140 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF chap, FJ. 



might be very proper on the sides of roads, e- 

 specially where the adjacent fields may require 

 open drains to carry off the water. 



There are some instances of the double ditch 

 and hedge, but at a greater distance from each 

 other, with belts of planting between. In cases 

 of this kind, we sometimes find the Galloway- 

 dikes, or the double stone-dike formerly men- 

 tioned, used, instead of the ditch arid hedge. 

 This mode of enclosing is surely extremely pro- 

 per, where the land is high, cold, and exposed ; 

 and it is to be regretted that it has been so sel- 

 'dr-in practised in a county that needs this kind 

 of shelter so much as Fife. 



Beech-hedges have been greatly and justly re- 

 commended ; and we meet with some excellent 

 fences of this kind, about gentlemen's seats ; but 

 they are no where used for enclosing common 

 fields. 



In training thorn-hedges, the usual practice is, 

 to keep them as clean about the roots as possi- 

 ble for the first three or four years, or longer, if 

 their growth shall be slow. Once a-year, at 

 least, all the weeds and grass roots are pulled, 

 and the earth stirred and dressed. Perhaps this 

 operation should be performed twice a-year, a- 

 bout the beginning or middle of June, and again 

 in the month of October. After two or three 

 years growth, if the thorns shall appear thin at 

 bottom, and disposed to run up into bare stems 

 with few lateral branches, they are usually cut 

 over six or eight inches from the ground. This 

 produces a great number of new strong shoots 

 close to the bottom, and the loss of time is more 



