FENCING. 



247 



side of it, there is, first, a ditch, then a thick and 

 strong black-thorn hedge, and about two yards be- 

 yond it, on the landing side, is a very strong rail, 

 placed to prevent feeding bullocks from running 

 into the hedge, to avoid the oestrum, or gadfly, in 

 the summer. This fence, covering a great space of 

 ground, must be taken at once, or not at all, from 

 either side on which it is approached. In these 

 countries, from the goodness of the land, the black 

 thorn attains great strength ; but in places where 

 it happens to become weak, instead of the ox-fence, 

 four strong rails are put, which, in addition to the 

 ditch, makes also rather an awful fence ; at least, 

 if a horse do not clear it, he must fall, as the rails 

 very rarely will give way. Some of these hedges 

 being impracticable, from their thickness, the sports- 

 man makes his way to one corner of the field, where 

 he finds a flight of very high and strong rails, but 

 without a ditch ; and every now and then a sheep- 

 fold. The former is somewhat of a more severe 

 fence than it appears to be, owing to the ground on 

 each side of it being either poached by cattle, or, 

 what is worse, rendered slippery by sheep, which 

 are driven into the corner to be examined by the 

 shepherd, in the case of there not being a sheep- 

 fold in the field. The sheep-fold, or sheep-pen, as 

 it is called in Leicestershire, is a still more serious 

 undertaking. To get into it, the horse must leap 

 four strong bars, about the average height of gates, 

 and then, with a very short space to turn himself 

 round in, must do the same thing to get out of it. 

 Next comes the brook, from twelve to twenty feet 



