490 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II 



S024. Rectifying the old age of a thorn hedge irnproperly treated in its youth. In this operation much 

 care and judgment are required. It is found that in ordinary-sized gaps, which exist between the old 

 stems of a thorn, young plants will not easily take root and thrive. This effect is produced, partly by tiie 

 shadowing of the stems which grow quickly out of the old stem and overtop the young plant, and 

 partly by tiie want of nourishment from the earth, the juices of which have been extracted already by the 

 older tenants. To remedy such defects, plashing has been resorted to, and when that has been judiciously 

 done, by laying the plashes near the ground, a small gap may be filled up for some time. But I agree 

 perfectly with the following observations of Lord Kames on the nature of plashing in general : 



o025. " Plashing an old hedge" says his Lordship, " an ordinary practice in England, makes indeed a 

 good interim fence, but at the long run is destructive to the plants ; and accordingly there is scarce to be 

 met with a complete good hedge where plashing has been long practised. A cat is said among the vulgar 

 to have nine lives. Is it their opinion that a thorn, like a cat, may be cut and slashed at without 

 suffering by it ? A thorn is a tree of long life. If, instead of being massacred by plashing, it were raised 

 and dressed in the way here described, it would continue a firm hedge, perhaps, for five hundred years." 

 This merits attention. If plashing really be practised, and such an old practice cannot be easily forsaken, 

 it may be necessary to remind the operator to cut the stem no deeper in than necessary to bend it down 

 with considerable difficulty, as near the ground as possible ; for plashing at a great height above the 

 ground defeats its own object, namely, that of filling up gaps below. Keep the end of the plash down, 

 either by inserting it under a hooked branch of a neighbouring thorn, or by a hooked stick driven into 

 the ground ; and push a bit of wedge-shaped stick into the cut, to assist in preventing the plash from 

 starting up. Stuff then some worked up clay into the cut, and thus close it up from the effects of wet 

 and drought. 



3026. Laying an old hedge. It will be a much better practice to renew the earth in the gaps with fresh 

 soil, mixed with dung and lime, in the first year after the hedge has been cut down, and then in the 

 second year to take a stem from each side of the gap which has shot up from the old stem, and lay them 

 in the soil so prepared, as gardeners lay carnations and roses, by fastening them down to the earth with 

 pins. These layers will strike root, and grow up as young plants; and when they have acquired sufficient 

 strength, they then can of course be cut away from the parent stem. When the gaps extend many yards 

 between the old stems, and when of course it would not be practicable to fill up all the space with such 

 layers, the old earth between them must be completely taken out, and new and fresh soil, prepared as 

 above, substituted in its place, and young plants must be laid on a thorn-bed, and the whole work of 

 repair carried on and finished in the same manner as described in the original planting. In training these 

 renewed plants, it will be necessary to check the growth of the old stems, and encourage that of the 

 young plants, till both have acquired the same length, when both may be treated alike. An old gateway 

 may be beat up in this manner; but if still to be used on emergencies, a dead fence of thorns will protect 

 the gap for a great length of time. In repairing hedges, of whatever age, it ought to be kept in 

 remembrance, that a hedge ought never to be planted on the top of a mound thrown up from the ditch. 

 It has, indeed, the advantage of an imposing situation ; but being planted in bad soil, and destitute of 

 moisture, it cannot thrive : it is at best dwarfish, and frequently decays and dies. {Stephens of Balmadies 

 in Quar. Jour. Agr., vol. il p. 621.) 



3027. The hedge and bank consists of a hedge planted upon the plain surface, with a 

 bank or mound of earth raised behind it by way of protection. 



3028. The hedge in the face of a bank differs from the former, principally in having 

 the hedge in the front of the bank considerably above the common surface, in place 

 of having it at the bottom. 



3029. The Devonshire fence is a sort of hedge and bank, as it consists of an earthen 

 mound, seven feet wide at bottom, five feet in height, and four feet broad at top, upon 

 the middle of which a row of quicks is planted ; and on each side, at two feet distant, 

 a row of willow-stakes, of about an inch in diameter each, and from eighteen inches 

 to two feet long, is stuck in, sloping a little outwards : these stakes soon take root, 

 and form a kind of live fence for the preservation of the quicks in the middle. This 

 fence nearly resembles the hedge on the top of a bank, and is equally expensive in 

 the erection : the formation of the bank deprives the adjoining surface of its best soil, 

 and the plants made use of are liable to every injury that can possibly arise from 

 drought, frost, and gradual decay or crumbling down of the mound. The addition 

 of the willows to this fence is certainly a disadvantage ; if the quicks require pro- 

 tection, dead wood is equal to every purpose that could be wished or expected, and 

 at the same time possesses the additional advantage of requiring no nourishment, and 

 having no foliage to shade the thorns or other plants. 



3030. In the hedge wUh posts and rails, the railings are employed for the protection 

 of hedges, as well those that are planted upon the plain surface, as for the hedge and 

 ditch united. The addition of a paling is, however, more immediately necessary in 

 cases where the hedge is planted upon the plain surface, especially when the fields so 

 enclosed are in pasture. 



3031. The hedge and dead hedge is a fence that consists of a row of quicks or 

 other hedge-plants, set either upon the plain surface, or in the face of a ditch or 

 bank. The dead hedge answers a double purpose, namely, that of protecting the 

 young plants from the injuries they may receive from cattle or the inclemency of the 

 weather, and at the same time forming a temporary enclosure which lasts till the 

 hedge is grown up. 



3032. The hedge and wall fence is of two kinds, namely, a coarse open wall, built 

 of loose stones, on the top of the bank foraied by the earth taken out of the ditch ; 

 and when hedges are planted upon the plain surface, a thin and low wall regularly 

 built alongside answers the double purpose of sheltering and encouraging the growth 

 of the plants while they are in a weak tender state, and afterwards prevents the pos- 

 sibility of the hedge becoming open below. Where gardens are entirely, or in part, 

 surrounded by hedges, and in the enclosing of fields by the sides of highways, espe- 

 cially in the vicinity of great towns, where dogs and other destructive vermin are apt 



