71 



been found, to embark their capital in this great drainage 

 of fen-land. 



PLANTING, and bringing into cultivation a tract of 

 wild, uncultivated land, would be, I should think, if not a 

 poor tenacious clay, a very interesting employment for any 

 young man to superintend, who owns such a property. 

 The first step should be to fix on the spot where the 

 necessary buildings should be erected ; the next, where 

 plantations are to be made, to produce useful timber, and 

 to afford necessary shelter for stock ; having in them a 

 great variety of young trees, so that those which are of the 

 quickest growth to come into use, may be cut down, to let 

 in all necessary air for the others. Some, thus employed, 

 might live to enjoy the same gratifying feelings that Mr. 

 Coke experienced, about three years ago, when, with Lady 

 Ann and his four sons, he was on board a vessel, launched 

 at Wells, which was built of oak, produced from acorns of 

 his own planting. 



Great injury has been done to much timber by cutting 

 off large shoots from the trunk and principal branches of 

 trees, close to the bark ; the bark will soon cover the ampu- 

 tated shoot ; when the tree is cut down, those parts will 

 appear swollen, and when cut. into, the rotten shoot is 

 found. If some length of the branch had been left, before 

 the bark could have closed, the dead shoot would have been 

 forced out by the growth of the tree. 



FENCES. It has long been my practice to keep the 

 hedges, which separate arable fields, very low ; and am 

 surprised that such is not the general practice, as high 

 hedges are attended with these disadvantages : loss of 

 ground, production of palt, and of an inferior quality of 

 corn, growing near the hedge, which it is difficult to get 

 dry when cut. A high hedge is a harbour for birds, and is 

 often so thin at bottom as to permit sheep to creep through. 

 Formerly, the cuttings of a high hedge brought a good 

 price for baker's faggots ; coal is now used, and thorns are 

 therefore worth very little. Every cut with the hatchet 

 should be made upwards, to prevent bruising the stock. 

 Hedges which are to be fences against cattle should, when 



