem, many of them, not being thick, will be cut through by a 

 dexterous cutter at one stroke. These cuts across the stems are not made in the plane of the line of the 

 hedge, but at so considerable an angle with it, that they will not be seen, if viewed from the direction in 

 which the hedger proceeds, but they will almost face the spectator in the opposite direction. When this 

 operation is performed by a man who is dexterous in the use of the bill, there is nothing in hedging, that 

 looks liker a nice piece of art, than this way of cutting down a hedge, not even that of its original plant, 

 ing. As the branches of a hedge interlace, the stems, as they are cut off", do not fall down like a tree. 

 The hedger has to pull the end of the stem, that has been cut off", towards him with the bill, in order 

 to seize it by the left hand, which having done, he pulls asunder the tops with the assistance of the bill, 

 and lets the whole branch fall gently out of his hand, on the opposite side of the ditch to that on which he 

 stands. 



3022. Season of performing the operation. It should be kept in remembrance that this operation must 

 not be performed during a hard frost I once saw a very fine hedge breasted over, and that part, which 

 had been cut down during a hard frost, did not send out a stem next summer exceeding four inches in 

 length, whereas the parts of the hedge cut by the same hedger in fresh weather, pushed up strong and 

 healthy stems three feet high. It was remarked at the time the hedge was being cut down, in ifrosty 

 weather, that the stroke of the bill made a peculiarly ringing sound on the stems, and that they were 

 more brittle, more easily split and cut over, than in fresh weather. Notwithstanding these peculiar 

 symptoms, no suspicions of an injurious effect were entertained at the time. After such an operation in 

 seasonable weather, it is astonishing how luxurious a growth of stems is generally developed. This kind 

 of young hedge is switched and trained in the same manner as described above for newly planted hedges, 

 till it comes to maturity. The hedge should be cut down when the field next the ditch is to be broken up 

 out of lea, as the young hedge will be a fence by the time the field is again in grass. As the field behind 

 the hedge will not likely be in the same part of the rotation as the other, it will be necessary to employ 

 the cut thorns as a dead hedge on the mound. If the hedge cut down was strong, the dead fence will not 

 require all the thorns, a part of which may be taken away for other purposes, or a similar purpose in 

 another place. A dead hedge is made in the manner described, 



3023. After-manageinent of a breasted over hedge. If, in the course of years, when this hedge has 

 arrived at maturity, it is found that the stems are so gross that few twigs grow from them, and that the 

 bottom of it is too open as a fence for sheep, it will be necessary to cut the whole down within a few 

 inches of the ground, with the axe or cutting.bill, according to the strength of the stem. If the cutting- 

 bill is used, it is managed hke the breasting-bill, and at times with both hands ; but if the axe, then the 

 hedger stands with his face in an opposite direction to the bent cutting one ; that is, he keeps his left 

 hand next the hedge, and using the long-handled but light axe, with both hands, he cuts the thick 

 stems in a sloping direction upwards. It may, in the first instance, be necessary to cut away the small 

 branches with the bill, which may interfere with the action of the axe, or injure his hands ; for, in this 

 process, which requires strength and dexterity, gloves are not convenient pieces of dress. He pulls the 

 thorns asunder, after they are cut, and deposits them on the same side of the ditch as when they were 

 breasted over ; and it is just as absolutely necessary now as before, to leave the growing stem clean cut. 

 Cutting with the axe is a very laborious operation at all times, but particularly when cutting down old 

 thick-stemmed thorn hedges. Old thorns are sometimes so bulky and heavy, that it is necessary to drag 

 them away with horses, instead of attempting to put them on carts. Both after this and the other 

 process of cutting, the ground around all the roots should be thoroughly cleared of all weeds, and it 

 would even be advisable to water-table the hedge, and to throw the shovellings of the ditch upon the face 

 of the mound. But should water-tabling not be necessary, there can be no doubt that the ditch will 

 require scouring; and there cannot be a more favourable opportunity for the work being done, than when 

 the hedge is cut down, amongst the stpras of which tiie sliovelliugs of the ditch can be deposited. 



