2l8 



TREATISE 



penfible fiipports of their ftrength and verdure, and are in fome 

 degree fmothered, from whence the weakefl branches annually 

 perifh, till at laft the bottom becomes quite naked, which no fu- 

 ture care or induftry can repair but by cutting them over, or at 

 leaft reducing their height, and pruning them clofe to naked 

 trunks. This, tho' a certain, is yet a tedious cure ; and to expofe 

 one's fields to their original cold and defencelefs ftate, after for 

 many years beftowing as much as, properly applied, would 

 have made them continue beautiful and fencible for ages, mufl 

 be a mortifying circumftance to any man, but, the fhortnefs of 

 life coniidered, doubly fo to one advanced in years : Let it then 

 be invariably obferved, from the firft clipping, till your hedges 

 arrive at their intended height, that you make them gradually 

 taper from the bottom, till they become quite lharp at top, in form 

 of a razor. This too is faving money, as the apparatus of ftand- 

 ing-ladders, fcaffolds, 6'^". necelTary for cutting the tops of high 

 hedges, becomes expenfive, and, with the hands required con- 

 ftantly to move them, will coft much more than clipping both 

 the fides, which can eafily be performed, to the height of fifteen 

 feet, by a man {landing on the ground, with the affiflance 

 of fpring-fliears. 



Many have been the arguments with men of more words 

 than refledlion and obfervation, whether or not it is necefTary to 

 continue the pradice of clipping hedges till old, where ornament 

 is not required, and that are only the boundaries or divifions of 

 corn or grafs fields. Good gardeners, I am well perfuaded, 

 never difputed on this fubjed ; for if the greater warmth hedges 

 afford to the grounds around them conftitute their greater value 

 in this cold climate, I iliould think no fenfible man can hefitate 

 to give an extraordinary preference to thofe that are clip'd ; 



