THE JOURNAL 



OF THE 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Hedges and their management would seem to the inex- 

 perienced a work of minor importance in estate management, 

 but this is not altogether the case. Landed proprietors and their 

 agents, farmers, and others interested in estates, agree that one 

 of the difficulties with which they have to contend is the growth 

 and maintenance of hedges and fences. The difficulty is often 

 increased on estates where everything is done to keep the fences 

 in good order by neighbours who own boundary fences paying 

 little or no attention to their maintenance. 



Parts of the country are now practically denuded of thorn 

 hedges, whereas a little timely assistance on the part of the 

 landlord and the tenant might have preserved many good thorn 

 fences. When it is considered how much it costs to put in a thorn 

 hedge, to put up guard fences and to keep the latter in proper 

 condition for twelve or fifteen years (the time it takes to rear a 

 thorn hedge strong enough to turn heavy stock), this alone ought 

 to be an inducement to all concerned to take care of those hedges 

 which are in fairly good growing condition. Fences erected 

 as boundaries between farms should always be well kept up, 

 more especially those marking the boundaries of estates, as it 

 must not be forgotten that good boundary fences play an 

 important part in determining a peaceful condition of things 

 between neighbouring farmers. 



There are several causes that tend to produce ill-kept thorn 

 hedges. Owing to the small returns for growing cereals, much 



Vol. XII. No. 2. 



MAY, 1905. 



[NEW SERIES.] 



FENCES AND HEDGES. 



