in Gardening and Planting, Sfc. 223 



correct. Still, as it might be wanted where the live fence was 

 not quite so good, even, as my own, or perhaps where there was no 

 live fence at all to attach it to, I was resolved henceforward to 

 go on the safe side, and make the future garden nets 24 in. 

 deep, and 10 meshes in that space, instead of 8 meshes in 21 in. 

 of depth. I send them out ready oiled and painted ; for which I 

 have a machine, which performs that operation very effectually 

 and expeditiously; and, as employment is the principal object, 

 the very lowest price is put on them. The first opportunity I 

 have, I will send you, by way of specimen, a yard of each size 

 we have hitherto made. Another sort, we furnish is the sheep- 

 fold net, a most useful article in any situation, but particularly in 

 a game country, where they are infinitely preferable to the tar- 

 rope nets so much in vogue of late years. The objection to these 

 latter is, their liability to decay ; but, long before this takes place, 

 to destruction from gnawing by hares. There is something in the 

 wire nets, be the meshes as large as they may, which neither hares 

 nor rabbits like to venture near : I suppose they appear to them 

 too much like traps or snares. The sheep nets are of a stouter wire 

 than those for gardens, 3 ft. deep, and k\ in. square in the meshes, 

 or 8 meshes in the depth. The cost is little more than common 

 wattled hurdles; their duration, with care, I cannot speak to, but 

 it must be very long. I can speak to ten years' constant wear ; 

 at the end of which, with a little repairing, and fresh oiling, they 

 have been, for aught I know, as good as ever. See how readily a 

 fold is shifted ! The nets are made in 30-yards lengths : each 

 length, as taken up, is wound on a fold-stake, and carried with 

 the greatest ease on the back either of the shepherd or his page ; 

 for it is proper to note that the wire, having been well annealed, 

 is exceedingly pliable, and by so much the more durable. 



There is another species of netting for gardens, to which I 

 have lately been turning my attention, the meshes of which are 

 9 in. square, and of thicker wire still : I use it wherever I want 

 an invisible fence against dogs, to prevent them running over 

 flower borders, for instance. But there is another purpose to 

 which I am about to apply it, and where, it strikes me, I shall find, 

 it very useful — in the training of espalier fruit trees. Of course, 

 my stakes must be tolerably stout, and perhaps thickly set : this 

 time will determine. I will give you the results, you need not 

 fear, most faithfully and impartially. What do you think of 

 some such contrivance in lieu of sticks for peas ? I like peas 

 well enough, but the litter and mess they make I do abominate ; 

 not to mention the unsightliness of their appearance whilst 

 growing. Besides, where I live, pea-sticks are by no means easy 

 to meet with. I think I shall try a row or two with the large 

 net. 



Stoke Ferry, Norfolk, March 4. 1839. 



