164 THE BOOK OF THE LANDED ESTATE. 



When any gaps exist in the fence, they ^should be filled up with good 

 strong beech-plants ; these will be found much better for the purpose 

 than thorn-plants, as the beech bears confinement, 

 and being overhung or crushed, much better than 

 thorn-plants. It is a frequent method in many 

 parts of England to fill up the gaps, and any holes 

 in the bottom, with dead thorns, but it is very in- 

 judicious to do so, as the dead branches kill the 

 living thorn on either side, and in a few years is 

 the cause of making the gaps much larger ; and in 

 a short time, what with splashing and filling up gaps 

 with de,ad thorns, the entire fence becomes a mass 

 of merely half-dead twigs. 



Where the hedges are kept up by the farmers on an estate, they are 

 not generally kept very satisfactorily. The usual system with fanners 

 in Yorkshire is to give them a " dressing " once in every rotation that 

 is to say, once in four years when they are in such a rough and bad 

 state that the farmers cannot see it to be their interest to put them into 

 good order. 



The best system for a proprietor to adopt is to have skilled hedgers 

 on his estate, and keep the fences in order under the management of the 

 agent, and charge the tenant with all or a proportion of the expenses. 

 This system, I am aware, has given great satisfaction on many estates. 

 Bad fences give an estate a poor appearance ; while good and well-kept 

 fences give a property a richer appearance, and make farms let better 

 than they would otherwise do. The expense of keeping up fences, when 

 they are once put into good order, does not amount to much. I know 

 a few estates where the proprietors keep all the fences in order, and the 

 average expense on these comes to Is. lOd. per acre per anmim. 

 The plan to be adopted by the proprietor should be as follows : 

 1st, The forester should have the management of the fences. 

 2d, Under the forester a staff of men, who have been trained to hedging 

 and fencing generally, should be employed to keep the fences in order. 



3d, Wherever it is practicable to do so, let the work to these persons 

 by contract. 



4th, For the keeping up of fences subdividing the farmer's own fields, 

 he should be charged the half of the amount of the expense. 



5th, For fences forming boundaries between two farms, the fourth of 

 the expense should be charged to each tenant, the proprietor always 

 paying the one-half. 



6th, The expense of enclosing all woods and plantations on the estate 

 should be borne by the landlord. 



