40 FENCING. 



combine cheapness with durability. For greater 

 security, it is proper to observe, that though the 

 laths may surmount the top bar, where they are 

 out of the reach of cattle, they must not descend 

 lower than the under one, where their frailty would 

 be more exposed; and as the under bar is placed a 

 little beneath the summit of the wall, the poking 

 sort of invaders will not discover a way of access, 

 although there may be room enough to admit their 

 bodies. 



Should it be found, on the decay of your wooden 

 erection, that the hedge, with all due care, is not 

 sufficiently close, let a small peg be set upright into 

 any vacancy that may occur; but by no means 

 draw in a bushy thorn, as is frequently done, and 

 which, as it hinders the growth of lateral shoots, 

 soon makes the blank larger than before. If any 

 part has failed to a greater extent, fill it up with a 

 well grown plant of a different species; for it is 

 remarkable that a thorn will not grow in a soil 

 already occupied and exhausted by thorn roots: 

 but a common or sweet brier, a barberry, a crab 

 or wild plum, or a well grown holly, will fully 

 answer the intention. Should it however appear, 

 that from the bad thriving of your hedge in general, 

 such remedies will not be effectual, it may be ex- 

 pedient, on removing the paling, to add one row of 

 stones by way of a cope, so as to raise your wall 

 about six inches higher than the roots of your 

 thorns, and thus make sure of tightness, as the 

 difficulty is experienced only at the very surface of 

 the ground. 



