Soil, Manures, Situation, and Enclosures. 



55 



h, and afterwards at o. The latter may be straight, as the previous 



ones, or in the form of a gothic arch, as shown by the figure. This 



brings the hedge to the close 



of the fourth year, when it 



will begin to form an efficient 



barrier, if it has been well 



cultivated and pruned. Its 



breadth at bottom will be 



nearly double its height. 



Future years will give it more 



height ; but it must be espe- 



Fig. 67. End of fourth year or beginning o/ 

 fifth. 



cially observed to keep it 



always narrow at top, so that 



the foliage above shall not shade that below, nor injure the broad 



thick growth at bottom. 



Hook to Trim Hedges. With a common corn-knife, like that 

 shown in Fig. 68, one man has trimmed from half to three-quarters 



Fig. 68. 



Fig. 69. 



of a mile of four years' hedge on both sides in a day striking 

 upwards and cutting it to a peak in the middle, like the roof of a 

 house. Subsequently, with a longer handle and straighter blade, as 

 in Fig. 69, he was enabled to work more easily and rapidly. As the 

 hedge becomes older, the labor will probably be somewhat increased. 

 Note. An efficient hedge may be made, at moderate expense, of 

 any dense-growing shrub, as privet, barberry, or buckthorn, or of 

 any small, compact evergreen. This hedge is to enclose through 

 its entire length, and in its centre, three or four barb-wires at dif- 

 ferent heights, stretched on upright stakes standing in the centre 

 of the line of the hedge ; each one to be added in successive years 

 for the hedge to grow around it, and to hold it thus in its position. 

 Any attempt to pass is prevented by the sharp barbs of the wire, 

 which 7 if galvanized, will last many years. 



