CHAPTEE XIV. 



FENCING. 



GOOD fences are of great importance on an estate, as in exposed districts 

 the greater part of them afford shelter, and in all cases define and 

 protect the boundaries of fields, and consequently make the land more 

 valuable. In many parts of England thorn hedges are planted on high 

 embankments, and allowed to grow till the plants are from ten to four- 

 teen feet high, when they are cut half over and the tops laid along the line 

 of hedge ; this is what is termed " slashing." In a very short time the 

 hedges so treated become partly dead, and they are very seldom kept 

 in anything like order. They disfigure an estate very much, and form a 

 nursery for vermin and weeds. In many parts of England the fields are 

 small, and so much surrounded and shaded with high and badly-kept 

 thorn hedges of this kind, that the rays of the sun cannot fall on the 

 cereal and other crops to ripen them ; and in hay-time and harvest these 

 hedges prevent the air getting in to dry the sheaves. Were hedges kept 

 trimmed in such a way as to admit of the land being cultivated close 

 to the roots of the plants, the case would be very different ; and I merely 

 refer to this to show the necessity there exists for an improved mode of 

 managing such fences. 



The ordinary fences on an estate may be set down as consisting of 

 eight kinds, and these are : 



1. Stone walls. 



2. Wire fences. 



3. Wooden fences. 



4. Thorn and other hedges. 



5. Turf walls. 



6. Fences made from underwood. 



7. Gates. 



8. Sunk fences. 



I shall describe these in the order in which I have put them 

 down. 



