190 FORESTRY WORK 



pipes. For a plantation hedge an open drain may be 

 necessary, but for farm hedges closed drains are better. 

 The hedges should not be planted upon banks, as it keeps 

 the plants too far away from the water-supply, and stock 

 will break away the soil from the roots and injure them 

 with their hoofs. 



Methods of Planting. 



Thorn hedges may be either single or double. When 

 double, they sooner become fit to turn stock, and if kept 

 properly brushed or trimmed seldom need " layering." 

 The single-row hedge is cheaper to plant, and is more 

 easily kept clean. With the latter, the plants should be 

 put in about 4 inches apart, but with the double row they 

 need be only about 6 inches apart, with 6 inches between 

 the rows. The plants in each line should " cut " those 

 in the other i.e., be planted midway between them. 



In favourable situations, hedges planted thus should be 

 stock-proof in six or eight years. 



The plants for a Thorn hedge should have been cut 

 down a year after they were transplanted into nursery 

 lines, to encourage them to throw out several shoots from 

 the bottom, instead of forming one straight stem. After 

 the ground has been trenched, a line should be stretched 

 along at a foot from the edge of the trenched ground (if 

 2 feet 6 inches wide), and a trench made deep enough to 

 receive the roots of the plants, as in transplanting. 



The plants are inserted, the trench refilled, and the 

 plants firmed up. The line is then transferred to points 

 6 inches away from this row, and operations repeated. 



