V 



PART VIII. PICTURESQUE PLANTING. 



545 



plantations. A small dike of stones, turfs, or any other rude 

 materials, is raised on the top of the earth dug out of the 

 ditch. The medium size of this wall is twenty inches wide at 

 bottom, thirty inches in height, and fifteen inches broad 

 at top*. Any of the foregoing may be made ornamental fences : 

 the walls may be covered with shrubs, creeping plants, or ivy ; 

 the hedges interspersed with roses, briars, honeysuckles, and 

 other shrubs or trees, and never shorn ; and the palings may 

 support the climbing plants, shrubs, or brambles -j- . A num- 

 ber of other fences might be mentioned, which are particularly 

 applicable to ornamental scenery ; but these may be found 

 under Picturesque Improvement. 



Fences, or guards for single trees and small groups, are of va- 

 rious sorts. Where the trees to be fenced are single, and eight 

 or ten inches diameter, pieces of lath, or bark of trees, may be 

 neatly placed on, and tied close round the stem. The height of 

 the lath or pieces of bark may be more or less, according to 

 the cattle from which they are to be defended. As the tree 

 advances in size, the laths will require to be untied, and an ad- 

 ditional piece put in, to enlarge their circumference. Where 

 a group of trees, of three or four inches diameter each, is to be 

 defended from both cattle and sheep, a couple of rails fixed to 



* Nicol's Practical Planter, p. 362, first edition. 



f No plant gives a more natural, appearance to park scenery than the bramble; 

 as at St. Mary's Isle, Bolton Abbey, &c. 



4 A 



